The Coachee's Context: Family and Work

The Importance of the Living Environment

To understand a coachee in depth and effectively facilitate his or her change process, it is not enough to focus solely on his or her individual characteristics.

It is essential to consider his or her life context, the social systems in which he or she is immersed and which significantly influence his or her experience, behavior and perception of reality.

Two of the most influential contexts in adult life are undoubtedly family and work.

Exploring the coachee's dynamics within these environments provides valuable information to understand their challenges, resources and motivations.

The Family as the Basic Social Nucleus

The family constitutes the core of basic social organization. It is a human group that generally remains united by bonds of cohesion and exclusivity.

For most people, the family is the main space where protection, intimacy, affection and social identity are obtained.

It functions as the main reference group and often as the main source of emotional and practical support.

The influence of the family environment is immense; as one author argues, no one can have a greater influence on a human being than those people with whom he or she lives and shares a past, present and future.

For this reason, problems within the family can generate profound changes in people.

Thus, it is crucial for the coach to gather information about the coachee's family context in order to better understand him/her as a person and to understand the roots of some of his/her behaviors or challenges.

Work as a Definer of Maturity and Self-Concept

Work is another contextual factor of enormous weight, often defining a person's stage of maturity.

It acts as a key element in the formation of the self-concept, reflecting both what one is to oneself and what one represents to others in the social sphere.

The onset of adulthood is largely marked by the choice of a profession and the incorporation into the world of work.

We dedicate a significant part of our youth to training for that activity that we will exercise during our adult life.

Career Development and Job Satisfaction

Towards the middle of life, many people reach the peak of their occupational cycle, exercising more influence, earning higher incomes and achieving more social respect, thanks to the accumulation of experience and knowledge.

However, at this same stage, professional success can lose some of its initial appeal, especially for those who feel they have not achieved the goals they had set for themselves in their youth.

More experienced workers tend to be less idealistic and more fixated on short-term aspects of the job (such as pay, working conditions or vacations), rather than primarily seeking social recognition or approval.

Interestingly, they often show more satisfaction with their work than younger people, perhaps because of an acceptance that it is the b