However, there is more to coaching than a set of methods—cognitive methods or any other. Coaching without the humanistic side of a caring, trustworthy coach won’t get off the ground. A coach who neglects the emotional side of the client completely will be shutting out a critical element. Students of emotional intelligence know that feelings are to be attended to as potential sources of useful information. Emotional self-awareness is a foundation for success in life (Stein & Book, 2000). Even the coach who uses largely cognitive approaches must incorporate emotional knowledge. As this chapter emphasizes, emotions are linked to cognition.

My own style of coaching is holistic, values-based, action coaching (Auerbach, 2001) emphasizing the whole person, moving toward their most important goals, congruent with their vital values. I use many tools from many fields—but for the purpose of this chapter I focus on cognitive coaching tools that stem from the emerging cognitive coaching theory. As my research of over one hundred organizations that utilize coaching shows, not only has coaching had an incredible increase in utilization over the last five years, but coaches who are well trained, experienced, and who can employ a variety of coaching tools, are the most sought after practitioners in this emerging field (Auerbach, 2005a; Auerbach 2005b). Cognitive coaching tools are practical, are learnable, and bring clear value to your coaching clients.

Cognitive therapy is easily distinguished by what it is not. Cognitive therapy does not follow the path of the Freudian, who attempts to help the client by uncovering repressed ideas and wishes and aiding in the translation of conscious thoughts into their symbolic meanings. Nor does the cognitive therapist operate as a behaviorist, affecting behavior by rewards and punishments or gradual exposure to anxiety-provoking events. Rather the cognitive therapist assists clients in identifying errors in their thinking and aiding them in adopting more accurate, useful cognitions. Moreover, the cognitive therapist may identify whether there is an absence of accurate, useful cognitions, even if particular thinking errors are not identified.

Burns’s (1980) research documents that negative thoughts that cause emotional turmoil usually contain gross distortions. Although the “automatic thoughts” that one has appear valid initially, there is often an irrational element, and this twisted thinking can cause anxiety and depression, and block people from adopting new, more useful behavior. The primary principle of cognitive therapy is that by pinpointing and eliminating the mental distortions that cause upset, mood can be improved. Coaches believe that eliminating thinking errors that contribute to poor relationships with people will lead to better relationships with others and improved decision making—which leads to higher performance.

Albert Ellis (1979) developed the ABC rational-emotive therapy (RET) approach emphasizing that people become unhappy or develop self-defeating habits because of unrealistic or faulty beliefs. In Ellis’s model the “A” stands for an activating experience, which the individual believes causes “C,” the emotional consequence. For example, an employee enters his office building on Monday morning and his manager walks by without saying hello (activating experience); the employee feels a wave of gloom and anger wash over him (consequence). RET helps the employee realize that the cause of the gloom and anger is not that the manager did not acknowledge him, but rather it is in-between—the “B” for beliefs about the activating experience. It was the employee’s faulty belief that he “must be approved by almost everyone at all times” that prevented him from considering other options, such as, “Maybe he didn’t see me because he was talking to someone else as he walked in.” RET emphasizes that it is beliefs that cause feelings—not events.

Aaron Beck (1976) stated:

The cognitive therapist helps the client unravel distortions in thinking and learn alternative, more realistic ways to approach the world. The essential concept that errors in thinking create problems is catalogued by Ellis’s list of “irrational ideas” and Burns’s list of 10 “cognitive distortions.”

Here are 10 common cognitive distortions that are adapted for coaching from Burns’s popular best-selling book, Feeling Good (1980):

A schema is a blueprint imposed on experience that helps individuals interpret an experience and guides their responses. A schema is an abstract representation of the elements of an event. Within cognitive psychology, a schema is an abstract plan that guides an individual’s thinking and responses. In terms of cognitive coaching, a schema is a broad mental guideline for interpreting a situation and how to respond to the situation. A schema may be adaptive or not. In psychotherapy, and in coaching, some schemas can be identified as old, outdated, and bringing about maladaptive or unintended consequences. Some schemas may be appropriate in early life but inappropriate later. For example, a child’s schema might be “I can’t do that without asking permission.” For a young child this would be appropriate, but for a manager, this schema, taken too far too often, will have the impact of the manager appearing indecisive, lacking independence, and devoid of initiative.

