What Does Coaching Research Say about the Coaching Relationship, Personality Match, and Self-Efficacy on Coaching Effectiveness?
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As coaches willing to reflect on our practice, consider this question: "What are the 'active ingredients' that lead to good coaching outcomes?" Although we are trained to use our International Coach Federation coaching competencies, this question is still worth considering.
We don't have extensive research yet on this question but in this article, I will report on one highly relevant and interesting study. As coaching grows in utilization and organizational buyers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, we need to continue to explore what works best.
Executive Coaching
Executive coaching is usually a significant investment that hopefully brings value to the individual and hopefully also to the organization. Coaching is generally a focused conversation, tailored to the individual, and relies on a reflective conversation within a confidential and supportive relationship. This individual, confidential conversation reminds one of a psychotherapeutic relationship except the goals, and many of the approaches, are different.
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Though there are numerous studies documenting the efficacy of coaching, including some meta-analysis (Jones, Woods, & Guillaume, 2015), the particular competencies or interventions that a coach may use have not been extensively analyzed in double-blinded studies to determine what works and what doesn't. Since that type of research has been done in the psychotherapy field, and because of the similarities—a confidential relationship, the role of reflective listening and personal goals—it is prudent to consider what psychotherapy research says that might relate to coaching.
This article draws on a large study of executive coaching conducted by de Haan and colleagues that explores the perceived effectiveness of coaching from the perspectives of coach, coachee, and sponsor. Data was collected from 1,895 client–coach pairs (366 different coaches) from 34 countries, for a total of 3,882 matching surveys.
The focus of this research, which has not been investigated previously on a large scale, is on the impact of the following on coaching effectiveness:
- Coach–coachee working alliance
- Personality
- Self-efficacy
Are there Common Factors in Therapeutic Success?
Although coaching is not psychotherapy, let's examine an interesting relationship between the two. A debate within the psychotherapy community has long focused on the effectiveness of different psychotherapeutic techniques. Despite passionate disputes between the promoters of different theoretical therapy approaches, research has shown little difference among different types of treatments in terms of outcomes. The idea of common factors of effectiveness comes from the idea that if all therapies are equally effective, there could be a set of general active ingredients that are common to all approaches (Rosenzweig).
Research indicates that one of the most important factors in psychotherapeutic effectiveness is that the therapist builds a strong working alliance with the client which embodies warmth, trust, and respect for the client. Although coaching is not therapy, there are some similarities including the elements of confidentiality, listening, and a supportive relationship, so coaching and psychotherapy are often referred to as helping relationships.
Past Research
Researchers de Haan, Culpin, and Curd examined how various executive coaching interventions made a difference to coaching outcomes. Seventy-one coachees reported on the various coaching interventions. The results indicated that there were no superior effects for any specific coach interventions, leading to the conclusion that "coaching effectiveness is not a function of specific techniques or interventions as much as effectiveness is a function of factors common to all coaching, such as the quality of the coaching relationship, empathic understanding, and positive expectations."
Smith and Brummel explored the relationship between three of the four active ingredients of therapy (therapeutic relationship; expectancy, hope, and placebo effects; and theory and technique) and a specific measure of executive coaching success—refinement of leadership competencies that were focused on in coaching. This was an interesting study because the clients had a significant amount of coaching—30 clients who spent on average 82 hours being coached by external coaches or doing their "coaching homework." The results indicated that these three active ingredients were significantly related to coaching success. They also found that those coachees and coaches who established developmental plans were more likely to experience competency improvement compared to those who did not create developmental plans. The researchers concluded that goal theory contributes to an effective coach-coachee relationship. Goal theory states that setting goals and creating action plans contributes to goal attainment (Gollwitzer).
In another study, de Haan and colleagues studied the importance of various common factors in executive coaching for 156 coachees and 34 experienced external coaches (an average of eight coaching sessions). They examined several "common factors" and measured which of these had the highest positive impact on coachees. The study showed that coachee perceptions of the outcome of coaching were significantly related to their perceptions of the working alliance, coachee self-efficacy, and a perception that the coach was using coaching interventions.
Recent Research
In the recent large study of 1,895 coaching clients, the researchers focused on:
- The working alliance
- Self-efficacy
- Coaching effectiveness
Working Alliance
The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) was used to measure the coach–coachee relationship. The WAI consists of three subscales: Task, Goal, and Bond.
- The term Task refers to what coach and coachee agree needs to be done, such as, "I am clear as to what my coach wants me to do in these sessions."
- The term Goal refers to client chosen desired outcomes, and a typical item is, "The goals of these sessions are important to me."
- The term Bond refers to what extent that the coach and coachee feel trust and confidence in the other person, represented by, "I believe my coach is genuinely concerned for my welfare."
