Coaching, 4th Edition

4 The Coaching Relationship

DOI: 10.4324/9781003206422-5

You don’t have to have “chemistry” with your client. You don’t have to be best friends or dinner companions, but you must have a workable relationship in order to fulfill your coaching work. Sometimes people attempt to hide behind roles—executive, parent, boss—and have the power or authority of the role replace the relationship. It won’t work. Roles may provide the circumstances, but only the relationship can provide the foundation.

In a sense, the coaching relationship is a strange topic to bring up because, as Medard Boss said earlier, we already and always have a relationship with everyone and everything we encounter, whether we are aware of it or not. Consequently, it’s always ...