Enhancing evidence-based coaching through the development of a coaching psychology competency framework : focus on the coaching relationship.

The overall aim of this thesis is to facilitate the development of evidence-based coaching through investigating a competency framework for Coaching Psychologists to enhance the coaching relationship towards a positive outcome. Coaching has been extensively applied to organisational and leadership development programmes in the past few decades. However, coaching is not an accredited profession because it is a cross-disciplinary methodology. There are still some gaps in the existing coaching related competency frameworks of main governing associations (e.g. BPS and ICF). Hence, it is essential to enhance evidence-based coaching practice by identifying effective attributes for Coaching Psychologists by means of a role analysis. The research was split into four main stages. Firstly, a Systematic Review on Coaching Psychology was conducted to determine further research focus. Review results ascertained that the coaching relationship is the key indicator in facilitating positive outcomes. Thus there is an urgent need to develop and validate a Coaching Psychology Competency Framework (CPCF) to generate a greater effect on the coaching relationship. Second, Critical incident reviews (N=25) were utilised to elicit the effective attributes a Coaching Psychologist should acquire in order to facilitate a constructive coaching process. A draft competency framework underpinned by 13 competencies and 100 behaviours was outlined. Subsequently, a cross-validation questionnaire study (N=107) with Coaching Alliance Inventory (CAI) was carried out to evaluate the reliability and validity of the draft CPCF. A total of 75 behavioural indicators sorted into three groups (e.g. Soft Skills) were retained for further examination. The final study examined the effectiveness of the CPCF by means of a pilot quasi-experiment (N=26)that compared a group which received relevant training and a control group that did not receive this training. The study results indicated coachee participants who received coaching from the training group had a better relationship with their coaches and stronger belief in achieving their goals. In summary, this is the first coaching competency framework which focuses on investigating to what extent psychological grounded interventions generate a greater impact on coaching alliance through an evidence-based research process. Three distinct groups of competencies disclosed a constructive coaching process is mainly underpinned by a coach’s psychological interpersonal skills (e.g. enhancing a coachee’s selfesteem and motivation)and learning facilitation (e.g. establishing realistic goals and tasks); which could be applied to varied purposes of coaching training design. A longitudinal field study with genuine coach-coachee dyads should be designed in the future research to examine whether CPCF could be a professional guideline for Coaching Psychologists to establish an effective coaching relationship based on real coaching context