Professional Coaching Insights

Like all business practices and procedures we should be clear about the evidence in favour of them before we invest time and energy and money into them. Here we show the literature and evidence around the area of professional coaching most relevant to the young or new employee or entrepreneur. There is no shortage of coaching material available, as it has been the subject of much research and there are numerous scholarly articles on business coaching, sports coaching and personal coaching. The following articles, websites, books and reports provide further information on the practice of coaching.  

General principles of coaching include the following:

• It is a non-directive form of development
• It focuses on improving performance and developing the individual
• Personal factors may be included but its primary focus is on improving performance at work
• Coaching has both organisational and individual goals
• It helps people better assess their strengths as well as their development areas

It is a skilled activity which should be delivered by people who are trained to do so, this can include line managers and other staff including peers who are trained in coaching skills.

All the resources included in this section make an explicit link to coaching practice. As such, they are relevant to academics, executive and business coaches, life coaches, positive psychology practitioners and professionals working across a wide range of organisations.