Connecting to what matters : how meaning in life is explored and developed in coaching
Background: Meaning in life (MIL) is physically, psychologically, spiritually and socially important to both individuals and societies (Shin and Steger, 2014; Kim et al., 2022; Routledge and FioRito, 2021). Yet societal shifts have led to a gradual loss of shared meaning from religious and authoritarian structures (Martela, 2020; Vos, 2022), leaving individuals to find their own meaning. The pursuit of meaning may be seen as challenging in the current fast-paced, fragmented, hypercomplex digital age leaving little time for quality connections, reflection and making meaning (Dominici, 2018; Stelter, 2016a). Alongside this, individualistic aspirations fuelled by neoliberal values of freedom and autonomy promote the pursuit of happiness and success often at the expense of meaning and wellbeing (Wong, 2011b; Becker, Hartwich and Haslam, 2021). Individuals are left to self-manage their success and wellbeing with coaching criticised as part of a self-management toolkit, reinforcing neoliberal values by helping coachees find ways to do more and achieve more (Stelter, 2018; Bachkirova and Borrington, 2020; Tabarovsky, 2015). An alternative perspective proffers coaching as a fertile ground for meaning development by providing time and space to reflect, and connect to what matters (Stelter, 2019). However, while coaching approaches claim to support coachees to make meaning there is currently no theoretical understanding of how meaning exploration and development takes place within coaching. Purpose: This study sought to find out how meaning exploration and development is taking place within coaching. It aimed to provide both a theoretical and practical contribution to coaching by understanding the process from the perspective of practicing coaches. Methodology: Intensive interviews were carried out with experienced accredited coaches to explore how they work with meaning within coaching. Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) was employed as an iterative approach of simultaneous data collection and analysis which allowed generation of a theoretical framework of the process. Findings and conclusions: The findings identify a core category of connecting to what matters further divided into four categories that represent stages of meaning exploration and development, unlocking awareness, exploring meaning, broadening out and connecting with meaning. The study emphasised the importance of a safe container and a collaborative relationship within coaching where the coach works as a fellow traveller, flexing and adapting to what the coachee needs. This presented ethical considerations, and highlights further training is needed for deep work. Four preferred paths of meaning exploration were identified bringing meaning into coaching, working with values, working with goals and playing with time. These pathways align with previous research on MIL, but this study contextualises the approaches providing novel nuanced understanding of the coaching process. The study also found meaning needed to be holistic and contextualised through broadening out or playing outside coaching which encouraged experiential learning. Fundamentally, meaning was developed through connecting with meaning where coachees reconnected with existing meaning or found direction moving forward. Tangible changes often happened sometime after coaching, suggesting MIL is primarily psychological and connecting to what matters may act as a catalyst for future tangible changes. Findings are synthesised into a theoretical framework providing an explanation of the process and acting as an underpinning flexible framework for integrative coaching. Further, this study contributes to a more complex understanding of working with goals and develops the goals hierarchy to show how goals can contribute to MIL. Finally, there is a theoretical contribution to exploring different types of meaning within coaching and the implications of this for MIL in general.
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