It is the basic belief that therapy as we know it began in what we know call career counseling (Lara, 2005).  In his writings for the International Journal for Coaching in Organizations, Patrick Williams notes that coaching and therapy both come from the same foundational “roots”, and that it was Maslow’s work (hierarchy of needs) that changed the way people interact in their own destiny. Williams actually credits Maslow’s work “with providing the framework for modern life coaching as it is practiced today” (p. 1).  The end result of this is that coaching has presented itself in a new way, and has broken off into several directions, with career and life coaching being at the top of the list, followed by management coaching, which is usually supplied to managers through their organization (Levinsky, 2000).  All levels of coaching claim to be able to help people improve themselves in order to reach the goals they could not otherwise reach without the help of a coach.  However, there are two basic forms of coaching that have evolved from this trend, which are “executive coaching”, a more one on one approach, and “management coaching”, which views coaching as a set of day-today skills exercised by managers at all levels of the organization” (Peltier, p. xv).

Executive coaching today has its roots in many educational and counseling disciplines.  A coach is one that incorporates many aspects of psychology, such as testing, assessment, mentor training and other methods within the behavioral sciences to help their clients reach new levels of performance.  The big problem with all of this is that many coaches are not trained in any field of psychology or psychotherapy, which has raised the red flag as to the ethical ramifications of these coaching practices.  The big questions are now popping up, such as what criteria should those calling themselves coaches adhere to and should there be legislation, and possibly even licensure, required.  The concerns have become so prevalent in the field of psychology that those within the APA are considering incorporating the field of I/O Psychology into their 2014 ethics code. 

The new self-empowerment movement and the desire for self-help fixes within our society have driven much of this trend.  A person can find a person to coach them through just about any situation as well as a book or system to also work them through it.  People can now find a coach to work them through personal issues as well as career and education issues, with many trained coaches understanding an using an 8 point psychological coaching schematic (Auerbach, 2001) .  In addition, the trend seems to be leaning more toward career counseling, which Savickas (2003) cites is the result of “ the mechanical age of the city is giving way to the media age of the global village as information technology fosters a worldwide economy, the emergence of world workers, and new psychological contracts between employers and employees” (p.1). The result is a fast and changing world with people trying desperately to stay in the game, and coaching is a new way for people to do just that.

How people interact and influence one another is at the crux of social psychology.  Since people do not interact alone, “the topics of social psychology are directly relevant to executive coaching and the process of interpersonal influence” (Peltier, 2001, p. 136). Psychological coaching is an important part of the social networks within an organization, and on a personal level.  It is not uncommon any longer to find coaches woven within the structural fabric of an organization, mainly because organizations understand the important social currents that flow within their cultures and see coaching as a necessary means to maintain their culture as well as their competitive edge (Bratton, 2004).  Social psychology has always looked closely at the study of leadership. And organizations now understand their employees on all levels, executives included, are human and have the same human foibles, and sometimes need help to overcome these obstacles while at the same time feeling safe to be vulnerable in an often time competitive environment (Peltier, 2001, Sandlund, 2002). Research has shown that the presence of coaching within an organization can have impressive results, as cited by Bratton (2004):

Properly delivered, coaching can help us understand what we are truly good at and how we can use our abilities to strengthen organizational culture and address change. It provides in-depth solutions that no classroom or seminar can offer. In fact, no conventional form of learning has shown a comparable capability to help people make profound and difficult changes in the way they approach their work and their life, and to make those changes last. Most urgently of all, coaching responds to the intense need for renewal in the ranks of senior leaders and managers. It accelerates the growth in effectiveness of supervisors, and the impact of these personal transformations ripples outward to affect all levels of management and employees. The benefits are often dramatic, improving teamwork, productivity, profitability, and the quality of work and life.

The work of a coach, and particularly a psychological coach, is to help uncover and bring to the surface (cognitive level) those unconscious psychological processes, and produce an awareness of these hidden defense mechanisms that may be standing in the way of their goals and producing undesirable results (Peltier, 2001). This can be particularly important within a superior subordinate relationship where social rules, especially those related to gender, can influence behavior and self evaluation and impact effect effectiveness (Wilson, Lizzio, Zauner & Gallios, 2001). Helping clients’ deal with their social environments is an important part of coaching, and the main steps used are based on the work of Kurt Lewin, as cited by Peltier (2001), who believed that a person’s behavior is a direct response to their social environment.  These steps are 1) identify the problem, 2) gather data and analyze it, 3) make an action plan, 4) implement the plan, 5) collect more data – monitor the situation to evaluate how you are doing and 5) problem redefinition.

         In Addition, the work of a psychological coach is also to make a client self aware of the defense mechanisms and perceptions that may be holding them back both personally and within their social groups. This is really not much different than the work of any therapist however the focus is usually more defined to life goals and/or career goals.  Many of the defense mechanisms faced by a psychological therapists are termed “adaptive mechanisms” and come in the form of altruism, sublimation, humor, substitution, compensation, rituals, identification, and affiliation (Peltier, 2001).  These can be most prevalent in organizational social networks, where research suggests that people perform on different levels depending on the social network in which they belong within an organization or group (Mehra, Kilduff & Brass, 2001).

How Can Coaching Help You?

The most common problem people face today is knowing how to balance their work and personal responsibilities, also known as life balance.  Without a balance people can suffer from a myriad or problems such as depression, anger, job dissatisfaction, burn-out, fear, loss of empowerment, job performance issues, relationship problems and even illness.  The biggest reasons people struggle with this is the demands of work and life have become more dominant in our society, which caused many people to create unrealistic expectations of themselves and others, which in turn creates turmoil in their lives as well as the lives of those around them.

        A coach can help you understand the underlying driving forces behind your behavior and help provide you with new tools to increase time management, productivity, goal development, passion and work-life balance.  When these things are in balance, a person not only experiences a felling of well being, but can learn to live in the moment and enjoy their life more fully, and a coach can help restore the balance by :

• Assess and evaluate the problems and roadblocks
• Identify negative behaviors and thinking
• Offer perspective and insight
• Create and implement a plan of action
• Offer support and options
• Keep you accountable

Main benefits of coaching to recipient

Generates improvements in individuals’ performance/targets/goals - 84%

Increased openness to personal learning and development - 60%

Helps identify solutions to specific work-related issue - 58%

Greater ownership and responsibility - 52%

Developing self-awareness - 42%

Improves specific skills or behavior - 38%

Greater clarity in roles and objectives - 37%

Corrects behavior/performance difficulties - 33% 

Main benefits of coaching to the organization

Allows fuller use of individual’s talents/potential - 79%

Demonstrates commitment to individuals and their development - 69%

Higher organizational performance/productivity - 69%

Increased creativity/learning/knowledge - 63%

Intrinsically motivates people - 57%

Facilitates the adoption of a new culture/Management style - 39%

Improves relationships between people/departments - 35%

*  These figures are taken from a recent issue of the Work Foundation’s “Managing Best Practice” series. The report was based on a survey of human resource and personnel specialists.