Psychological coaching models

Cognitive Behavioral Coaching

It is based on cognitive-behavioral psychology and problem-solving techniques. It tries to raise awareness in certain thinking and change beliefs that may interfere in the achievement of the objectives.

When there are emotional blockages, Ellis' ABCDEF model is used. Techniques of this psychology are applied:

• Records.

• Evidences.

• No labels.

• Cost-benefit analysis.

• Thinking "coldly".

Psychodynamic Coaching

It has its foundations in the theories and works of the Tavistock Institute. It is very appropriate in the following cases:

• Role conflict (especially authority).

• Delegation.

• Hostility.

• Team leadership.

• Assertiveness.

• Difficult relationships.

For coaches working in this line, what is important in organizations is what is "below the surface" and the links between the different parts of a system. They have the ability to capture the transference of their clients, defense mechanisms, being able to make interpretations of what happens in the relationships (not only with the client, but also with the organization). It is appropriate to make "assumable" and pertinent interpretations, so that they are useful to the client.

The relationship is less scripted than in other coaching methods, as spontaneity is key to bring out the relational material useful for the "parallel process".

Finally, the coach must be able to appreciate the emotion evoked by the coachee in his relationships with other people around him.

Systemic - psychodynamic coaching (constellations)

Its foundations are based on the theories of Bert Hellinger, on constellations and systemic laws (A system is a set of interconnected elements that pursue a common goal).

This method tries to enforce these laws in the organization on which the coach works. It has doubtful validity in its orthodoxy as coaching, because of the strict prevalence and rigidity of these laws and the intervention of the expert on the dynamics.

Methodology: Once the matter is exposed, the coach asks the client to order the different components of the system following certain guidelines, then, by means of some questions, he checks if the systemic laws are fulfilled, if there are exclusions of members, if there is a balance between what is given and what is received after several mutations of the location and the interactions represented in that scenario. The goal is for the client to find the best solution for him and for the rest of the members.

Strategic coaching

Its foundations come from Giorgio Nardone and his collaborators. Brief Strategic Therapy.

It tries to resolve the dysfunction between the client and what prevents him/her from achieving the result. Since the client has an inadequate way of perceiving and reacting to reality, the intervention focuses on making the client aware of the uselessness of these strategies and accompanies him/her to find other cognitive and emotional solutions.

Methodology: The aim is to discover the client's past successful situations and to encourage their repetition. In case there are none, we then try to identify the involuted capacity (of strategy, action, constancy or management) and the primary incapacity linked to the previous one (to be, to feel, to react or not to react) and what basic feeling allows him/her to choose a strategy. This basic feeling, through the "strategic dialogue" should produce a "corrective emotional experience" that allows the elaboration of plans appropriate to the client's daily operational capacity.

Gestalt Coaching

It is based on humanistic psychology and gestalt therapy (Perls).

Its method consists of the client discovering the here and now, urging him to challenge his assumptions and to do so in the sessions (the coach - coachee relationship is the "tool"), since these are also part of "his world" and it is a safer environment where he can handle his limiting thoughts and feelings without fear. Some of the unique tools are having conversations with absent people, feedback, metaphors and stories.

Person-oriented coaching

Its foundations are based on humanistic psychology and person-oriented therapy (C. Rogers and Karkhuff).

The fundamental characteristic of its method is to work so that the client finds the guide of his life within himself and it is based on two premises:

• Radical trust in the client's person: Every living being has what is called a "tendency to actualization", that is, an innate capacity to develop his or her potentialities to the maximum.

• Non-directivity: The coach's job is to create favorable conditions for the client's development, not to guide his or her path.

Methodology: Once the objective is established, the method is based on conversations between the client and the coach to establish the plan and resolve difficulties. The success of the method depends more on the personal qualities of the coach than on his or her scientific training. The only condition is that the coach has three attitudes:

• Empathy: This involves participating as intimately as possible in the client's experience, while remaining emotionally independent. It allows the coach to become the "other self" of the client but without becoming him, so that the client can see, devoid of emotional complications, his own attitudes, feelings and perceptions. Mirroring the coachee is one of the most powerful tools of coaching.

• Unconditional positive acceptance: It is about knowing how to accept with equal color the worst that the client says about him/herself, as the best that he/she says about him/herself. It implies the absence of value judgments, this neutrality is achieved when a total empathy with th