The foundations of a psychological approach to executive coaching

Purpose – Aims to examine the two main groupings of definitions of executive coaching: those which focus on learning and development leading to performance improvement and those which are located around change. From there it follows the proposition that psychological‐mindedness is the foundation of psychologically focused coaching. Design/methodology/approach – Definitions of coaching are presented to set the context. Then the term psychological‐mindedness is described and the key aspects explored. These are: the capacity to reflect on one's own and others’ thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and derive meaning and learning from that reflection. It requires a level of self‐ and social awareness. The paper then looks at how psychological‐mindedness can be developed through a range of personal development processes and argues that these should be conducted both in one‐to‐one situations and in groups in order to derive the benefit of feedback. Finally, the training and development of executive coaches are explored. Findings – The arguments presented here point to a need to shift the emphasis of coach training to incorporate an equal focus on the personal development of the coach. Originality/value – There is little in the literature about executive coaching which addresses the importance of psychological‐mindedness; nor very much about how to develop it. This article also challenges the notion that advanced coach training should only focus on theory and practice development and advocates a more balanced approach.