Schemas lead to sets of behaviors that are coping styles. Our client’s coping styles may or may not be productive. To avoid the clinicalization of coaching, in coaching we may call these coping styles behavior patterns or common practices.

For the psychologically minded coach an understanding of the concept that our clients have underlying schemas, or complex mental models (beliefs that affect behavior), can help us understand the clients’ behaviors. We can help our clients ultimately examine their mental models to aid them in choosing behaviors that are productive rather than old response sets that interfere with their current needs and goals.

Although most coaches view coaching as an activity we engage in with clients who do not have clinically significant DSM-IV disorders, some clients not only will have limiting mental models, but may also have maladaptive coping styles where they are responding to situations as if they are a threat rather than an opportunity. Coaches do need to know when to refer a coaching client to a therapist for treatment of mental disorders. Some more psychologically oriented coaches may find an understanding of maladaptive coping styles as helpful to them in analyzing the client’s situation and in guiding some of the coaching approaches chosen. This is true even if they never speak with the client about the concept of maladaptive coping styles and choose instead to use language that is positive such as “This is an opportunity for development” rather than “This is a maladaptive coping style.”

Another relevant concept from schema therapy is the schema mode model and the four mode categories. Three of the four mode categories are maladaptive by definition, but the fourth category is especially relevant for coaching—the healthy adult mode. According to schema theory, the overarching goal is for clients to further strengthen their healthy adult mode. The healthy adult mode is the “executive style” that nurtures, affirms, and protects the more vulnerable parts of oneself; limits angry outbursts and assists with impulse control in accordance with the principles of reciprocity and self-discipline; and talks back to unhelpful parts of one’s personality (Young, 2003, p. 278).

An updated, abbreviated version of schema work as it applies to cognitive coaching is to:

Next we will examine another similar version of this concept of cognitive coaching.

The goal of cognitive coaching with educators was to produce self-directed individuals who demonstrate high performance, both individually and as community members. The authors saw cognitive coaching as based on many fields of study, including, but not limited to, linguistics, individuation, constructivism, mediation, cognitive theory, humanistic psychology, systems thinking, and clinical supervision. Costa and Garmston (2002) state that the goal of their version of cognitive coaching is not to teach people new skills and capabilities but to be a mediator of people’s thinking. They contend that cognitive coaching enhances the ability of the person being coached to examine their patterns of thinking and behavior, and to reconsider the underlying assumptions that precede actions.

The cognitive coaching process for educators relies on a trusting relationship and utilizes tools such as rapport, pausing, paraphrasing, probing, and identifying inner resources. Further, throughout the coaching conversations they emphasize that the person being coached is in the process of developing the five states of mind, which they define as efficacy, flexibility, consciousness, craftsmanship, and interdependence.

Another component of their version of cognitive coaching is that the coach practices the four “capabilities of a mediator” which are described as (1) knowing one’s intentions and choosing congruent behaviors; (2) setting aside unproductive patterns of listening, responding, and inquiring; (3) adjusting one’s own style preferences; and (4) navigating through the three coaching maps. The three coaching maps are described next.

The three mental maps the coach uses are (1) the planning conversation, (2) the reflecting conversation, and (3) the problem-resolving conversation. The planning conversation includes the coach helping the person coached with goal clarification, identification of success indicators, planning approaches, establishment of a learning focus, and an awareness of the coaching process. During the reflecting conversation, the coach asks the person to summarize their impressions of their experience, analyze causal factors and determine cause-and-effect relationships, make meaning from their analysis, develop insights, and commit to use this learning in the future in multiple areas. If the person receiving the coaching is “stuck,” the cognitive coach may use the problem-resolving conversation to help the person move from the existing, undesired state to the desired state by using the tools of pacing and leading, and helping the person identify resources and learning to help them move toward the desired state. This approach borrows heavily from Milton Erickson’s (1989) philosophy that the individual already has a vast storehouse of learning, memories, and resources that the coach can facilitate the individual to utilize.

This cognitive coaching approach for educators has an outcome study research base with positive effects obtained from the students whose teachers had gone through the cognitive coaching program, including significant improvement compared to control groups on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, reading scores, and math scores (Costa & Garmston, 2002).

