Are You the Coach You Think You Are? Different Perspectives on Coaching Behaviour

Researcher/Institution name:: Dr. Erik de Haan, Ashridge Centre for Coaching - VU University of Amsterdam

Research Summary

The article examines how coaches, consultants, manager-coaches, and clients perceive coaching behaviours using the CBQ questionnaire.
It shows that coaches’ self-perceptions do not always match how clients experience their behaviour, especially regarding directness, advice-giving, support, and emotional exploration.

Research Question

Are there differences between how coaches perceive their own behaviour and how clients perceive the same behaviour, and are these differences influenced by gender, age, role, and nationality?

Link to the Coaching World

The study is highly relevant to coaching practice because it shows that a coach’s self-image is not always the same as the client’s experience.
This highlights the importance of feedback, self-awareness, and professional supervision in coaching.

Importance and Innovation

The main innovation is the use of a structured tool to measure coaching behaviours and compare multiple perspectives.
The study also shows that coaching style may vary systematically across different groups of practitioners, not just across individual coaches.

Method and Data

This is a quantitative study based on a questionnaire.
Data were collected from coaches, consultants, manager-coaches, and clients, and the researchers compared self-reports with client reports.

Main Findings

Coaches tended to describe themselves as more non-directive and less directive than clients described them.
Women reported a more non-directive style, older coaches reported less directness, and those identifying as professional coaches tended to see themselves as more coaching-oriented.
Clients, however, perceived more advice-giving, more information-sharing, and less deep emotional exploration.

If you want, I can now turn this into a clean academic template with numbered headings exactly ready for submission.

APA:

de Haan, E. (2018). Are you the coach you think you are? Different perspectives on coaching behaviour. Coaching Today, 2018(January), 6-10.

Website: 

http://www.erikdehaan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Are-you-the-coach-you-think-you-areSP.pdf

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