The Psychology of Executive Coaching, 2nd Edition

5

The Person-Centered Approach

Alan Hedman

The therapeutic relationship, then, is the critical variable, not what the therapist says or does.

—Gerald Corey (1982, p. 90)

Carl Rogers, the originator of the person-centered approach, was a defining spokesperson for humanistic psychology for nearly 50 years. His ideas provided a dominant methodology in counselor education and have widely influenced both individual and group counseling during the last half of the 20th century. Although it is not widely known, a main feature of his therapy has been the empirical testing of the core conditions associated with personal change in high-functioning individuals. This would seem to make the Rogerian approach an obvious choice for executive coaches, but ...