Effective Coaching Methods: Not all coaching is created equal or is it?

Key Points:

1. Coaching approaches that are rooted in psychological theories show a positive impact on coaching outcomes.

2. More tools in our toolbox are better than one. Integrative coaching approaches are likely to yield the most impact on coaching outcomes.

As coaching becomes increasingly popular and more accessible as a development intervention in the workplace – stretching far beyond the executive suite – research is blossoming.  There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of workplace coaching (Haan and Nilsson, 2023), which is not only critical for positioning the value and impact coaching has on individual development intervention, but also as an organizational development method to support change and transformation efforts. 

One area that has gone under-researched, until recently, is what type of coaching approaches work best. Countless coaching programs teach coaching skills to certified coaching professionals.  However, there are varying degrees of rigor or evidence to support what type of approaches yield the intended outcomes. And often, coaching practitioners get caught in a myopic view of one approach to working with clients. As such, Wang and colleagues (2021) identified the need to conduct a study that 1) helps further clarify different coaching approaches and 2) compare the impact that different approaches have on coaching outcomes. 

Psychologically-informed coaching approaches

Much of the literature and research on coaching, points to the critical importance of psychological theory and frameworks as a bedrock to coaching practice. This isn’t surprising given that coaching and psychotherapy or counseling share many commonalities, from the relationship between coach and coachee (or therapist and patient) to process and often goals.  That said, not all coaching in practice uses psychologically based frameworks, and this has been tested until now. Psychologically informed coaching approaches fall into three categories: cognitive behavioral coaching, solution-focused coaching, and positive psychology coaching. 

Psychologically informed coaching approaches yield positive outcomes

First, this study tested the overall impact that psychologically informed approaches have on various learning outcomes. When a coaching engagement is rooted in one of these approaches, coachees: 

• Indicate positive improvements in their beliefs that they can achieve the outcomes they seek,
• Specify positive improvements toward attaining their desired goals or learning,
• Have higher ratings of performance, rated by their managers and peers, 
• Experience greater workplace psychological well-being (measured by self-acceptance, resilience, mastery, and a variety of other indicators).

While all results were not statistically significant, the positive impact trends that exist still have a practical importance. For example, when these coaching approaches are used, coachees also:

• Indicate greater intentions to stay with their organization and improvement in their job satisfaction
• Report higher performance based on their own self-evaluations

While all results were not statistically significant, the positive impact trends that exist still have a practical importance. For example, when these coaching approaches are used, coachees also:

• Indicate greater intentions to stay with their organization and improvement in their job satisfaction
• Report higher performance based on their own self-evaluations
  
  
  

Next, this study examined whether or not psychologically informed approaches yield different outcomes. That is, is one approach more appropriate in order to achieve certain results?  Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between each of these approaches and their impact on coachee outcomes.  Meaning they all help and yield a positive impact across coaching outcomes.

Lastly, this study tested if an integrative approach yields a better effect on coaching outcomes than any single coaching framework. While the results were not statistically significant, an integrative approach showed a stronger relationship with coaching outcomes compared to any one framework alone. 

Takeaways for practice

• If you’re looking for a coach, it’s worth researching and asking:
  •  “is their approach rooted in psychological theories or frameworks?”
  • “is their approach holistic or do they generally stick to one model?”
    
• If you’re considering becoming a coach, it’s worth researching and asking:
  • “what are the foundations of this coaching approach?”
  • “which psychological theories is this approach based on?”
    
    

Coaching is a complex process, especially in the workplace where many contextual factors surround the coaching engagement. Each coaching session, driven primarily by the coachee’s needs, unfolds in a nonlinear fashion, subject to evolving circumstances. Notably, while a psychologically informed approach can be effective, an integrative approach proves optimal. A coach equipped with a diverse toolkit stands advantageous to navigate the challenges of improving well-being, growth, development, and performance in coachees.

Trustworthiness score:

The trustworthiness of the study is very high (95%). This means there is a 5% chance that alternative explanations for the effects found are possible.

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References:

de Haan, E. & Nilsson, V. (2023). What can we know about the effectiveness of coaching? A meta-analysis based only on randomized controlled trials. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 00, 1-23.

Wang, Q., Lai, Y.l., Xu, X., & McDowall, A. (2021). The effectiveness of workplace coaching: A meta-analysis of contemporary psychologically informed coaching approaches. Journal of Work Applied Management, 14, 77-101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JWAM-04-2021-0030 

You can find the original article here!