As a researcher in the field of coaching, I have been preoccupied with questions such as ‘how and why does coaching work? and ‘how can coaches maximise the effectiveness of their practice?’ I believe that, as coaches, we can use research to inform our practice and consequently enhance our ability to enable others to reach their full potential.
However, research is often not presented in a way that is accessible to coaching practitioners. Often the focus on practical application is lost. Even for individual research papers where this is not the case, the real benefit of integrating research into practice comes when we can gain an overview of what a body of research tells us rather than findings from one-off studies.
These principles were the underlying motivation for me when writing Coaching with Research in Mind which was published in August 2020. In this book, I bring together recent research in coaching and psychology, accessibly summarise the findings, and provide a clear and specific breakdown of what research tells us coaches and leaders should be doing and why. In Coaching with Research in Mind I provide practitioners with the information and guidance they need to apply research in their practice. I explain how coaches can understand coachees’ characteristics, how they impact the coaching process and how coaches should adapt their practice to accommodate coachees. The book explains how to identify which principles of the coaching process influence effectiveness and tailor practice to maximise their impact.