Self-efficacy
The General Self-Efficacy scale was used in the research to measure coach/coachee self-efficacy. The scale includes questions such as: "I can always manage to solve difficult problems if I try hard enough," and "If someone opposes me, I can find the means and ways to get what I want."
Coaching Effectiveness
Coaching effectiveness was assessed using a scale that asked questions such as: "successful in creating reflective space"; "successful in creating new insights"; and "successfully engaged in new action or behavior".
Nutshell Results of the Study
The study found that the working alliance, as rated by both the coach and coachee, correlates strongly with coach and coachee-rated coaching effectiveness.
Also, coachee self-efficacy was determined to correlate with coach and coachee-rated effectiveness.
However, the researcher reported that coachee personality, coach personality, or coach-coachee personality matching did not relate to coaching effectiveness. It should be noted however that the clients did not complete the MBTI as part of this research study, instead they used self-reported personality type based on coachee's recall, so the accuracy of the reported MBTI type may be inaccurate, calling this finding into question.
Self-Efficacy and Coach Client Relationship
While the coaching relationship is important, self-efficacy also has a vital role in determining coaching effectiveness. Interestingly, the strength of the working alliance and a goal-oriented focus was found to mediate the impact of low self-efficacy on coaching effectiveness. A strong emphasis on goals in the working alliance seems to compensate for low coachee self-efficacy. A key takeaway for coaches is that a strong coach–coachee working alliance and strong goal-setting appear to be especially important for effective coaching.
The Differential Effects of Bond, Task, and Goal Aspects of the Coach–Coachee Relationships
Although the researchers found a positive correlation between the overall working alliance and coaching effectiveness, they also found evidence that there are differential effects of various aspects of the coach–coachee working alliance. The task and goal aspects of the working alliance, as rated by the coachee, were significantly more strongly related to coaching effectiveness than the bond aspect. The same was true for the coach ratings: The coaches' evaluation of the task and goal aspects of the working alliance are more related to coaching effectiveness than the coaches' assessment of the bond aspect of the working alliance.
These finding highlight that although the working alliance is important to coaching effectiveness, and the bond aspects of the relationship are important, coaches also need to be focused on the coachee's goals and the specific behaviors that enable goal attainment.
In summary, there are "common factors" that contribute to coach effectiveness. There is strong evidence of the importance of the strength of the working alliance from the coachee's and the coach's perspective. In addition, the tasks and goals incorporated into coaching proved to be more important than the bonds between coach and coachee.
There are likely also other important factors contributing to coaching effectiveness that have not yet been studied. These early findings will help guide coaches who want to use an evidence-based approach to coaching, as well as help with the training of executive coaches. These are only the factors we've looked for, there are likely many other relevant factors that have not yet been investigated. These factors may be well-supported by evidence, but at this early stage of research, the reader should bear in mind that there may be other critical factors which have not yet been studied.
Practical Applications
Considering this research, the practicing coach is wise to think about how to increase the working alliance with their coaching clients.
One of the initial elements of creating the working alliance is developing rapport quickly with a new client. The client will quickly determine if they feel the coach is trustworthy, and worthy of communicating with openly. You may want to utilize some of the ideas from David Maister and colleagues in their book the Trusted Advisor, to develop rapport and trust, two ingredients of the working alliance. Trust is central in a coaching relationship, and building rapport can help people gain that trust.
Create Credibility
The coach being referred by a knowledgeable colleague, acting professionally, being able to explain the essence of how coaching will be structured clearly, being knowledgeable of resources, assessments or tools that demonstrate you have expertise, and use of coach-like skills and language, help to establish credibility with a new client.
Prove You are Reliable
You can develop trust by doing what you say you're going to do. This includes starting meetings or sessions on time and returning emails or phone calls promptly.
Create a Connection Through Appropriate Disclosure
The client will share their feelings when the coachee feels comfortable and at ease with you. Appropriate, gradual disclosure and openness from the coach can help the coachee feel more comfortable being open with you, as long as you don't overshare. Have professional, appropriate boundaries but still be willing to gradually share a little about yourself. You could ask the client, "I'm asking you a lot of questions, is there anything you want to know about me?"
Demonstrate You Care
Through your actions, help the coachee conclude that you genuinely have their best interests in mind, and that the relationship is not just about work and work performance. As coach take an interest in the big picture of your client's life and let them know how they could reach you on short notice by phone or email if something urgent arises.
For more information, see: de Haan, E., Grant, A. M., Burger, Y., & Eriksson, P. A. large-scale study of executive and workplace coaching: The relative contributions of relationship, personality match, and self-efficacy. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research.