Outcome studies also indicated that after teachers had participated in the cognitive coaching program they improved their teaching methods, including teaching more thinking skills to their students (Edwards & Newton, 1994). They also increased their use of standards-based education, made fewer referrals of their students to special education and focused more of their time on student learning compared to control groups, (Garmston, Linder, & Whitaker, 1993). As an added benefit, the teachers themselves became more satisfied with teaching as their profession (Edwards & Newton, 1995).

Senge (1990) popularized many of Argyris’s ideas and describes how errors in thinking can also plague entire organizations. He calls these errors “organizational learning disabilities.” Senge describes seven organizational learning disabilities (adapted from Senge, 1990).

The coach who is familiar with Senge’s organizational learning disabilities can help the client identify them and has a vocabulary enabling a discussion with the client on the challenges the disabilities have for effective performance.

Coaches usually work with clients who want to be more effective in their careers or develop more fulfilling lives, but have no significant, diagnosable mental illness. The coach will often use a coaching conversation approach to help clients see themselves accurately, evaluate their situations and their options, examine their assumptions and thought processes, and utilize introspection and insight to achieve their goals. Since these are essentially cognitive processes, many of the techniques utilized by coaches are called by this author “cognitive coaching techniques.” Furthermore, the coach employing cognitive techniques helps the client observe assumptions, erroneous conclusions, mental models, unproductive schemas, and maladaptive self-talk, and learn and execute alternative ways of viewing situations. This leads to the coaching client being able to develop more constructive methods of inner communication that underpin more effective behavior, successful outcomes, and, ultimately, higher life satisfaction.

Some coaches subscribe fully to the philosophy that clients always have all the answers within them so the coach’s role is only to ask questions and never give advice. Utilizing a Rogerian (Rogers, 1995) style, some coaches may do fairly good work in some situations by relying on establishing a trusting relationship, communicating a sense of positive regard, and asking thoughtful, powerful questions. However, competent coaches are well advised to also have in their coach’s toolbox a number of varied exercises, approaches, strategies, and tools to be able to think on their feet and have a more diverse set of approaches that will be deemed helpful. Cognitive coaching techniques will fill that toolbox.

Senge (1990) postulates:

Coaches can make a strong impact by integrating a discussion of mental models into the coaching conversation. A key method that sophisticated coaches can use to assist their clients is to help their clients:

Although the original ladder model included seven steps, many authors, consultants, and coaches are now referring to five steps of the ladder.

The five steps are:

As people quickly climb up the ladder—usually unaware that they are unconsciously going through this process—their attitudes and beliefs are also limiting what data they pay attention to. In practice, people usually believe that their beliefs are the truth and that their truth is obvious. (An example of using the ladder in a coaching conversation is presented later in this chapter.)

An excellent use of the ladder of inference is to teach the model to your clients so they can educate the people around them about this communication tool. In this way a common vocabulary is formed that serves the group in obtaining higher-quality results.

When the coach steers the conversation in a particular direction, Bob will want clear evidence of the benefits for the time he spends in coaching (Kise & Krebs Hirsh, 2000). Bob won’t likely be interested in development unless he is convinced it will help him get the results that he wants.

Bob is immensely successful in his mind, so if the coach suggests he should do something differently he will need to know why. He is so goal-focused that he rarely considers the impact of his own actions on others. Part of the coaching process will eventually be to help him see that people get things done and often work harder if their needs are considered.

An interesting question for Bob is whether he would get more loyalty if he acknowledged and rewarded the contributions of others. He might think he is doing that already. He might not really know what others really think of him—and he is not likely to want the coach to do a formal multirater evaluation.

Bob faces a major challenge in dealing with both the South Korean and European business cultures. The South Korean cultural challenge will be formidable for Bob. He may very likely derail here unless he learns a new way of interacting with his South Korean leaders. If he does not learn to understand the cultural differences and expects his South Korean counterparts to act as he does, he will lose credibility with key leaders in the acquired company. If this happens, all of Bob’s other strengths will likely not be able to override this negative impact.

The coach will need to be able to find some small ways that Bob can begin to understand which cultural differences would be important to acknowledge because they could interfere with his success. The coach can start in small ways and work to increase openness and attentiveness to others under the premise of helping him best manage the merger.

