HENLEY ANNUAL COACHING CONFERENCE, HENLEY BUSINESS SCHOOL, 22 JUNE, 2012
Why do your clients trust you?
By Kate McGuire
The importance of trust in coaching relationships was a hot topic at the Henley Coaching conference on
22 June. Malcolm Higgs, professor of organisation behaviour at Southampton University’s School of Management, and an external examiner for Henley, described two areas: an individual’s assessment of another’s trustworthiness, and their propensity to trust.
Higgs argued that propensity to trust consists of three elements: the belief that others are likely to act in a trustworthy way; the extent to which others can be relied on to act consistently and ethically, and the individual’s tendency to be risk-averse.
His research shows understanding an individual’s propensity to trust is important in building relationships and, potentially, workplace teams and leaders, and has an impact on wellbeing and happiness.
Claire Collins presented her PhD research into what makes a coaching relationship successful. She took the accepted view that the relationship is at the core of effective coaching and identified that trust, rapport, a bond between coach and client and clarity on goals were core.
Her research confirmed that relationship elements were more important to clients when choosing a coach, not qualifications or experience. Coaches who shared personal information established stronger bonds and respond faster to clients’ needs.
Coaching at Work, Volume 7, Issue 5