I DOUBT THEREFORE I COACH: CRITICAL MOMENTS IN COACHING PRACTICE

Abstract

How can coaches learn from moments and incidents in their own practice, particularly from moments that somehow feel critical? How can they improve working with the tension and anxiety that such moments will generate, and how might they even make use of such tensions? This is the first report of a research project into critical moments in coaching practice, which looks at critical moments of relatively inexperienced coaches. The second report, which looks at critical moments of much more experienced coaches, can be found as a companion article in this same issue. The sample size of the inexperienced coaches was 65 and 49 coaches communicating a total of 56 critical moments. Analysis of the moments revealed that they were all somehow related to a doubt that the coach had, so doubt seemed to be the overriding form of tension for the inexperienced coach. The type and nature of doubts are analyzed and the possible impact of (in-)experience is studied. © 2008 American Psychological Association and the Society of Consulting Psychology of the American Psychological Association.