What are the Key Factors Behind Effective Executive Coaching?

- by John Lalor 

What makes for an effective executive coach? Doctorates? Years of experience in the field of one’s client? Empathy? Specific training?

Unfortunately, the prevalence of reliable Executive Coaching (EC) effectiveness studies is limited. However, it is argued that many of the principles within sound EC practice are closely related to psychological work

Psychologists D. Douglas McKenna and Sandra L. Davis* believe that both EC and psychotherapy are efforts to facilitate psychological and behavioural change through the medium of a collaborative relationship between a trained professional and a motivated client. They report on thousands of studies and many meta-analyses, which have converged on the conclusion that four “active ingredients” account for most of the variance in psychotherapy outcomes (shown here in their relative importance):

• Client/Extra-therapeutic factors (40%): Characteristics of the client and his environment outside of therapy, such as motivation to change, intelligence, conscientiousness, openness to experience or feedback, learning orientation, self-efficacy, and self-awareness.
• The Relationship or Alliance (30%): The quality of the relationship between therapist and client is the second most powerful active ingredient in psychotherapy. The quality and durability of the client–therapist relationship can make or break therapy.
• Expectancy, Hope or Placebo Effects (15%): Hope is a critical variable powered by therapists themselves and by clients who hope or expect to improve. Importantly, those who expect to improve through therapy do better than those who don’t.
• Theory and Technique (15%): The power of intervention to facilitate change comes primarily from factors that the various schools, theories, and techniques have in common, not from the differences between them.

So, something interesting is happening in the client-practitioner relationship. It is logical that client characteristics, such as motivation to change and self-awareness, are good predictors of success. However, that the quality of the relationship is shown to be so powerful – indeed, twice the predictive strength of the level and type of coaching training – is perhaps surprising.

If coaching qualifications, and extensive experience in business fields, are poor predictors of success, the questions remains: How are you choosing your executive coaches? Backed by a solid evidence base, GECG's focus on the client-coach relationship offers organisations highly effective interventions. 



Source:http://global-executive-coaching.blogspot.ch