Leadership in Action: Leader Coaches: Principles and Issues for In-House Development

THREE LEVELS

A recurring challenge for coaches is their reluctance to fully engage with a coachee when the latter begins to disclose significant and sometimes personal information. When coaches pull back just as they are closest to facilitating movement in their coachees' thinking, underlying mental models, and self-perception, it is often because they are afraid—of going too far or too deep or of unlocking strong emotions they feel ill equipped to handle. In short, they fear a tumultuous and out-of-control experience. This reaction apparently results from their discomfort with emotions and an often mistaken image of coaching as therapy in the workplace.

There are two responses to these concerns. First, when things go badly, it is usually because ...