Coaching 5: I’m still mourning a little bit
4. The practice of business coaching
4.2 Definitions of coaching and business coaching
Etymologically, the term ‘coach’ is derived from the English word ‘coach’ in the sense of
‘carriage’ (cf. Schreyögg 2012). In the 19th century, it held the meaning of “private tutors for university students”; and later, the term referred to sports trainers (Fischer-Epe 2006: 16).
Yet, at the time of writing this thesis, a myriad of competing definitions for the term ‘coaching’
are in use. In the last few years the term ‘coaching’ has entered the lexicon of many English-speaking and German-English-speaking people in the general sense of any service that somehow promises to improve the lives of the ordering parties. Thus, cosmeticians refer to themselves as ‘beauty coaches’, so-called ‘health coaches’ offer assistance for a healthy lifestyle, and
‘life coaches’ claim to help seekers find inner balance and meaning in life. Also, the word
‘coach’ is at times employed for travel guides as well as for other experts in specialised topics, as reflected in the labels ‘voice coach’; ‘sewing coach’; ‘Nichtraucher-Coach’ (= ‘non-smokers’ coach), which is the name of an anti-smoking application for mobile devices; and
‘Suppenfasten-Coach’ (= soup fasting coach), which refers to a weight-loss advice column in the online magazine FOCUS Online. At the time of completing this thesis, a Google word search resulted in approximately 63,200,000 hits for the word ‘coaching’, and 174,000,0000 hits for the word ‘coach’ (February 23rd 2014).
In the business context, the label ‘coaching’ is understood in a more specific sense: It refers to an instrument of leadership development and organisational development that is by now widespread and well-established throughout the professional world. To provide an illustrative picture of this core meaning, I will examine three definitions that are provided by three large coaching federations. First, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) explains coaching as follows:
ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative,
resourceful and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:
• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve
• Encourage client self-discovery
• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
• Hold the client responsible and accountable3
Four aspects are important with regard to this definition: First, according to the ICF, coaching represents a collaborative process in which the coachee is considered a partner. Therefore, the relationship between the coach and the coachee is described as less asymmetrical than in other settings of advice-giving, such as, for instance, psychotherapy (cf. Zumkeller 2010).
Second, the definition implies that coachings induce solution-finding processes that are creative and therefore unique. This is a crucial point because it implies that coaching processes can never follow standardised patterns, but they must be tailored to fit the individual needs of the coachees.
Third, the definition holds that it is the goal of a coaching process to empower the coachee in order to maximise his/her potential – note the subjectivity and elusiveness of the phrasing. The success of a coaching process hinges on the interpretations attributed to it by the players involved. In consequence, it is a vital part of a coaching conversation that the coach and the coachee define the criteria for success before the actual coaching starts (Fischer-Epe 2006: 191). Also, this aspect illuminates the importance of a common
understanding between the coach and the coachee with regard to the process in which they are involved. Clearly, the negotiation of this common understanding is intertwined with the co-construction of the relational quality of an interaction.
Fourth, an aspect of performance-orientation becomes apparent: While many of the basic assumptions and methods of coaching are derived from humanistic approaches, and while most coaches emphasise the importance of self-realisation and personal happiness, they are also bound to a paradigm of self-improvement, achievements, and success.
The second definition I will consider is provided by the German coaching federation Deutscher Bundesverband Coaching (DBVC):
Coaching is professional consulting, supervision, and support for persons with leading and controlling functions and for experts in companies/organisations. It is the goal of coaching to develop individual and collective learning and performing processes, primarily in the context of professional concerns. Coaching is a result-oriented and solution-oriented form of advising, which serves to increase and preserve the
achievement potential of the coachees. Coachings represent advisory processes that
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3 http://www.coachfederation.org/need/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=978&navItemNumber=567 (March 8th, 2014).
are tailormade to individual needs, and that support the improvement of professional situations and the management of roles under challenging circumstances. By
optimising human potential, coachings support the value-adding and forward-looking development of companies and organisations.4
Clearly, this definition puts far greater emphasis on the institutional aspect of coaching. It addresses persons holding responsible positions in companies and organisations, and it aims more specifically at the development of learning and performing processes. This definition reflects the historical difference between the American origins of coaching, which had a strong tendency toward general life coaching, and the specific reception of the concept of coaching in Germany and Switzerland, which traditionally tends to focus on professional issues rather than private ones (cf. Bresser 2011).
