The main purpose of this book is to translate psychological theory for executive coaches. Its goal is to make the principles, research, and wisdom of psychology accessible to the practice of executive coaching. This theoretical information can and should form the basis for effective coaching in the organizational consulting environment.
Much has happened in the United States since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2001. The most significant events of the period—the attacks of 9/11, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the flooding of New Orleans, the near collapse of the financial credit system, and the election of a new American president—highlight the importance of leadership, integrity, and competence. Executive coaching during this period has grown and become mainstream in many business sectors worldwide. Coach-training organizations have also grown and thrived across the globe. It looks like coaching is here to stay.
Executive coaching has become a popular way for companies to assist and develop talent, and there is a growing body of literature on how to do this kind of work. Most coaching books do not effectively establish a direct relationship between psychological concepts and coaching practice. Many are written in the popular style of business self-help books, and they occasionally exhort more than they enlighten. This book begins with psychological theory and is written to provide a conceptual foundation for the organizational coach. It is not a handbook or how-to-coach book.
The author is a counseling psychologist with 30 years of clinical and organizational experience, as well as an MBA and entrepreneurial, small business experience gained over a 20-year period.
There is a primary and a secondary target reader for this book. It is first written for psychotherapists, including psychologists, psychiatrists, master’s-level psychotherapists, marriage and family therapists, and social workers who would like to expand their practice into the corporate, nonprofit, or small-business environment. Opportunity clearly exists in the business world, and psychology has plenty to offer. But psychological concepts and methods must be translated for the corporate world first before it is applied in that setting. The business point of view and its vocabulary must also be accommodated if psychologically trained coaches are to be successful.
The second audience includes businesspeople, managers, leaders, and human resources directors who want to improve their coaching skills with enhanced knowledge of psychology. Coaching is an important part of their present jobs, and they may lack an adequate understanding of the psychological bases for effective coaching. Some organizations now view coaching as a mainstream, in-house management skill. This book takes essential lessons from psychology and makes them available to the management coach. These ideas and principles, when properly applied, can help grow a promising employee, develop a young leader, remediate one who has run into difficulties or limitations, head off derailment, and perhaps enhance the entire organizational environment.
The book is organized in the following way. Good coaching usually begins with an assessment, and Chapter 1 describes the application of principles and methods of psychological testing. Chapter 2 reviews the developmental psychology literature as it applies to adults. Chapters 3 through 8 each describe an important psychotherapy theory or theoretical viewpoint, beginning with a brief history and a description of its essential components. Examples are provided to demonstrate how each model can be optimally applied to executive coaching. Strengths and weaknesses are discussed in terms of the theory’s applicability to the business world. Chapter 9 reviews the important research done by social psychologists since World War II, emphasizing the power of the social context on human behavior. Chapter 10 defines hypnotic communication in a way that makes it powerfully useful to coaches. Chapter 11 describes the now-popular research on emotional intelligence, sorting out the most useful aspects from the hype. Chapter 12 summarizes lessons from athletic coaching books, as there is much to be gleaned from this intriguing body of literature, a source widely read by business executives. Chapter 13, on the coaching of women in business, points out that in the still-male world of corporate life, there is a need to understand gender politics and differential gender communication patterns, values, and tendencies. Chapter 14 has been added to this edition describing the psychopathology likely to be encountered by business coaches. Coaches are well advised to study this chapter and handle such unfortunate situations with care. Chapter 15, another new chapter, reviews the popular and scientific literature on leadership and leader development. Chapter 16 describes the important but poorly understood differences between managing and leading. Chapter 17 translates well-established ethics codes and ethical principles from psychotherapy into the executive coaching setting, where formal ethics codes are now evolving. The final chapter describes how to make the transition from therapist to coach, and it provides essential business information for psychotherapists unfamiliar with the business culture and point of view. Most chapters end with a list of summary points for readers in a hurry to translate their skills and get going. Extensive references and additional recommended readings are listed at the end of each chapter for the reader who wishes to study in greater depth.
If you are a psychotherapist with established counseling skills, you may want to skip selected parts of the text and go directly to your areas of relative weakness. These might include theories you learned years ago but have forgotten. Many of the chapters will provide a useful brush-up. You will certainly want to study the chapters that focus on the business world and how it works, as well as the chapter on leadership.
If you are a manager or executive, you should focus on the psychotherapy theory chapters to gain essential background on their development, evolution, and core ideas. You may even want to seek additional training or find a mentor from the psychotherapy field.
These are exciting times in psychotherapy and in executive coaching, and there is an increased openness in organizations to the value of psychological interventions. Each of these two worlds has much to offer the other. This book strives to help you make the most of the available opportunities and to make a positive impact on workers and on the organizational culture as well.