Jonathan Passmore

University of Reading · Henley Business School

The term ‘digital coaching’ is widely used but ill-defined. The present study therefore investigates how digital coaching is defined and how it differentiates from face-to-face coaching and other digital-technology-enabled (DT-enabled) formats, such as digital training, digital mentoring, or digital consulting. A qualitative inductive approach was...

Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for knowledge synthesis, the production of written content and the delivery of coaching conversations. Design/methodology/approach The research employed the use of experts to evaluate the outputs from ChatGPT's AI tool in blind tests to review the accuracy...

Purpose The use of “homework”, activities outside of the classroom or session, is widely applied in a range of disciplines including teaching, therapy and training. The argument advanced by advocates is that it provides an opportunity to consolidate knowledge learnt in the classroom and develop mastery in an applied environment. However, the use of...

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has led to the speculation that chatbots could revolutionise the coaching industry in the coming decade, replacing humans as the main provider of coaching conversations. The development of GPT4 has led to these bots becoming increasingly sophisticated and effective at providing su...

In this article we argue that coach education has been through three distinct phases of development over the past three decades: 1990-2020. These phrases reflect changes in the coaching industry, which itself has seen significant change over the same period. These phases include ‘pre-profession’, reflected in ad hoc and non-qualification based trai...

This paper examines data from a global survey of coaches (N=1380) undertaken by the research team in collaboration with EMCC Global, and with the support of a wide range of professional coaching providers, coaching schools and global coaching providers. This paper focuses on diversity within the global coach community, including race, gender and se...

This study responds to a recent call on coaches’ professional identity work through a socially contextualized lens. Coaches, as the freelancer, encounter complex working relationships with clients due to multiple contracting entities; yet coaches’ identity work has been neglected in the extant training and development courses. A total of 36 semi-st...

What does it mean to be ethical as a coach? What do ethics mean day-to-day and just how ethical are you? How do ethics influence your coaching and how do you know if you are engaging in ethical practice? We all have life experiences both personal and professional and those experiences influence our thinking and formulation of biases. What are you...

This paper presents the results from a global coach survey of 1266 coaches from 79 nations conducted in Summer 2021, when the world emerged from global lockdowns and the 18-month COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to sharing data on the composition of the global coach community (national residence, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disabi...

There is little empirical research into the benefits and experiences of coaching specifically in the outdoors. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) identifies four facets that explain why nature enables the brain to restore directed attention, improve cognitive capabilities and relieve stress. It is proposed that ART is relevant to understanding the...

This study aims to examine the insights and development of post-graduate trainee-coaches engaged in mindfulness meditation training and how mindfulness meditation contributed to their development and performance. Methods Data were gathered from 67 trainee-coaches who undertook a 10-week program. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) meas...

This qualitative study aimed to explore the use of mindfulness in the practice of coaching supervision and the perceived contribution mindfulness makes to the nature and quality of supervision. Major constructs and dynamics of mindfulness in supervision and insights into the perceived benefits of mindfulness practice are considered. Fifteen in-dept...

This article is based on original qualitative research involving key stakeholders from across the coaching eco-system and advances a call to action inspired by a growing vanguard of coaching practitioners, researchers and thought leaders seeking to deploy coaching in support of the global movement for racial justice and equity. The research, using...

In Coaching Practiced: Coaching Psychology Tools, Techniques and Evidence-Based Approaches for Coaches, a team of distinguished researchers delivers an insightful and complete handbook for practicing coaches. From wellbeing to the workplace, coaches of all stripes will find a fulsome discussion of effective methods, strategies and frameworks for co...

This article explores the role of metaphors in coaching and how coaches might both better understand this form and make more effective use to enable clients to better gain fresh insights about themselves and the systems in which they operate.

While leaders are scrambling to take up the issue of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in the context of the heightened consciousness of systemic and structural racism prompted by the BLM campaign, the world of coaching has been slow to engage with the issue of racial justice. This year-long qualitative study responds to a gap in coaching literature wh...

This short article is the last in a series of six papers exploring positive psychology coaching techniques. The previous papers have explored the concept of positive coaching psychology and how it may be applied. The focus of this paper is a technique that encourages the mind to pay more attention to good things and develop a mind more observant of...

This article is the seventh and final one in this series for The Coaching Psychologist , which is drawn from the Motivational Interviewing (MI) approach. In the previous papers I have summarised briefly the principles of Motivational Interviewing (Passmore, 2011a). In five further papers for the Coaching Psychology Techniques section I have offered...

