oa Summaries

Employees increasingly want coaching in their work and career in order to deal with their work-life balance, stress or burn-out, self-development and career choices. Research shows that this wish for coaching does not seem to relate to a failing work environment but rather to a desire to develop and strengthen personal resources. Research also shows that coaching is effective, but more and better research is needed to robustly demonstrate the effectiveness of coaching. Furthermore, little is known about what exactly happens during coaching. Both the quality of the coach-coachee working relationship and the test and methods used by coaches may influence the effectiveness of coaching. More research is needed on coach-client fit and whether this fit affects the quality of the working relationship and the effectiveness of coaching. Coaches use tests and methods that are theoretically grounded and – within other domains – empirically tested, but they also use non-validated tests and coaching methods for which there is no theoretical or empirical basis. We advocate a further professionalization of coaching in which the use of evidence-based methods becomes the norm and coaches' competencies are independently and professionally tested.