What is Coaching Psychology?

Many people are familiar with the notion of a "sports coach", someone who works with athletes and teams to improve their skills, develop strategy and to maximise their chances of winning. The contemporary notion of a coach takes this idea and extends it into other, non-sport related areas of life. 

Coaching is about bringing about positive change with a view to achieving desired goals.  Central to coaching is the notion that we can change, that we are not forever stuck with dysfunctional behaviours and that both individuals and organisations can improve. The main role of the coach is to facilitate this positive change process, enabling the individual or the organisation to succeed and ultimately, to become their own coach.

Coaching psychology is a relatively new approach to the enhancement of human performance, although it derives from the well established professions of clinical and organisational psychology.  In addition, coaching psychology incorporates aspects of education, training and consulting. 

Where clinical and counselling psychologists tend to work with clients who are distressed and/or dysfunctional, coaching psychologists work with well-functioning clients, using theoretically grounded and scientifically validated techniques, to help them reach goals in different parts of their lives. 

Because, as noted above, coaching psychology draws on established psychological theory and practice, the principals underlying coaching are not new or untested. What is new, and very exciting, is how coaching (business, executive and life coaching) adapts tried and tested techniques to the enhancement of performance and well-being in a wide range of non-clinical settings.

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