Executive coaches’ perceptions of the boundary and overlap between coaching and therapy: a study using Q methodology

Executive coaching of leaders and managers in the workplace is an established practice. Nonetheless, buyers and sellers of coaching still struggle to define the nature of coaching. One of the challenges in defining coaching is for the coach to be able to understand and manage boundaries between coaching and therapy. Most coaches are not therapeutically trained and there is concern that they might have difficulty identifying and managing boundaries. This study therefore set out to explore how executive coaches from a non-psychology background perceive and address what they consider to represent the boundary between coaching and therapy. Using Q methodology, twenty-six coaches were invited to rank order forty-eight statements to identify their viewpoints about how they perceived and expressed how they worked in areas of possible overlap between coaching and therapy. The study identified four viewpoints, which in turn led to the formulation of a proposed typology of how practitioners perceive and work at the boundary between coaching and therapy. Four types of practitioners were identified: Conscious, Confused, Conscientious and Confident. The study suggested that coaches held the view that they work within their competence but that a minority of coaches may not have a clear view of where the boundary is in their practice. The typology offers all stakeholders in the executive coaching market (coaches, coachees, sponsors, educators, supervisors and professional associations) a framework for discussion to further consider the boundary and overlap between coaching and therapy in practice.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Kitchin, Leonora

Contributors dc:contributor

• Myers, Adrian
• Gannon, Judie

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/f8sz-ea42

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:a98277f9-eaa4-42dd-a905-54618888ced4:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1