Abstract
Coaching was originated to help people who are functioning satisfactorily in life to develop themselves in one or more life areas (Wildflower, 2013). I refer to this as development-focused coaching. However, coaches are also asked to help people deal with a range of practical and emotional problems because some people find it more acceptable to be ‘in coaching’ than ‘in therapy or counseling’. I refer to this as problem-focused coaching. Even if coaches decide to be ‘purists’ and only see people for development-focused coaching, these people will experience obstacles (both practical and emotional) to the pursuit of their development-focused objectives and will expect their coaches to help them address these obstacles. Therefore, coaches need to develop a range of skills to deal with a range of situations. I will outline this range of skills in this chapter, indicating which skills need to be employed in which situation.
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Notes
- 1.
In this chapter, I will use the term ‘objectives’ to refer to what coachees want to achieve from development-focused RECBC and the term ‘goals’ to refer to what coachees want to achieve from problem-focused RECBC.
- 2.
While the word ‘should’ in RECBC theory may indicate the presence of a rigid irrational belief, in this chapter it will mainly be used in its recommendatory form, unless otherwise indicated. Thus, when I say that RECB coaches ‘should’ follow the steps outlined in this chapter, I mean that I recommend that they do so, not that they absolutely have to do so. Coaching steps ‘should’ be used flexibly, not rigidly.
- 3.
I am aware that some coaches only work via Skype or such platform in which case the assessment session would be via that platform.
- 4.
A coaching contract covers a range of coaching and practical issues that will not be discussed here. See Dryden (2017).
- 5.
Bernard (2018) refers to these as ‘rational principles of living’.
- 6.
Albert Ellis (1913–2007) was the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Although Ellis did not specifically write on coaching, his ideas on how humans can live psychologically healthy and happy lives form the backbone of Rational-Emotive, Cognitive-Behavioral Coaching as described in this chapter and in this volume.
- 7.
Let me remind you that in this chapter, I have decided to use term ‘objectives’ to refer to what coachees want to achieve from development-focused RECBC and the term ‘goals’ to refer to what coachees want to achieve from problem-focused RECBC.
- 8.
In doing so, I am not suggesting that a coach will implement all strategies for all coachees. Rather, I suggest that the coach employs a particular strategy that is salient for a particular coachee:
- 9.
A stakeholder is anyone in addition to the coach and the coachee who has an interest in the coaching that occurs in the coaching relationship.
- 10.
In my view, it is important for the coach to take such a test themself to determine its face validity before suggesting that their coachee completes it. I have done this test myself and concluded that it did accurately portray my values in rank order.
- 11.
When I was growing up, there was no cod liver oil in capsule form, only in liquid form which is very unpleasant. While we did not dispute its health benefits, we dreaded the call to “open your mouth and don’t make a fuss” as we swallowed the foul-tasting stuff. If we were lucky we were given a chocolate to take the taste away.
- 12.
Bernard (this volume) refers to such obstacles as ‘psychological blockers to successful coaching outcome’ and deals with some of the most common of these in his chapter.
- 13.
In RECBC theory unhealthy negative emotions (UHEs) are clearly differentiated from healthy negative emotions (HNEs). The former are problematic or disturbed responses to adversities at ‘A’ that give rise to coachees seeking help. The latter are realistic and constructive responses to the same adversities. As can be seen what sets these two types of emotions apart is their healthiness, not their negative feeling tone. Thus, according to RECBC theory, it is healthy to feel bad (but not disturbed) about an adversity. Some RECB coaches use the terms ‘disturbed emotions’ and ‘non-disturbed emotions’ to refer to UNEs and HNEs respectively, but in this chapter, I will use the latter terminology.
- 14.
See Dryden (2017) for a fuller discussion of the differences between unhealthy negative emotions (UNEs) and healthy negative emotions (HNEs) and how to use this distinction in emotional problem-focused coaching.
- 15.
I will illustrate these standpoints by using the method where irrational and rational beliefs are questioned at the same time.
- 16.
From the song, ‘Teach Your Children’ by Crosby, Stills and Nash.
- 17.
What I have to say in this section also applies to dealing with obstacles in the other two types of coaching that are the focus of this chapter. While I will focus on EPF-RECBC here, please extrapolate to PPF-RECBC and DF-RECBC.
- 18.
The term ‘meta-emotional problem’ means having an emotional problem about an emotional problem.
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Dryden, W. (2018). A Step-Based Framework for Practice. In: Bernard, M., David, O. (eds) Coaching for Rational Living. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74067-6_8
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