This is the first in a series of papers to look at mindfulness coaching as an approach suitable for use with coaching clients. This paper presents a brief overview of mindfulness for readers who are less familiar with the approach and highlights other sources for a fuller account of mindfulness coaching. The paper sets the scene for a subsequent se...

This article builds on a descriptive paper on positive psychology coaching and several previous techniques papers. This paper explores the application of gratitude, with its associated benefits, as a part of positive psychology coaching practice.

This is the first in a series of papers to look at Positive Psychology Coaching (PPC) as an approach suitable for use with coaching clients. This paper presents a brief overview of PPC for readers who are less familiar with the approach and highlights other sources for a fuller account of PPC. The paper sets the scene for a subsequent series of pap...

This short techniques article is part of a series of papers and builds on the initial outline paper which explored the potential of positive psychology approaches within coaching (Passmore & Oades, 2014). This paper focuses on the skill of positive case conceptualisation, which allows coach and coachee to work collaboratively on building a shared u...

This short article focuses on a specific technique, which can help us manage the environmental distractions that are a constant feature of modern life. The paper offers a short description of the process and when this technique may be helpful within a coaching conversation.

This short article focuses on a specific technique: Attitude Choice. The paper offers a short description of the process and when this technique may be most helpful within a coaching conversation. It builds on the previous papers which have briefly reviewed the science and potential for mindfulness approaches in coaching and other techniques. As a...

What is Coaching? Almost every coach knows the answer to this question. However, a comprehensive answer requires a description of coaching which differentiates it from other interventions. Defining coaching, and describing its unique characteristics, is a cornerstone of the profession. With a definition in place, the coach can start to construct th...

This is a handbook with contributions from experts from both science and practice, which contribute to the further development of evidence-based coaching by providing current, scientifically founded, and practically applicable knowledge for coaches and coaching trainings. In our handbook, we have chosen to focus on basic scientific constructs, theo...

This chapter aims to explore the development of Motivational Interviewing (MI) as a coaching approach to deliver organizational change. We begin by laying out the challenges organizations face when trying to implement organizational change and motivating employees to participate. Afterward, we introduce the communication approach of Motivational In...

The original inspiration for this handbook came from discussions with academics and coaching practitioners at the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP) Congress in Münster, Germany, in May 2013. A position paper on “Coaching – Practice or science based?” (Greif, 2013) traced the history of coaching and its relationship...

Workplace coaching is a rapidly growing industry, and while there has been some research carried out to explore the effectiveness of coaching and to evaluate coaching outcomes, there has been very little research to underpin coach development and how coaches best develop coaching competence for workplace coaching. Self‐awareness is perceived by man...

In this chapter, the author emphasizes the importance of managing our out‐of‐control feelings. Here, he shares his experience of working with Steve who came with a record of success from his previous role, and the early months passed without incident. The author aims to help Steve explore the relationship between the activating event/trigger for th...

This article is the fifth in a series for The Coaching Psychologist which is drawn from the Motivational Interviewing (MI) approach. In the previous papers I have summarised briefly the principles of MI (Passmore, 2011a). In four further papers for the techniques section I have offered a perspective on the application of ‘Reflective listening’ (Pas...

This short article focuses on a specific technique, STOP, which is part of a wider series of papers on Mindfulness Coaching. The paper offers a short description of the process and when this technique may be most helpful within a coaching conversation.

This short article focuses on the skill of Active Constructive Responding, a technique used when working within a positive psychology coaching framework. The paper offers a table that describes the behaviours, cognitions and emotions at six levels of listening. It offers a way to combine active listening with positive feedback responses to help dem...

This short paper focuses on a specific technique: ‘Being the observer’. The article offers a short description of the process and when this technique may be most helpful within a coaching conversation. As a technique paper, I have deliberately kept the discussion short, but for those interested in the wider evidence behind the application of mindfu...

This article is the second paper drawing on the application of motivational interviewing within coaching. I previously summarised briefly the principles of Motivational Interviewing (Passmore, 2011a) and offered one technique – reflective listening (Passmore, 2011b). In this paper I will briefly review a technique called decisional balance or ‘the...

