Competence in Business Coaching – Part 5

Competence in Business Coaching – Part 5

Matching the coach to the coachee was a topic that had risen on several occasions in Bongi’s Business Coaching process for her Executives and Managers. She needed to consider how compatible the coach and coachee were. In truth, within her organisation, the Business Coaches needed to work with the coachees to co-create well-formed outcomes, create awareness and hold the coachees accountable for their chosen actions.

In addition to this, there needed to be a level of understanding of the coachee, and the ability to provide certain insights and guidance which would assist their coachee in reaching their objectives. For Bongi, there was no doubt that this must be based on a relationship of trust within a safe environment in which the coachee could be vulnerable and express their ambitions.

When considering matching the right coach to the coachee, Bongi read a study that showed that coachees attributed the effectiveness of their coaching largely to their relationship with their coach^[i]. This research further explained that it was the unconditional acceptance and respect from the coach that was directly responsible for the change in the coachee. Having said this, the findings indicated that there needs to be a certain distance between the coach and coachee, yet a mutual relationship was far more beneficial than a formal unilateral relationship. A personal connection is vital for success. This research concluded that even though personality differences can be a useful challenge, the coach and coachee’s beliefs and values should be aligned^[ii].

Bongi became fascinated. She had assumed that the more alike a coach and coachee, the more successful the coaching intervention would be. Bongi read on. She discovered some research conducted by Amy Shannon from Kent State University considered what makes a coachee coachable^[iii]. She identified the following 10 criteria:

• Interested and self-motivated
• Willingness to Change
• Openness
• Emotional Intelligence and Humility
• Proper Expectations and Commitments
• Potential
• The ‘When’ of Coaching
• When in Transition
• Support of Leadership
• Need or Desire

Bongi scanned this study to find the key element of compatibility between coach and coachee, however, all she could find was the criteria mentioned above. There was no mention of the need for a coach and coachee to be similar in any way. Only the desire for the coachee to be coached.

Bongi had a Business Coaching session with her coach, Margi. Her main outcome for the session was to understand the best matching process between a coach and coachee. She knew that this was critical to the success of the coaching interventions. She discussed the research that she had read with Margi. Margi seemed unfazed. She asked Bongi how similar she and Bongi were.

Bongi was taken aback, she had never thought of this. They were both women, yet beyond that, they were completely demographically different. They had different backgrounds, cultures, ages, and professions. Bongi knew that this coaching relationship worked effectively for her, yet she and her coach would probably not be considered ‘compatible’ by an outside onlooker.

Margi explained that she worked with coachees from all walks of life. Each one was completely different yet she had intimate and co-created relationships with each one. Her coachees stated that they received value from the sessions and regardless of all their differences, it worked.

Still feeling unsettled, Bongi asked Margi for more direct guidance in the form of research. Margi laughed that Bongi preferred to read a study rather than believe her personal experience. She showed Bongi research conducted by Erik de Haan (2021) in which he stated there was no correlation between coach and coachee matching criteria, namely demographic, commonality, behavioural compatibility, and coach credibility. In addition, de Haan cited Boyce et al (2010) and Chin et al (2015) to further prove that neither industry experience, professional background, nor personality type affected the effectiveness of the coaching process (de Haan 2013, 2016, 2019)^[v]

Once she had digested this concept, Bongi actually started to feel a sense of relief. She had spent so much time and effort trying to match the perfect coach with each coachee, and now she realised this wasn’t necessary. The principle of matching came down to this:

 • Would the coachee gain value from the coaching session?

If the answer was yes, the coach and coachee were well matched!

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