An element of coaching to use with Bob will be the thought partner role that helps him use strength identification, challenge and goal definition, cognition identification, cognitive restructuring, reframing, brainstorming, and scenario planning before rushing to act. Over the course of the coaching, cognitive coaching techniques can be utilized to skillfully challenge Bob to examine how his thoughts are leading to behaviors and whether those behaviors are getting results he wants. If not, what thoughts would be helpful to alter that would lead to behaviors that best achieve the results he seeks, and success in this transition he faces?

Bob’s strengths in dealing with his new executives are that he can be extremely charming, entertaining, hardworking, intelligent, verbal, poised, and humorous. Some of his opportunities for development that are especially relevant for interacting with his South Korean managers are that he likes to talk more than listen, is often seen as superficial, and doesn’t spend much time on the nuances of relationships.

Although the coach does not need to be a content expert in either Bob’s business issues or the cultural issues, the coach will be a great asset in a critical area if he or she can help Bob open his mind to the seriousness of the cultural issues he faces with his new South Korean team.

Bob will need to learn the various protocols that are part of South Korean business relationships. Most importantly, he needs to learn about how important the development and maintenance of proper interpersonal relationships are to South Korean businesspeople. His South Korean executives will be highly sensitive to interpersonal relationships, and they will be sensitive to Bob’s spirit and how he presents himself. Several factors, notably, of course, being the CEO, but also his age, past business success, and education will be impressive to the South Koreans, as they will look at these as a way to measure him and to determine the degree of respect they will pay him. The fact that he is an educated CEO approaching 60 will mean that in a Confucian society he will automatically be granted some honor and respect that is associated with that status and position. Bob is bright, social, and motivated. The coach who can convincingly begin to provide this cognitive education on the cultural issues so relevant to his business objectives will be seen as knowledgeable due to this just-in-time learning. Bob will likely grasp that in this case he needs to adjust his style as a practical approach to get the outcome he wants, even though his first reaction will be “I’m the CEO—they need to get with my program or they are out of there.”

In this vignette the coach used informally, in a conversational manner, the principles of the ladder of inference, thinking errors, mental models, behavior log, and a coaching homework assignment to help a rather egocentric coaching client evaluate whether his mental models, thinking, and behavior are going to get him the results he wants. The coach used content expertise to establish credibility with a status-conscious client, challenged the client to consider an underexamined area—cultural issues and their impact on business—and held back from prescribing solutions but let the client identify steps he could take to learn a more helpful mental model that will impact thinking, behavior, and hopefully results in line with the client’s goals.

She will feel especially stressed if she receives excessive criticism or if her values are interfered with. If she gets in a phase of being overly collaborative and not moving onto the action stage it is a clue she is feeling overwhelmed. She has to watch out for taking on too many responsibilities and thereby using up all her energy, leaving her feeling exhausted and frustrated. She feels uncomfortable in contentious situations and is irritated by people who are belittling and patronizing of themselves or others. She may go overboard in pursuing harmony.

Bonita is undergoing a stressful transition and is struggling internally with her thoughts and feelings about work and family issues. To deal with the stress she will benefit from more rest, self-care, and reflection, turning over some responsibilities after prioritizing them objectively. She will like reviewing stressful situations with an impartial person—her coach. When she does make time for it, she will enjoy relaxing and having social time with her family.

Bonita will connect most easily with a coach who is insightful, supportive, communicative, inspiring, and friendly and who will help her focus on her specific developmental needs. She will enjoy working with a coach who will be collaborative with her on developing learning strategies, who will spend time flushing out ideas, and who she feels has an understanding of the many issues she is facing.

Bonita is open to this style of “educative coaching.” She enjoys the coach bringing in concepts and dialoguing with her about how she can use them. The coach asks questions that help her identify assumptions that are linked to her mental model of “I must not disappoint people.” The coach could go down the road of linking this mental model to her feelings about not letting down her parents or her extended family, which most therapists would do, but the coach does not see a compelling need to do so—at least at this time. Note that her solution of asking Ken, which ostensibly seems like a reasonable approach—get some data to verify if her assumption is correct—is another collaborative approach. This may be an excellent next step, but the coach makes a mental note that at some point it would be helpful to facilitate her taking a look at how when she asks some people questions they may feel annoyed, interrogated, or impatient. This is a potential unintended impact of what in many ways is a positive, useful, collaborative style. The coach makes a note that a multirater evaluation could be useful for Bonita to help her increase her own self-awareness and accurate self-assessment.