This short article focuses on the skill of reflection within Motivational Interviewing (MI). It identifies three different types of reflection – ‘simple reflection’, ‘over‐stated reflection’ and ‘under‐stated reflection’ and identifies when each has a role in an MI coaching conversation.

This is the first in a series of papers to look at Motivational Interviewing (MI) as an approach suitable for use with coaching clients. This paper presents a brief overview of MI for readers unfamiliar with MI and directs readers to other sources for a fuller account. The paper aims to set the scene from a practitioner perspective for subsequent p...

This article is the third in the techniques series which are drawn from the motivational interviewing approach. In the previous papers I summarised briefly the principles of motivational Interviewing (Passmore, 2011a) and in the techniques section offered a perspective on the application of reflective listening (Passmore, 2011b) and ‘the balance sh...

In this techniques paper we explain how using random acts of kindness can be built into consistent acts of kindness and empathy, helping clients build, hope, self‐regard as well as long‐term physical health.

In this article we explore the concept of mindfulness as a tool for helping both coaches and coachees. We argue that the coaching practice of the coach can be enhanced through using mindfulness as a preparation tool. We highlight research evidence on the impact of mindfulness in managing stress and contributing towards improved performance. We argu...

This article is the fourth in a series for The Coaching Psychologist which is drawn from the motivational interviewing approach. In the previous papers in the publication I have summarised briefly the principles of Motivational Interviewing (Passmore, 2011a) and offered a perspective on the application of ‘Reflective listening’ (Passmore, 2011b), ‘...

This paper presents the results from a global survey of 1200 coaches undertaken in Summer 2021, as the world emerged from global locksdowns and the 18 months of the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey gathered data on the make-up of the global coach community, including biographical data on national residence, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation...

This conceptual paper explores the development of coaching, as an expression of applied positive psychology. It argues that coaching is a positive psychology dialogue which has probably existed since the emergence of sophisticated forms of language, but only in the past few 1000years, has evidence emerged of its use as a deliberate practice to enha...

The Global Coach Survey, undertaken in partnership with Henley Business School, EMCC, and CoachHub, contains the results from a survey of 1200 coaches from across the world. Undertaking in Summer 2021 it explored themes as the coach community emerged from Covid-19, from the impact of the virus, to the growth of digital coaching, from team coaching...

Aims and purpose This report, informed by original research by Roche and Passmore (2021) with key stakeholders across the coaching ecosystem , is a call to action inspired by coaching practitioners, researchers and thought leaders seeking to deploy coaching in support of the global movement for racial justice and equity. The research gives primacy...

This report, informed by original research by Roche and Passmore (2021) with key stakeholders across the coaching eco-system, is a call to action inspired by coaching practitioners, researchers and thought leaders seeking to deploy coaching in support of the global movement for racial justice and equity. The research gives primacy to the marginalis...

It is proposed that it is critical that coaches are highly self-aware to be effective at facilitating the development of self-awareness in their clients. Accordingly, self-awareness is included in the competency frameworks of the coaching professional bodies, yet there is a lack of evidence supporting how coaches develop self-awareness. This is pro...

Purpose: More context-specific research regarding the praxis of organisational coaching was needed for increased understanding of this emerging profession. Whilst progress was being made internationally, African coaching practice research was sparse, leading to potentially false assumptions about local praxis based on international trends. The aim...

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) within a positive psychology (PP) framework is an under-researched, creative group-work tool that aims to develop positive qualities through the creation of Lego models, metaphors and storytelling. The paper’s purpose is to explore the potential use with individual coaching clients as a means to opening up coaching convers...

This study explores the impact of coaching during mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and is based on constructivist grounded theory. While M&As have been an important growth strategy for many decades, few M&As have achieved the desired outcome. Many M&As leave a trail of emotional destruction throughout the affected organisations, requiring years of reco...

Self-awareness is often seen as a critical component in leadership and career success, and has therefore become a feature in MBAs, leadership development, and management education. It has become a popular “buzzword” in management literature, yet when reviewing this literature, there appears to be no consistent definition of the construct. This arti...

Learning to reflect in order to improve one’s own practice is seen as increasingly important across a range of professions, from teaching to counseling, and from management to clinical work. We have argued in Chap. 1 that knowing the self and managing the self are key skills for every coach. The ICF competencies also draw our attention to reflectiv...

The Gestalt approach aims to help clients to reconnect with their ‘whole selves’, to understand their physiological reactions to the issues, as well as their thoughts and feelings, and how these affect them in the here and now. Gestalt coaching encourages clients to identify and reflect on their patterns of behavior and through their insights to te...

