In addition to a surge in the number of doctoral-level studies into coaching, the government has recently begun funding research into coaching through the Australian Research Council (ARC). These events, plus the fact that it is now a good eight years since the founding of the world’s first Coaching Psychology Unit (CPU) at the University of Sydney, means we can now truly say that coaching has become mainstream in Australia.
ARC grants are among Australia’s premier government research grants. I am aware of only three awards, one of which was to Michael Cavanagh, Paul Atkins, Gordon Spence and myself from the CPU of a total of A$3.5 million (£1.7m) to study the effectiveness of executive coaching in high-stress professions such as law. Australian coaches who enjoy a good conference have found much to celebrate in the past few months.
The first Australian positive psychology and well-being conference was held in Sydney in April. There was a terrific line-up of world-famous Australian well-being and positive psychology researchers and practitioners. It seemed that at least half of the 300-plus delegates were from the coaching industry. The growing links between coaching and positive psychology were also evident at the huge “Happiness and its causes” conference.
One of my passions is helping to develop a solid evidence base for coaching. Some may think I’m sad, bad or just plain mad, but I get a real kick out of doing real-life research with real people, and hopefully making a real difference. So it has been a pleasure to see the number of universities and management schools offering degrees and professional development programmes. The University of Technology, Sydney, now offers a four-day professional development programme in positive psychology.
The Australian Graduate School of Management offers a five-day programme in creating positive organisations through coaching and leadership, and the University of Sydney offers professional development courses in executive coaching and mindful leadership. Deakin University offers professional development programmes in health coaching. The CPU will also be offering a new postgraduate degree in applied positive psychology in 2009 (subject to final approval).It is hard to find a medium- to large-sized Australian organisation that had not used coaching in the past year.
Indeed, coaching is used extensively by government departments at both middle and senior management levels. Most satisfying has been the number of universities using executive coaching to develop the leadership skills of deans and senior staff. Universities play a vital role in the social and intellectual fabric of society. It is gratifying that Australia is “punching above its weight” in the global coaching movement. It is a privilege to be a part of this and I look forward to future developments with eager anticipation.
Anthony Grant is a coaching psychologist. A key founder of contemporary coaching psychology, he established and is director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the School of Psychology, University of Sydney. He is the co-author of four books on coaching including the Evidence-based Coaching Handbook with D Stober (Wiley, 2006). anthonyg@psych.usyd.edu.au
Volume 3, Issue 4