How Does Academic Research Feel in a Coaching Process? From Theory to Practice

It’s hard to understand what happens in coaching, and sometimes it’s also hard to explain. There’s a long list of ingredients for this recipe, which is crafted on the go and custom-tailored.

For those of us who need to feel a certain degree of rational, cognitive justification, here are a few of the strongest and most established theories in the world of psychology that explain something about what happens during the process.

The first is Intentional Change Theory, which explains that leadership development begins with heightened self-awareness and intentional efforts to change behavior. Significant change occurs through a sequence of discoveries starting with formulating the "Ideal Self" and acknowledging the current "Real Self"—the one we know today.

On paper, this sounds simple, but it’s not easy for everyone to articulate the dream, the desired state, where I want to go, or who I want to be. And even when there is a dream or a vision, it’s not always easy to understand the gap. Our blind spots are, unsurprisingly, blind—spaces that are hard for us to see, identify, and admit to. And how hard it is to illuminate them alone. Our automatic mechanisms don’t let us see additional possibilities.

And of course, awareness alone is ineffective without an action plan, a clear agenda designed to close the gap.

The second is Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model. The model emphasizes the role of reflection and experience in developing new practices. The idea is that learning occurs in four stages: we act in the world, we pause to reflect on our experiences, we interpret them to generate new insights, and then we test these insights through new actions. And the cycle repeats.

Theoretical frameworks in prestigious professional journals are nice. Part of translating them into coaching work is found in the question I ask in almost every session: What did you learn?

What did you learn in your previous role? What did you learn from the feedback you received? What did you learn from leading this project? What did you learn about yourself when you read this?

This question seems innocent, but it’s based on the assumption that learning is a complex thing. That it is continuous and woven into our daily routine. It’s a question that asks us for reflection. This meta-cognition is an integral part of change processes—the kind that happens in real life, through experience.

The third theory is by Bandura, a long-time favorite of mine since my student days, with the simple logic he proved in his Social Learning Theory. His findings show that behavioral change is reinforced through observation and feedback in social contexts. In other words, we understand which behaviors are effective in any given situation by observing our environment and seeing how the environment responds to us.

Here too, awareness and reflection serve us as working tools: What do I understand when my manager gives me a compliment or makes a dissatisfied face? What do I feel when an employee suddenly leaves? When a client escalates above my head?

And planning forward is what will drive the change on the ground: What impact do I bring with me into the room, into the situation, into the project? What presence do I want to bring with me to see a change in the reaction around me?

How does it all stick together? I could tell you, but it’s best to experience it for yourself.

I invite you to an introductory and discovery meeting, free of charge and with no obligation.

Write me.