While many of the other psychological approaches to behavioral change focus on the problem, solution-focused approach challenges this mindset. The approach has its origins in Brief Solution Focused therapy which avoids analyzing the problem and instead encourages a focus on identifying solutions. Solution focused coaching, like many of the other ap...

The GROW model is possibly the most popular coaching framework in use across the world. Its popularity is due to the combination of its simplicity as a ‘four box model’ combined with its power to summarize a step-by-step route to problem solving, making use of psychological theory along the way.

All coaches come across ethical dilemmas in their practice. This may be about whether they can work with two different members of the same team in an organization, or whether to report illegal practices to regulators. Ethics is about making choice about what we consider as “right” or “wrong” and is an essential component of good coaching as well as...

As part of a self-regulating industry, coaches can provide consistent value to their clients by actively engaging in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities so that they can ensure that their skills are still active, current, relevant, and of a high standard. Such professional development can come in many different forms and is covered...

This chapter introduces the ICF Coach Knowledge Assessment (CKA), explains its purpose and describes the assessment process (ICF, 2020a). We also look at how you can best prepare for this assessment for a successful outcome.

A common challenge for many coaches is remaining present during a coaching session. We can often be distracted by events that have taken place before the session, as we think about the previous coaching session, by events during the coaching sessions, as our mind wanders on from what the client has been saying, or as our mind moves on to think abou...

With this competency, we continue to look at how the coach co-creates the relationship with their client and in this case the focus is on the extent to which the coach is present to and curious about what the client is saying and who the client is. The skill and quality of this partnering is also significant in terms of how and how much the coach a...

Many coaches ask what best practice is in taking notes during a coaching session. The ICF does not offer any specific guidance on note taking. Advice is limited to maintaining the confidentially of information and expecting coaches to be in compliance with national legislation, such as data protection. In this chapter we explore ideas around note t...

This chapter introduces the International Coaching Federation (ICF) Core Competency model. We begin with a brief history of how the core competency model came about along with an overview of the job analysis that gave rise to the most recent body of work being approved in September 2019. We also share a high-level overview of the model, along with...

Cognitive behavioral coaching (CBC) emerged from cognitive behavioral therapy and the work of therapists like Arnold Lazarus, Aaron Beck, and Albert Ellis in the 1960s and 1970s and has been developed by writers such as Windy Dryden in the 2000s. The approach aims to help clients recognize the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behavi...

From our experience we find that new coaches like to learn new techniques to try out. For this reason, we have included a selection in this book. We have included techniques in the individual chapters and added to these in this section with additional techniques.

In Chap. 3 we argued that self-awareness was an important aspect for the coach, and we offered some ideas for becoming more self-aware through using different lens to consider who we are. These included psychometrics as well as self-reflection and journaling. We believe the same principles apply to thinking about our clients. We believe each is a u...

The second competency in the Foundation Domain is Embodies a Coaching Mindset. This is a new competency that emerged from the most recent coaching job analysis conducted by the ICF as well as a qualitative study of coach’s learning journeys completed by the ICF Academic Research team. Many of the core coaching tasks, knowledge and attitudes identif...

This domain comprises the three competencies of (3) Establishes and Maintains Agreements, (4) Cultivates Trust and Safety and (5) Listens Actively. It is a collection of competencies which relate to the logistics involved prior to and within coaching engagements and sessions, as well as those which lead to client growth and development.

This final competency sits under the domain of Cultivating Learning and Growth and epitomizes the overarching function and purpose of the coaching process. The specific use of the words learning and growth immediately tells us that coaching is not just about solving a problem, working on an issue, reaching a goal, or addressing a challenge. It is a...

The humanistic approach (sometimes called person-centered approach) is in some ways at the very heart of coaching. This approach embraces the belief that within all of us is a ‘self-righting reflex’. This links well to coaching, where we hold the perspective that our clients are creative, resourceful, and whole. It also relates well to the idea tha...

In coaching, understanding who we are, is as important as understanding what is coaching. The coach plays a central role in the work with the client. We might even say the coach is the tool in the coaching relationship. By understanding themselves the coach can help get out of the way of the work the client needs to do, as well as using themselves...

We now look at the first of two competencies concerned with the effective communication of the coach which involve communication and methods of evoking awareness in the client.

