Journal
One coaching approach at a time.
A new piece each week on a school of coaching: where it comes from, what it assumes about people, and the questions it asks.
Gestalt coaching: change starts with what is already here
Arnold Beisser's paradoxical theory of change says people change when they stop trying to become someone else. Here is what that looks like in a coaching session.
ACTACT-informed coaching: working with the thoughts you cannot switch off
Acceptance and Commitment Coaching does not try to remove difficult thoughts. It changes the client's relationship with them, and a 2018 trial with senior civil servants suggests that is where the gains come from.
ExistentialExistential coaching: when the question is how to live
Existential coaching starts from the givens every person faces: freedom, limits, uncertainty and death. It suits clients whose problem is not a skill gap but a question of meaning.
NarrativeNarrative coaching: the stories clients live inside
People make sense of their lives through stories, and some of those stories quietly narrow what feels possible. Narrative coaching helps clients see the story they are in and find the parts it leaves out.