Because coaching is currently an unregulated field, practitioners & potential clients or business partners grapple with the question: how do I identify a qualified & exceptional life coach? This question is vital to ask & answer - especially as the coaching industry continues to quickly grow in popularity.
This week, I dug into the latest coaching & positive psychology research to consider: What makes a good life coach?
Before providing a summary of what the research suggests, let me start by explaining why I feel it is important to utilize research - as opposed to personal experience or informal data alone (e.g., client interviews, online articles).
On the Yes& website, I state the following: “As a coach, I endorse an important balance between the utility of research & data with authentic experiences & wisdom.”
For six years, I focused on the research & academic perspectives behind the work I do today as a practitioner. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in general Psychology, a Master’s degree in Positive Developmental Psychology, & a co-concentration in Program Evaluation. In addition to my traditional education, I received my life coaching & yoga certifications and attended personal development workshops at places such as Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts & Costa Rica Yoga Spa in Nosara.
Therefore, my educational foundation was created with a combination of two related, but often separate worlds: research & practice. As I began Yes&, I experimented with how to translate important wellness research into tangible coaching methods & client work. On the one hand, research provides an evidence base, “reality checks,” & guidance for effective & best practices. On the other hand, application as a coach & client develops flexibility, creativity, & expands what is possible - beyond the charts. Having knowledge & experience in both worlds amplifies my ability to provide my clients with exceptional support.
Thus, I view research & practice as a continuous feedback loop - consistently applying one to the other & utilizing this process as a means for checks & balances. I understand my lens for what makes a good coach is already biased with years of development in my personal approach to coaching & subjective preferences as a client. Therefore, I deem it important to reference the recent & relevant coaching research with open eyes to expand my independent awareness of good coaching, & positively challenge my own dispositions.
With this, let us return to our original question: What makes a good coach? I will summarize the research with three main concentrations: qualification, characteristics, & growth.
Qualification: As stated at the beginning of this article, coaching is currently an unregulated field. There is no required certification or licensure, official board of professional coaching, or direct degree necessary for a practitioner to utilize the term “life coach.” (In fact, the title itself varies among coaches: “professional coach,” “executive coach,” and “health coach” are among the many nomenclatures utilized in the field.) Thus, although many certifications and programs exist & continue to multiply, there is nothing currently set in place to qualify “good” training from “bad.”
Although there is not a unified training structure for coaches, however, there is a strong research base that provides important evidence, evaluation, & guidance for the coaching industry. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of wellbeing & flourishing - defining a “good life” & how to get there. The growing body of research, practitioner applications, & the community in this field should be utilized when considering best practices & training programs. In addition to articles published within the research journals, there are many coaching-specific texts that refer to the evidence base available through positive psychology.
An example of the utility of this research to differentiate & guide training standards for coaches & potential clients includes a list of coaching frameworks. Some coaches adopt one or more of the following research-based frameworks to guide their practice:
- REBT (Rational-Emotive Behavior Theory)5
- Embodied coaching 1, 6
- Co-active coaching (Laura Whitwort, Kimsey-House, Phillip Sandahl)
- GROW model (Graham Alexander)
- Integral coaching (Ken Wilber)
- Neuro-Linguistic programming (John Grinder and Richard Bandler)
- Symbolic modeling (James Lawley and Penny Tompkins)
- Psycho-cybernetics (Maxwell Maltz)
- Positive Psychology coaching
- Behavioral coaching
- Ontological coaching
- Developmental coaching
- The Integrated model
A last & important note on qualification for the coaching industry: it is essential for training programs and practicing coaches to differentiate coaching from other forms of support. Coaching is not consulting, mentoring, therapy, or counseling - and should never be advertised as such. Especially regarding therapy & counseling - in which there are official, mandatory licensures, certifications, & degrees - coaches should be well aware of their boundary of qualification. It is a sign of a good coach if she or he refers clients to other means of support when necessary.
Characteristics: Aside from a multitude of training & certification options, a good coach should possess & strengthen a unique set of qualities. In the text “Excellence in Coaching: The industry guide,” active listening, skillful questioning, & clarifying skills are noted as indispensable2.
