Bookcritique-Coactivecoachin

Book Critique: Co-Active Coaching

Introduction

Co-active Coaching, co-authored by Laura Whitworth, Henry Kimsey-House, and Phil Sandahl, provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of a particular approach to professional / personal coaching developed by the authors.

This approach, the �Co-active Coaching’ model, is based upon the fundamental principle

that in the coaching relationship, the coach and the client are active collaborators, in an alliance of two equals, where the �power’ lies in the coaching relationship, rather than in the coach.

Equally important, are the �Four Cornerstones’ that form the foundation of Co-active Coaching:

1. The client is naturally creative, resourceful and whole.

2. Co-active coaching addresses the client's whole life.

3. The agenda comes from the client.

4. The relationship is a designed alliance.

The book is presented in four sections.

Part I is entitled "Coaching Fundamentals" and provides an overview of the co-active coaching model and the coaching relationship. Part II, "Co-Active Coaching Skills", provides a detailed overview of the five contexts and key coaching skills of listening, intuition, curiosity, action / learning, and self-management. Part III, "Co-Active Coaching Processes", explores the �three core principles of coaching’ of fulfillment, balance, and process. The final section is "The Coach's Toolkit," which provides the reader with examples of forms, a series of exercises, and coaching resources relevant to a coaching practice.

Description

The essential message of �Co-active Coaching’ is that for coaching to be most effective, the relationship between the coach and the client must be a �partnership’ between an actively engaged client and a professional coach, who is both proficient in the core coaching skills, and knowledgeable about the fundamental principles of fulfillment, balance and process that constitute, in varying combinations, the client’s agenda.

The authors presentation of the �Four Cornerstones’ of the Co-active coaching model in Chapters One and Two are important to ensuring a full understanding of the book’s overall message.

The Four Cornerstones of the Co-active Coaching Model

Cornerstone 1 states that the client is naturally creative, resourceful and whole. The authors note that, in their view, all clients either have the answers, or have the ability to find the answers to their issues. Whilst this is true, the role of coaching is to assist the client in the process of self discovery through the art and skill of questioning. On page 4, Whitworth, Kimsey-House and Sandahl state: �the coach’s job is to ask questions, not give answers.’ This statement is followed by a key insight, with the authors noting that from years of experience in applying their coaching model, they �have found that clients are more resourceful, more effective, and generally more satisfied when they find their own answers’ and that when a client has found the answer themselves, �they are more likely to follow through with action.

Cornerstone 2 emphasises that Co-Active Coaching addresses the clients whole life. Using this concept, the authors first present their theory on the three principles of coaching of fulfillment, balance and process. The choices and decisions that clients (or all people, for that matter) make on a daily basis influence the level or degree to which they achieve a state of fulfillment and balance, and �contribute to a more effective life process or to a process which is less effective’ (pg 4). The premise of the book is that all issues that clients bring to coaching are either related to the desire for greater fulfillment, improved sense of life balance, or related to the process by which the client is experiencing life.

Cornerstone 3 is that the agenda comes from the client. Whitworth, Kimsey-House and Sandahl’s message here is the importance of �Holding the client’s agenda’ once it has been established in the overall context of what fulfillment and balance mean to the client, and how the client desires to improve the process of their life. Whilst on a weekly basis, the client may bring specific issues to the coaching sessions, the authors note on page 5, �the coach’s job is to make sure the agenda doesn’t get lost.’ The coach must continually relate each topic or issue to the overarching agenda that will ensure that the clients are always steering towards fulfillment and balance, and are able to engage in the process of their lives’ (pg 5). Importantly, the authors utilise the concept that in a coaching relationship, the client sets the agenda, to distinguish coaching from a consulting relationship or service, where the consultant typically sets the agenda and offers specialized expert advice.

Cornerstone 4 states that the relationship is a designed alliance. The authors explain this statement in detail in Chapter 2, where they explain that “the relationship is вЂ?designed’ because it is customized to meet the exclusive needs of the client. It is an вЂ?alliance’ because both players are intimately involved in making it work.” (pg 13) An important point here is that the power in coaching lies within the coaching relationship and not within the coach. On page 14, the authors empahasise this point, stating вЂ?Powerful coaching is not about being a powerful coach; it’s about the power the client experiences’. They go on to say that the coaching relationship вЂ?is more powerful than either the coach or the client’, and note that the involvement and role the client plays in designing the relationship in a way that works best for them is a key differentiator of the co-active coaching model.

The Five Contexts of Coaching

Following the establishment of the foundations of the co-active coaching model described above, in Part Two of the book, the authors review what