This paper aims to provide an analytic review of contemporary coaching evidence and future research directions through reviewing the development of coaching (e.g., executive, health, and life coaching) and coaching psychology definitions. We offer alternative perspectives from psychologist and nonpsychologist coaching practice in the development of...

Coaching supervision has become the dominant model of reflective practice in the UK. This study sought to explore coach and supervisor perceptions of supervision, and critically observe supervision practice. The study utilized an observational design and semi‐structured interviews. The study involved an observation of a coaching session, which was...

Resistance from coachees is a problem met by executive coaches in all fields. The continued interest in executive coaching by organizations has seen coaching beginning to be used more widely. An increasing number of low and average performing managers are following their high performing peers into the executive coaching room. One particular challen...

Psychodynamic psychology has its roots in the therapeutic setting and is an approach that focuses on the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings and emotions. It particularly focuses on the dynamic relationship between conscious and unconscious motivation.

A systems approach can describe how the client’s scope of attention might expand beyond that of their immediate goal and extend to include factors such as their role, the team, the organization, industry sector, economic sector and even national, cultural and historical background. Having some level of understanding of and sensitivity to these fact...

In this chapter we will review the Universal Eclectic Coaching model. The model draws on the eight most popular approaches from psychology and applies these to coaching. We will look at each of the psychological models and how each can be applied to coaching, with a focus on the most popular approaches used within coaching; person-centered, behavio...

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an important aspect of professional coaching and is integral to the embodiment of a coaching mindset. This chapter looks at how CPD is defined as well as the many benefits it offers to coaches, not just in terms of their professional growth and development, but also its positive impact on the development...

Since coaching started its development as a separate discipline in the early 1980s (Brock, 2012; Passmore & Theeboom, 2016) definitions of coaching have been part of the debate within coaching practice and research. Almost every book, article and blog has offered a viewpoint as to ‘what is coaching?’

The second of the two competencies concerned with the effective communication of the coach is Evokes Awareness. The competency and job analysis process identified and analyzed certain “kernels” that emerged as highly effective characteristics in the coaching process. These included:

Supervision has become an important element within coach continuing professional development, and while it’s not the only way for coaches to reflect on their practice, the use of supervision as a mechanism is now widely accepted. Moreover, purchasers of coaching services want to know that they are buying the best and knowing that a coach is in supe...

In this chapter we focus on Personal Development Plans (PDP). PDPs are an important aspect of developing our coaching practice and we begin by sharing what is understood by the term personal development plan along with the purpose and benefits of this as an ongoing process. We also look at some of the underlying theory in support of PDPs and the pr...

There is much discussion in professional coaching circles about coach development. The ICF have their own terms for the journey a coach takes in their development from student to associate credentialed coach (ACC) to professional credentialed coach (PCC) and finally to master coach (MCC). In this book we have focused our thinking around the term ‘m...

Contracts are an essential element in the work we do with clients. They enable a shared understanding between the main parties; the organizational clients who be paying for the coaching, as well as individual clients. Research evidence (Passmore et al. 2017) confirms that a reasonable proportion of coaches don’t use written contracts in their pract...

The completion of the ACC accreditation is only the first step in your coaching journey. Most coaches aspire to become a PCC or an MCC. The journey toward these is based on reflective practice, during which the coach continues to apply their skills, builds their experience as a coach and also engages in further coach training.

The next competency in this domain is Cultivates Trust and Safety. Whilst this chapter focuses Competency 4 specifically, its close relationship with Competency 5: Maintains Presence is significant. It is the combination of these two competencies along with the depth and thoroughness of partnering undertaken in Competency 3: Establishes and Maintai...

Coaching has grown dramatically over the past two decades with a proliferation of different models. While a number of coaching schools and coaches still adopt a one size fits all approach to their coaching, we have consistently argued throughout this book that coaches are likely to be best placed to help their clients when they are able to draw fro...

The Foundation Domain is focused on how coaches should conduct themselves while coaching and in all interactions with related individuals. From a broader competency-development view, the competencies within the foundation domain would be considered a set of coach-focused competencies (i.e., describing who the coach “is;” the “being” of the coach),...

This mixed‐methods study reviewed the role of coaching in the driver development environment. The study sought to explore the impact of coaching as a learning methodology and to compare this with an instruction‐based approach. The study involved a mixed‐methods sequential design. The first part of the study was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) a...