How coachees perceive the coaching process: Evidence using narration and graphical illustration.

Abstract

This article reports on a study of the coaching process as experienced by the people being coached. Coachees, who were managers at a large bank in the Czech Republic and who had taken part in an average of nine coaching sessions, were subjects of a narrative inquiry that followed a script adapted from the life-story interviews developed by Dan P. McAdams (revised in 2008). Four key types of coachee experience were identified: one that involved a series of sometimes-related topics; one that seemed to have an overall shape, with a beginning, middle, and end; one characterized by changeability; and one characterized by an upward progression. In connection with the interviews, participants were asked to make drawings that illustrated their answers. Creating these graphical illustrations helped them reflect on their experiences, amplified their reflections, and depicted what they experienced in a clear and simple form. This article looks at the response of each participant and then discusses the implications of what was learned from the responses-including the ideal number of sessions; the "wearing-off" phenomenon in coaching, in which the positive effects of coaching diminish; and possible misunderstandings arising from the different perspectives of coach and coachee-and offers recommendations for future research.