Coaching Psychology

Introduction

In the recent past, coaching psychology has evolved into a robust subject of interest to many researchers, thanks to the various theoretical approaches and techniques that have changed the way coaches do their work. This essay briefly describes and critically evaluates the following approaches to coaching: the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options and Will), the CBC approach (Cognitive Behavioural Coaching), Active Listening techniques and Socratic questioning. For students seeking psychology dissertation help, understanding these methodologies can provide a solid foundation for exploring coaching psychology in academic research and practical applications.

The GROW Model

As leaders, one of the most significant responsibilities is to help the team members grow and develop (Grant, 2011). when coaching people to reach their potential, they need help with the strengths and skills they need to excel in their roles. One of the most helpful tools to help the team improve their skills is the GROW (Goal, Reality, Options and Will) model, also known as the Behavioural approach (Bishop, 2015). Coined by Sir John Whitmore in 1992, GROW model can be used by coaches to structure the coaching sessions. For instance, in my coaching sessions, I used the GROW model to focus on conversations. Here, the first step was to help Davesh identify a goal or objective they would like to work on and asked her to write the outcome they would want to see. Next, I would ask them to think about their current reality. This was an important step because they would not achieve their goals without knowing where they were starting from. Upon identifying the current reality, according to Dembkowski & Eldridge (2003), the next step in the GROW model would be to help them define their options. At this point, the aim is to identify how she could develop good time management and finish her assignments on time. The last step in the Grow model is to establish the will. This refers to what the client would do next to achieve the goal. This stage also entails exploring all the obstacles that might be encountered and developing a plan to overcome them.

The GROW model emerges as a simple tool that coaches can apply to guide their coaching sessions. Moreover, as observed by (Penshal & Riddell, 2020). Its simplicity allows the coach to blend and integrate other tools and techniques into the process to encourage deeper insights and learning for the client. Nonetheless, critics of this model have also identified a few of its limitations. For instance, Passmore & Sinclair (2020) argued that whereas it is a lot easier to learn how to use the GROW model, developing the capacity of having a graceful, empathic, and generative dialogue with the client within an unconscious structure requires several years of experience and coaching excellence. On the same note, Bishop (2015) strongly contend that starting with the goals assumes that the client knows where they are starting from, yet this is not always the case. Lastly, Garber & Cole (2010) remarked that the GROW model lacks does not give way to any form of critical suspicion, and therefore the process has a flaw of not allowing critiques.

Cognitive Behavioural Coaching

When coaching goes smoothly, the coach finds an opportunity to help the client identify their goals and work towards them. However, as per Wiliams et al (2010), this is not always the case because the client might be having some underlying emotional and cognitive barriers to successful goal achievement. In such a scenario, cognitive behavioural coaching (CBC) helps to help the client develop more performance-enhancing thoughts and emotions. Therefore, as further illustrated by Minzlaff (2019), CBC evaluates the client’s thought process and identifies those that hinder goal attainment such as self-deprecation, self-doubt and replaces them with behaviours that put the client back on track to success. It operates under the theory of cognitive behavioural theory (CBT), which assumes that individuals behave based on how they think – in short, how an individual think influences how they feel and behave (Perreir et al, 2017).

First, I explored with her how an activating event, such as failing to complete her assignment in time leads to automatic thoughts that failing to submit the assignment on time would make her lose lots of marks. This was meant to help the client understand that her feelings of deficiencies and abnormalities emanate from her inaccurate interpretations or faulty cognitions of the world around her (Neenan, 2018).

However, there are several limitations to CBC that must be noted. For instance, because CBC is fundamentally based on CBT, the client must commit themselves to the process because whereas the coach can advise on the best behaviour, they cannot make the problems go away without the client’s operation and commitment (Neenan, 2017).

Secondly, due to the structured nature of CBC, it would not have been easier for a client with complex issues. More significantly, CBC fundamentally focused on the client’s ability to change herself, (i.e. her behaviours, thoughts and feelings), failing to address some other systemic problems that could have been contributing to her situation such as her personal and family life. Lastly, because CBC only addressed the problems that the client was currently facing, it failed to address other underlying problems such as a troublesome childhood.

Socratic questioning

At the core of CBT is Socratic questioning. According to Paul & Elder (2019), this is a technique of questioning that involves asking a series of open-ended questions to the client to encourage their reflection. It helps in surfacing knowledge that was previously outside the client’s awareness, and therefore develops insightful perspectives that yield positive action (Gray et al, 2017). through Socratic questioning, the coach can unpack the client’s beliefs by actively helping to push the active dialogue forward.

There are several theoretical limitations of Socratic questioning that have been highlighted in literature. However, the most concerning one is that because it is easy to simply generate a list of questions, the coach might pose questions without purpose (Vittorio et al, 2021). Yet, as per Gray et al (2017), Socratic questioning should be targeted with a beginning, middle and end.

Active listening

Friston et al (2021) defined active listening as a technique of listening that entails keeping positively engaged with the conversation partner. An active listener attentively listens to someone while they speak, reflecting on what they are saying while withholding any advice or judgement (Nave et al 2018). In coaching, active listening is a technique used to make the client feel valued and heard, leading to conversation that successfully creates a positive attitude within the client (Min et al, 2021). By being non-judgmental, asking questions and seeking clarifications, the coach actively helps the client to focus only on the positive aspects of the conversation while also interrogating and critically evaluating the negative aspects. However, active listening also has a significant limitation whereby the listener may be trapped in simply generating a list of questions, and thus pose questions without purpose.

The ABC technique

Coaches often have the responsibility of handling clients with different forms of setbacks at work school, or generally in their daily endeavours. But research shows optimism helps handle setbacks more effectively than pessimism (Paudel, 2020). Fortunately, coaches can help their clients to learn optimism through Dr Martin Seligman’s ABC (adversity, beliefs and consequences) technique. In short, clients often encounter adversity. How they think about these adversities create their beliefs (Paudel, 2021). according to Wood et al (2017), these beliefs then influence what an individual does next, which are also the consequences.

Based on the ABC model, the key points happen between adversity and beliefs. When one encounters adversity, how they explain it to themselves has a direct impact on their mindset and on their situation – a phenomenon also termed as the ‘explanatory style’ (Bennett & Turner, 2017). This heavily influences whether a client is optimistic or pessimistic.

There are several steps that a coach can take to help a client develop a more positive explanatory style. The first step, according to Wood et al (2019) is to consider the inner dialogue and write down the thoughts whenever a stressful or negative situation is encountered. This will help in comprehending what happened after the adverse experience and the consequences of that experience. The coach can then help the client to take note of the patterns of negative thinking and help them manage the negative ABC patterns.

Despite being useful in helping to manage negative thinking, clients may have developed negative thinking as a result of other more serious circumstances such as severe health problems or in other cases, death. Therefore, the ABC technique might not be useful in such scenarios (Paudel, 2021). It is therefore advisable that the ABC technique is only used for guidance purposes, and clients should be referred to take advice from other professionals (e.g. health professionals) if negative thoughts are significantly persistent.

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