The article addresses the research question of what the “active ingredients” are that contribute to coaching effectiveness? It specifically examines executive coaching and investigates which coach-and coachee-related factors best predict successful outcomes. The significance and novelty of the study lie in the use of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in coaching, which are relatively rare, and in the suggestion that we need to rethink the conventional emphasis on the coach–coachee relationship in favour of focusing more on coachee attributes (such as resilience, self-efficacy, perceived social support). The research method involved two RCTs: one among senior executives in a global healthcare organisation, the other among university students in London, each with experimental and control groups, and longitudinal measurement of coaching outcomes, resilience, well-being, goal attainment and more. Key findings indicate that coachee personal factors (resilience, optimism/self-efficacy, social support) are stronger predictors of outcome than the strength of the working alliance, which appears instead to reflect coachee readiness rather than predicting change over time.
de Haan, E. (2019). The Active Ingredients of Coaching. Coaching Perspectives, Issue 23, October