by Sarah Dale
Does coaching work? Should we use hard evidence or our own judgment to tell us if it’s good? Or is client feedback enough?
As an occupational psychologist who coaches, I was pleased to attend discussions about the evidence for coaching effectiveness at the Division of Occupational Psychology conference, specifically in sessions led by Professor Rob Briner. Evidence-based practice was also the theme of the Special Group in Coaching Psychology’s annual conference in December 2012.
The arguments echo a wider debate, often associated with Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, which challenges how we decide what works. They raise important questions about what constitutes good evidence. Ignoring these could put us in the same well-meaning boat as 17th century doctors wedded to their useless (or positively harmful) blood-letting practices.
However, few of us work with cast-iron evidence for everything we do. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, parents – and psychologists – all rely on their own judgment at times. As a practitioner, the debate leaves me questioning what I should be doing.
I get positive feedback from my coaching.
I am told by former clients that this action or that perspective was a direct, sometimes significant, result of the coaching. As a client myself sometimes, I feel the same.
However, I realise this is not enough. No doubt patients who survived blood-letting spoke highly of their physicians when they recovered. Neither patient nor doctor would have known that they would have been more likely to get better without the treatment. Without RCTs (Randomised Control Trials) it is very hard to know what is affecting what.
My working hypothesis is that my coaching increases the perception of support and control known to be relevant to our ability to cope in challenging situations. I’m still thinking how to test that in practical and meaningful ways.
Helping conversations are as old as time. Coaching, for me, is a particular type of helping conversation, the main ingredient of which seems to be the focused listening relationship. Can that do harm? Possibly. Can it have positive outcomes? Well, I think and believe so. Do I know so? The brutally honest truth is, no.
So, what does this mean for my coaching practice? Since the conference, I have drafted some work-in-progress guidelines for myself. What do you think?
Stay engaged in the lively debates about evidence-based approaches.
Adapt my practice as more becomes known. CPD is important.
I’m queasy about coaching people who are “sent” to me by an organisation that thinks they need “fixing”. I don’t think we (or certainly, I) know how to do this, and it seems an area where coaching could be harmful. This might mean turning down work (I have done so).
Pay close attention to the contracting aspect of the coaching assignment and sessions, and clarify assumptions.
Be prepared to stop coaching or refund the money if our reflection together suggests that coaching is not helping (I have done that, too).
Don’t over-promise. I respect any professional (builder or doctor or my child’s teacher) who tells me they don’t know what to do, but clearly discusses possible options that we might try. I then feel that he or she wants to help, has some relatively informed ideas and that we’re working together on a problem that probably has a host of variables in a messy, real world. As an occupational psychologist who coaches, perhaps that’s the best, most honest thing, I can do.
Sarah Dale, CPsychol, is an occupational psychologist and coach, and author of Keeping Your Spirits Up. She can be contacted via her website, www.creatingfocus.org or follow her on twitter
@creatingfocus
Coaching at Work, volume 8, issue 2