Coaching Wisdom in the Workplace: Coaching from an Integrative Model of Wisdom

Wisdom has long fascinated philosophers and theologians, hailed by many as the key to human flourishing and the pinnacle of human development. From this perspective its relevance to coaching seems indisputable, if somewhat aspirational. At the same time, we are facing some of the most demanding challenges humans have collectively faced. Leaders face ill-defined problems requiring an ability to embrace uncertainty, to engage in foresight, thinking both long-term and systemically towards the common good. In this high stakes context, accessing wiser reasoning ‘in time’ and developing wisdom ‘over time’ may be vital, for both client and coach. Whilst wisdom is often seen as beyond the reach of most people, there are times when we are all somewhat wiser than at other times. Drawing on the psychological research on wisdom, this chapter will present coaches with an integrative model of wisdom, outlining dynamic factors and interventions that influence its development and its expression. It asks readers to deeply consider what role coaching can play in developing wiser individuals, wiser organisations and workplaces.

“Tit for Tat”—The Outcomes of Coaching in Service Companies

Workplace coaching has been established as a popular managerial development tool to support employees on all hierarchical levels. In service industries, coaching is underrepresented. This is rather surprising because more than in any other industry, the employees’ attitudes and personal job satisfaction have an impact on customers’ service perceptions. Thus, taking care of the service personnel should be a top concern for service firms. This position paper therefore presents the challenges service employees are confronted with, according to their distance to the customer, and describes how coaching may help them to overcome those challenges from a conceptual point of view. Service employees may be influenced by workplace coaching, affecting not only their work performance (i.e. skill-based outcomes), but also their attitude and personality (i.e. psychological outcomes). Theoretically, this study adds on previous research, by presenting a conceptual discussion of positive outcomes of coaching for service organizations, which is supplemented by considerations about negative or unwanted effects. Service practitioners learn that coaching can be widely applied to different employee groups and gain a differentiated perspective about conceivable positive and negative outcomes.

‘Wanting’ and ‘Liking’ Brain Mechanisms in Coaching: A qEEG Study using the CARE Coaching Model

Introduction: Coaching has become increasingly popular for leadership development and behavioral change in organizations. Recent studies suggest that motivation is essential in enhancing the effectiveness of workplace coaching. A number of studies revealed that delta and beta-gamma oscillations are associated with the human motivational process through ‘wanting’ and ‘liking’ mechanisms. However, the brain mechanisms of motivation in coaching have not been studied. This preliminary study is the first attempt to explore the ‘wanting’ and ‘liking’ mechanism of coaching, by investigating the activity of the delta and beta oscillations during a face-to-face coaching session through quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG).Methods: Six male, right-handed, middle managers of an organization (mean age = 31.6) were recruited voluntarily as participants. A multichannel EEG (19 electrodes, 10/20 System) was used to record brain activity in both the resting state and the continuous 45-minute coaching session whilst using the CARE Model. The artifact-free EEG data were then quantified using wavelet analysis to obtain induced band power. Results: Significant increase was shown in delta and beta-gamma activities throughout the coaching session. Increased delta absolute power was found in the frontal, parietal, and occipital regions, whilst increased beta-gamma activity was significantly detected in the frontal, posterior temporal, and occipital regions. Conclusion: This preliminary result suggests that coaching, with regard to the CARE Model, induces both ‘wanting’ and ‘liking’ mechanisms simultaneously. Thus, the present findings provide the first preliminary neuroscientific underpinnings of the role of motivation in enhancing the effectiveness of workplace coaching through induced ‘wanting’ and ‘liking’ mental processes.