Coaching as a discipline really took off in the 1990s. The coaching industry stems from several different and sometimes conflicting disciplines, theories and methodologies (Renton, 2009). This section outlines the main strands.
Much of coaching in the UK has its origins in sports coaching. Timothy Gallwey caused a huge stir when his book, The Inner Game of Tennis, was published in 1974. Gallwey was a Harvard educationalist and a tennis expert. His focus was on the individual’s potential and performance. He realised that fears and doubts, such as lack of self-confidence, can impair good performance, and he called these fears and doubts interference. His model of coaching therefore became Potential minus Interference = Performance.
One of the ways to reduce interference is by focusing your attention (Downey, 2003). Gallwey called this ‘relaxed concentration'. It is also called being ‘in flow’, when what you are doing seems easy and effortless. In this model of coaching, the coach’s role is to reduce the interference and help the coachee learn. Coaches do not tell coachees what to do or offer advice – they are non-directive.
A corollary of this approach is that coaches do not need to be knowledgeable about their coachee’s work or organisation, nor an expert in the issue being addressed. The assumption is that people have more capability than they are expressing, and that attentive listening and appropriate questions will enable them to work things out for themselves. Through their own practice and their training of coaches, Myles Downey and The School of Coaching were a major influence on developing this non-directive model of coaching in the UK, based on the inner game approach and Carl Roger’s (1961) person-centred therapy.
Like Gallwey, John Whitmore’s background was also in sport. Before he became a coach, he was a racing driver. Whitmore sought out Gallwey, was trained by him and went on to found the Inner Game in Britain. Using Gallwey’s principles, Whitmore and like-minded colleagues coached sports men and women, and it was not long before their clients asked them if they could apply these ideas to coaching in the workplace. This is one of the routes by which coaching entered the business arena.
Meanwhile, in the USA Nancy Kline was developing her ‘Time to Think’ model of coaching (2008). This is also a non-directive model. Crucial here is the absolute attention and the quality of listening the coach gives. The aim is to enable coachees to think for themselves, the underlying assumption being that the quality of the coach’s attention determines the quality of the coachee’s thinking. Once the coachee has run out of thoughts, the coach starts asking incisive questions in an attempt to help the coachee get rid of assumptions that are limiting ideas. Kline’s model has influenced coaching practice in Britain, with some coaches specifically training as ‘Time to Think’ coaches.
A second dominant influence on coaching comes from psychology. Renton (2009) gives a brief outline of the key American figures in psychology who have had a bearing on coaching. One of them is Carl Rogers, mentioned above, who is associated with the person-centred approach in counselling. This approach emphasises the importance of the client-counsellor relationship over technique or models. Active in the mid twentieth century, Rogers championed the idea that a good relationship would help clients find within themselves the capacity for growth and development. He emphasised the clients’ goals, with the clients leading much of the process, rather than the more traditional emphasis on “fixing them”, believing that only clients could heal themselves. His belief in the importance of accepting the client, being non-judgemental, and listening, have all influenced coaching (Renton, 2009). He was thus a forerunner of the non-directive school of coaching and approaches like Kline’s Time to Think.
The main psychological theories which inform coaching in Britain, their uses and limitations, are well described by Peltier (2010). They include adult development, the psychodynamic view, behavioural concepts, cognitive psychology and cognitive therapy, which is popularly used in the NHS, and systems thinking. Some of these models are described in more detail in a subsequent section.
Social work practice has also influenced coaching, particularly coaching supervision. A leading figure here is Peter Hawkins, a former social worker and therapist. He has influenced coaching through his practice, his writing and research, and his training programmes at his Bath Consultancy Group. Hawkins (2006) sees coaching in terms of helping coachees achieve personal change. This is mainly behavioural change, which will inevitably include changes in mind-set, emotions and sometimes core purpose. The thinking underlying his approach to coaching has influenced many practising coaches and will therefore be outlined in a later section.
The other main influence on coaching has been business. As coaching developed, senior figures from business entered the new profession, bringing with them their experience as senior leaders and their business perspective.