Person-centred coaching psychology: A meta-theoretical perspective

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Stephen Josephdown…I am arguing here for a fuller,deeper kind of listening ….nowadays Ifollow more and lead less…that we bringourselves fully into the relationship’(Groom, 2005, pp.21–22).This quote from Groom (2005) exemplifiesthe shift in thinking that comes with a moveaway from the medical model toward theperson-centred model. Training wouldinvolve learning to slow down, to listen, andto be able to follow the client’s direction andnot one’s own. This shift in emphasis doesnot exclude more traditional aspects oftraining. There are a variety of ways ofworking that may be classified as personcentred(see, Sanders, 2004). Person-centredwork does not rule out setting goals,checking strategies, and so on, but it emphasisesthe client’s role in taking the lead andthe coach’s ability to follow, whereas themedical model emphasises the coach’s rolein taking the lead and the client’s ability tofollow.3. PracticeIn terms of person-centred coachingpsychology practice, the task of the coach isto nurture a social relationship which isexperienced as authentic by the coachee andone in which they feel accepted and understood.But although the therapeutic processis the same as that in counselling, the factthat we have developed these differentprofessional arenas based on the medicalmodel creates difference in content. Whatterms we use will determine what clients wework with. The public understanding is thatcounselling is about looking back in life atwhat has gone wrong, whereas coaching isabout looking forward to what can go right.If we offer counselling we will get clients whowant to look back, and if we offer coachingwe will get clients who want to look forward.The task of the person-centred therapist orcoach is the same in either case, to stay withthe person and to facilitate the person’s selfdetermination. Thus, at a theoretical processlevel, the person-centred psychologist’s taskis always the same, be they employed as acoaching, counselling, or clinical psychologist,but at the practical level of content thesessions would be different, simply becauseclients will bring different material to counsellingcompared to coaching.The person-centred approach does notprescribe techniques of practice, but allowsfor a diversity of practice methods, insofar aspractice is securely grounded in the metatheoreticalassumption that people have aninherent tendency toward growth, development,and optimal functioning, and that thistendency is facilitated by the right social environment(Rogers, 1959, 1963). Thus, theperson-centred coaching psychologist candraw on various cognitive-behavioural, multimodel,solution-focused and systems theoryapproaches (see Kauffman & Scoular, 2004).There is no prohibition of the use of techniquesper se. What is different about theperson-centred way of working is that thetechniques become an expression of themeta-theoretical assumptions of personcentredtheory rather than an expression ofthe meta-theoretical assumptions of themedical model. It is not the fact that thecoach uses a particular technique or assessmenttool that is the issue, but how they use it.Cognitive-behavioural psychology, forexample, offers a wealth of techniques thatcan be helpful to people in learning aboutthemselves and in exploring the relationshipbetween our thoughts and our feelings, howwe make sense of reality, and what we say toourselves which can hold us back fromachieving our goals (Neenan & Palmer,2001). But two different therapists, or twodifferent coaches, can employ the same techniquesin very different ways, one taking thelead as expert, the other assuming that theclient is the expert and following their lead.4. Clients’ agendaThis takes me to the final and most importantimplication of the person-centredmodel, and that is the question of whoseagenda the coaching psychology is workingto. In person-centred psychology, the task isalways to facilitate more optimal functioning52 International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 1 No. 1 April 2006
Person-centred coaching psychologyin the sense that the person moves towardsgreater self-determination. Often this is atodds with the needs of the wider social environment(Joseph & Linley, 2004, 2005, inpress; Linley & Joseph, 2004). The medicalmodel with the coach as expert who takesthe lead can direct the coachee in a variety ofdirections, not all of which may be facilitativeof the client’s self-determination. It might besaid that clinical and counselling psychologistshave already sold themselves to theagenda of the National Health Service at theexpense of the self-determination of theirclients (Proctor, 2005). If coachingpsychology adopts the medical model it toois in danger of becoming a force for controllingpeople rather than for facilitating theirself-direction.ReferencesAlbee, G.W. (1998). Fifty years of clinical psychology:Selling our soul to the devil. Applied and PreventivePsychology, 7, 189–194.Barrett-Lennard, G.T. (1998). Carl Rogers’ helpingsystem: Journey and substance. London: Sage.Bentall, R. (2003). Madness explained: Psychosis andhuman nature. London: Allen Lane.Ford, J.G. (1991). Rogerian self-actualisation: A clarificationof meaning. Journal of HumanisticPsychology, 31, 101–111.Grant, A.M. (2001). Towards a psychology of coaching.Sydney: Coaching Psychology Unit, University ofSydney.Grant, B. (2004). The imperative of ethical justificationin psychotherapy: The special case of clientcenteredtherapy. Person-Centered and ExperientialPsychotherapies, 3, 152–165.Greene, J. & Grant, A. (2003). Solution focusedcoaching. Essex, UK: Pearson Education.Groom, J. (2005). Effective listening. The CoachingPsychologist, 1, 21–22.Joseph, S. (2005). Person-centred coachingpsychology. The Coaching Psychologist, 1, 3–5.Joseph, S. (2003). Client-centred psychotherapy:Why the client knows best. The Psychologist, 16,304–307.Joseph, S. & Linley, P.A. (2004). Positive therapy:A positive psychological theory of therapeuticpractice. In P.A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.),Positive psychology in practice (pp.354–368).Hoboken: Wiley.Joseph, S. & Linley, P.A. (2005). Positive psychologicalapproaches to therapy. Counselling andPsychotherapy Research, 5, 5–10.ConclusionAt the meta-theoretical level, either we holdourselves as the expert on our client’s lifeand take the lead, or we hold our client astheir own best expert and it is they who takethe lead. As the new profession of coachingpsychology emerges it is appropriate that wereflect on the fundamental assumptions thatare shaping the direction of its development.CorrespondenceStephen JosephDepartment of Psychology,University of Warwick,Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.Tel: +44 2476 528182Fax: +44 2476 524225E-mail: S.Joseph@warwick.ac.ukJoseph, S. & Linley, P.A. (in press). Positive therapy:A meta-theory for positive psychological practice.London: Routledge.Joseph, S. & Worsley, R. (2005). A positive psychologyof mental health: The person-centred perspective.In S. Joseph & R. Worsley, (Eds.), Personcentredpsychopathology: A positive psychology of mentalhealth (pp.348-357). Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.Kauffman, C. & Scoular, A. (2004). Toward a positivepsychology of executive coaching. In P.A. Linley& S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice(pp.287–302). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Linley, P.A. & Joseph, S. (2004). Toward a theoreticalfoundation for positive psychology in practice.In P.A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positivepsychology in practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Maddux, J.E. (2002). Stopping the ‘madness’:Positive psychology and the deconstruction ofthe illness ideology and the DSM. In C.R. Snyder& S.J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology(pp.13–25). New York: Oxford University Press.Maddux, J.E., Snyder, C.R. & Lopez, S.J. (2004).Toward a positive clinical psychology: Deconstructingthe illness ideology and constructing anideology of human strengths and potential. InP.A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychologyin practice (pp.320–334). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Neenan, M. & Palmer, S. (2001). Cognitive BehaviouralCoaching. Stress News, 13, 15–18.Palmer, S. & Whybrow, A. (2005). The proposal toestablish a special group in coaching psychology.The Coaching Psychologist, 1, 5–12.International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 1 No. 1 April 2006 53
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