CHAPTER 9

THEORIES SUPPORTING SKILL-BASED COMPETENCIES

© The Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara

The standard skill-based competencies in coaching are the basics of building a contract, building a trusting relationship, listening, asking good questions that build awareness and insight and create new ways of thinking about things, building action steps, designing plans for supporting change, and measuring results and outcomes. These basics are critical to great coaching and much more complex than a cursory glance might suggest. The tasks of learning to listen at profound levels and ask questions that are provocative and arise from a sense of curiosity are hefty challenges for coaches. And although it is not the purpose of this book to review each of these skills in depth, it is useful to highlight a few resources that are particularly helpful to coaches in the early stages of development:

Egan, G. The Skilled Helper. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 2009. This book is specifically designed for helpers and counselors, but it thoroughly addresses many of the skills relevant to a coach and the underlying process that supports change.

Rogers, J. Coaching Skills: A Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. This book offers friendly, accessible, and practical tools and skill-building processes for deepening coaching skills.

Kimsey-House, H. Co-Active Coaching. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2011. This book is filled with helpful skill-building tools, and the coverage of listening skills is probably one of the best available.

Williams, P., and Menendez, D. S. Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute of Life Coach Training. New York: Norton, 2007. This book contains thorough coverage of many of the basic coaching skills, complete with useful case examples.