Unlike other helping fields, coaching fosters a learning process in which the client is the co-facilitator of her or his learning & growth. In contrast to consulting or counseling, wherein the consultant or therapist is seen as the expert, coaching considers the client as the expert & the coach as the expert guide. A good coach facilitates the client to unveil their own powerful wisdom, values, & beliefs while working through client-centered goals, action steps, & roadblocks.
Because guidance, rather than advice, is the centerfold of coaching, a coaches ability to ask powerful questions is principal to a good coach5. The type of question most effective in a coaching relationship is solution-focused3. Solution-focused questions are more effective for goal attainment than problem-focused questions because they invite goal-identification & action pathways, while problem-focused questions invite causal analysis. (Problem-focused questions are often utilized in supportive industries that aid individuals to understand the past, such as with therapy; solution-focused questions are utilized in coaching because this type of support is inherently progressive.) Furthermore, the intentional incorporation of positive affect surrounding coaching questions is paramount to client progress & development3.
Beyond the ability to guide by question, a good coach consistently enacts a variety of important principles: self-responsibility, respect, acceptance, confidentiality, integrity, creativity, powerful observation, & neutrality2. Although many of these principles are self-explanatory when considering a good & supportive coach, I note neutrality & creativity as potentially underrated characteristics. Because coaching is client-focused, coaches must refrain from advice-giving or sharing personal opinions (coaches must maintain neutrality); again, the client is the expert in her or his life. Therein, a coach must be creative & open to broad possibility to expand client perspectives rather than hinder them.
Growth: A final lens through which to consider what makes a good coach is intentional development. Just as other fields encourage or require continuing education, a good coach should stay up-to-date with the latest research, practice guidelines, & industry directions. Within the research, I noted two useful standards for coaches to foster imperative growth.
First is the utility of evidence-based coaching. This is defined as “coaching that involves the intelligent and conscientious use of relevant and best current knowledge.”4 Evidence-based coaching fosters the use of qualification guidelines & practices that work, while providing space for continuous improvement & flexibility as new frameworks, approaches, & styles emerge in the field.
Second is the incorporation of coaches’ consistent self-reflection. Not only does this encourage a coach to be intentional, evaluate effectiveness, & stay current with coaching standards for the benefit of their clients - but self-reflection is suggested to directly benefit coaches & business, as well. When coaches adopt a self-reflective practice, they experience supportive structure & discipline, increase self-awareness, renewed passion, tools for professional development, and enhanced relationships with self and others.7
In summary, with a combination of my personal experience as coach & client and an overview of the latest coaching research, I found an answer to guide myself & others in being or hiring a good coach. While the training & certifications vary from one coach to another, all good coaches should be trained & up-to-date with relevant research & best practices - such as the coaching frameworks based in Positive Psychology. Coaches importantly understand their qualification limitations, as well, referring clients to other professional support systems when needed. Good coaches ask powerful, solution-focused questions while maintaining an environment of positivity & progression. Good coaches have traits such as respect, creativity, observation & neutrality. Lastly, a good coach practices self-reflection for consistent growth to provide themselves & their clients with continued, exceptional support.
Although an unregulated field promises complex diversity for coaching programs, practitioners, and potential clients & business partners - I am grateful for the opportunity for a more critical analysis of what determines a great coach. Because there is not a century-old professional organization to do so for us - as coaches & clients, we must ask the important questions ourselves. What qualifies a good coach?
References
- Attan, A., Whitelaw, G., & Ferguson, E. (2018). A practical model for embodied coaching, Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 11:1, 16-29
- Bresser, F., & Wilson, C. (2010). What is coaching. Excellence in coaching: The industry guide, 2.
- Grant, A. & O’Connor, S. (2018) Broadening and building solution-focused coaching: feeling good is not enough. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 11:2, 165-185
- Grant, A. & O’Connor, S. (2019). A Brief Primer for those New to Coaching Research and Evidence-Based Practice. The Coaching Psychologist, 15, 3-10.
- Katsikis, D., Kostogiannis, C., & Dryden, W. (2016). A rational-emotive behavior approach in life coaching. Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, 16(1), 3.
- Pert, C. (1997). Molecules of emotion. New York, NY: Scribner.
- Shaw, L. & Glowacki-Dudka, M. (2019) The experience of critical self- reflection by life coaches: a phenomenological study. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 12:2, 93-109