Thus, the definition of the term ‘business coaching’ in this thesis is based on the definition of ‘coaching’ by the DBVC, as quoted above. In this perspective, business
coaching aims at professional improvement, rather than at general personal happiness (as it is typically the case in life coaching). The economic paradigm influencing the line of business coaching is also apparent in the phrases “optimising human potential”, and “value-adding and forward-looking development of companies”. However, while business coaching is strongly determined by the idea that coachees inherently strive for high performance and professional success, it may also serve to activate personal potential. Therefore, coaching conversations as well as acts of positioning in the frame of coaching conversations may touch on aspects of the professional domain as well as the personal domain of self-presentation (cf. Section 13.1).
The third definition is derived from the German federation Deutscher Verband für Training und Coaching (dvct):
Professional coaching focuses on the development of the coachee’s individual problem-solving skills. The coachee determines the goal of the coaching. The coach is responsible for the process in which the coachee gains new insight and develops alternative choices of action. In the course of this process the coachee becomes aware of the complex interplay between his/her actions and his/her environment.
Coaching is a structured dialogue that is temporally limited and tailormade for the goals and needs of the coachee. The success of coaching is measurable, because the criteria of success are defined at the beginning of the process.5
This definition emphasises the central characteristic of so-called ‘process-oriented’
approaches to coaching (cf. König and Volmer 2000; Schreyögg 2009; Aksu and Graf 2011):
According to this perspective, the coach merely provides the setting for a solution-finding process by the coachee. Thus, the coachee is the expert on his/her own situation, whereas
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4 Translation mine. Source of original text: http://www.dbvc.de/der-verband/ueber-uns/definition-coaching.html (March 8th 2014).
5 Translation mine. Source of original text: http://www.dvct.de/coaching/definition (March 8th 2014).
the coach is the expert on the coaching process. Clearly, this view follows the ideal of nondirectiveness that is prevalent in many advisory settings, such as therapeutic talk, academic advisory talk, and related genres (cf. He 1994; Vehviläinen 1999; Locher and Limberg 2012; Angouri 2012; Section 5.6). In essence, the ideal of nondirectiveness
suggests that advisors should merely trigger processes of solution-finding in advisees, rather than present solutions to them. The coaches participating in my project share this
understanding of process-oriented coaching, as becomes explicitly apparent in one sequence in coaching 1 (cf. Excerpt 4.1):
Excerpt 4.1:
1 K: what is the difference between coaching and consulting then.
2 C: I think uhm the diff- uhm (-) in in coaching you’re uhm I try to uh (-) coach you to get your own solution.
3 K: aha,
4 C: and the consulting (-) ah environment, I have an idea and I give you a solution from the situation I understand.
The distinction between coaching and consulting provided by Coach I reflects the view by the dvct, as quoted above. In contrast, the competing association DBVC argues that coaches may include phases of consulting within coaching settings “if this is useful for the advisory process, and if the coach is competent in the respective area of expertise”6. Interestingly, the analysis of advice-giving in my corpus will demonstrate that each of the three coaches do provide clear-cut advice that is based on their expertise.
Apart from expertise-based consulting, coaching is further distinguished from psychotherapy. The dvct argues that psychotherapy attends to persons with mental health problems, whereas coaching presupposes that coachees are healthy and resourceful (cf.
Schmidt-Lellek 2003).7 Moreover, coaching is considered as different from training in that training is described as a setting facilitating specific learning processes that follow an ideal course and a predefined goal. In contrast, coaching is regarded as an individual learning process whose goals and course are negotiated during the session.8
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6 Original text mine. Translation on http://www.dbvc.de/der-verband/ueber-uns/definition-coaching.html (March 8th 2014).
7 Original text mine. Translation on http://www.dvct.de/coaching/definition (March 8th 2014).
8 Original text mine. Translation on http://www.dbvc.de/der-verband/ueber-uns/definition-coaching.html (March 8th 2014).