Explore the relevance of psychology in coaching, including areas such as neuroscience, counseling, and positive psychology. Discuss the importance of coach competencies and the balance between personal experience and professional qualifications. Highlight the role of psychology in enhancing the coaching experience. Compare psychologically trained coaches with non-psychologically trained coaches. Explore the importance of evaluation in coaching and the changes in coaching goals during the pandemic. Emphasize the significance of including psychological knowledge in coaching practice and the importance of ethical decision making for coaches.
Psychology provides various perspectives and principles that enhance coaching practice, including social interaction theories, understanding behavior and emotion, and incorporating counseling principles.
Coaching can be effective regardless of whether the coach has a psychology background, as long as they adopt appropriate coaching pedagogy, build client confidence, and possess important skills such as empathy and emotional understanding.
Deep dives
The Relevance of Psychology in Coaching
Psychology research shows that various areas of psychology can be relevant to coaching. This includes sociological, organizational, clinical, and neuroscience perspectives. For example, utilizing social interaction theories, understanding behavior, cognition, and emotion of individuals, and incorporating counseling principles can enhance coaching practice. Positive psychology has been particularly influential, focusing on strengths, solutions, and empowering individuals rather than fixating on problems. While psychology training is not always necessary to be a coach, it is crucial for coaches to have an underlying philosophy of guiding, facilitating, and supporting clients rather than imposing expertise or rescuing them.
Training and Experience for Coaches
Coaching can be effective regardless of whether the coach has a psychology background. Non-psychologists, such as experienced managers or educators, can excel in coaching by adopting appropriate coaching pedagogy and building clients' confidence. Training plays a vital role in helping coaches identify blind spots, learn techniques, and receive honest feedback. The mindset of a coach towards their clients, believing in their capacity to find their own answers, understanding cultural contexts, and having credibility also contributes to coaching effectiveness. Empathy and emotional understanding are important skills for coaches to connect with their clients. Ultimately, the competencies and skills of a coach, regardless of their psychological background, shape the quality of coaching practice.
Psychological Knowledge in Coaching Research
Psychological knowledge significantly contributes to coaching research. Drawing from psychological theory, such as self-determination theory and basic psychological needs, researchers explore the differences between coaching, consulting, and mentoring. In coaching research, incorporating psychological knowledge helps in understanding clients' needs, motivations, communication, and social interactions. Additionally, psychological frameworks inform ethical decision-making in coaching, ensuring coaches act in their clients' best interests. Research data also reveals insights into the effectiveness of coaching practices, such as the shift to remote coaching during the pandemic, with positive outcomes and increased convenience reported.
The Role of Ethics and Critical Psychology in Coaching
Ethics and critical psychology play essential roles in coaching. Coaches with a psychology background are equipped with ethical codes of practice that guide their decision-making and ensure client welfare. Critical psychology enables coaches to question power dynamics, advocate for inclusion, and challenge organizational practices that might misuse coaching. Furthermore, psychological training prepares coaches to navigate ethical dilemmas, protect vulnerable clients, and engage in reflective practice and supervision. Coaches need continuous professional development to understand and apply ethical codes effectively, as well as to explore and address the complex ethical challenges that arise in coaching practice.
In this episode Dr Natalie Lancer explores ‘What has Psychology got to do with coaching?’ with Professor Jonathan Passmore, Dr Nancy Doyle and Dr Sandra Diller. We tease out what Psychology can usefully bring to coaching in a field that is unregulated and rapidly evolving, by asking:
What training should coaches have in ethical decision making?
What is the importance of evidence-based research to coaching practice?
How critical is it for coaches to review their own practice?
In what ways can coaches share their knowledge to develop training for the coaching community?
To what extent can coaches collaborate on research studies?
How does applying research feed into coaches’ own professional development?
Hear how you can develop your coaching practice from today’s panel of experts:
Dr Nancy Doyle is an Occupational and Coaching Psychologist. She founded Genius Within, a social enterprise whose services include productivity and career coaching for around 4000 neurodivergent adults, worldwide each year.
Dr Sandra Diller is a certified coach (University of Salzburg, CoBeCe), trainer (LMU Munich), and mentor (LMU Munich, Center of Leadership and People Management). While working as a coach and trainer, she researches on coaching, training, mentoring, and leadership and teaches personnel and leadership development at the University of Salzburg and University of Seeburg.
Professor Jonathan Passmore is Senior Vice-President of CoachHub and is a Professor at Henley Business School. He is a Chartered Psychologist and an accredited coach with the ICF and EMCC, as well as holding qualifications in team coach and coach supervision.
Dr Natalie Lancer is a Chartered Psychologist, coach and supervisor. She is the Deputy Chair and Secretary of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Coaching Psychology and an accredited member of the Association for Coaching. She is the host of this podcast series and invites you to email any comments to docp-tcppod@bps.org.uk