ABSTRACT
In Part 1 the context is set with an overview from the editors of this handbook; ‘Past, present and future’ takes a view of the history, current state and future potential of the profession of coaching psychology. The wealth of development in the field of coaching and coaching psychology over the last decade and a half has been significant. Building forward, we see that coaching and coaching psychology is well placed as areas of practice challenge existing assumptions about how the world is and offer a full range of evidence-based methodologies to support the emergence of new narratives and ways of being as leaders, teams and whole organisations across the for-profit and not-for-profit landscape. This first part continues with a look at some of the more recent developments in the field of coaching psychology. We explore neuroscience (Chapter 2) and how that body of work might be used in coaching practice. In ‘Coaching and neuroscience’, Patricia Riddell explores how much we might need to know about the brain in order to contribute to an understanding of how coaching works, and how we might apply this with our coachees and clients. Diana Aguiar Vieira and Stephen Palmer take us into a more established area of psychological understanding in their chapter, ‘Self-efficacy within coaching and coaching psychology: an integrated Self-efficacy Coaching Model’ (Chapter 3). They note that the construct of self-efficacy has been capable of explaining and predicting human behaviour and/or change in several domains and that coaching psychology is not an exception. Goal-focused coaching, a mainstay of coaching practice for both coaches and coaching psychologists, is explored by Anthony Grant in ‘Goals and coaching: an integrated evidence-based model of goal-focused coaching and coaching psychology’ (Chapter 4). Considered by some as the forefather of modern-day coaching psychology, Anthony notes that although coaching is inherently a goal-focused activity, it is only of late that there has been interest in applying the considerable body of literature on goals and goal setting in the psychological literature to coaching practice. Through this chapter he aims to add further impetus to that trend. The growth and development of positive psychology has paralleled that of coaching psychology and has been an important influence in the growth and practice of coaching and coaching psychology. Positive psychology forms a significant thread in so many coaches’ practice. In their chapter ‘From positive psychology to the development of positive psychology coaching’ (Chapter 5), Sheila Panchal, Stephen Palmer and Suzy Green bring together this rich framework and explore its application as a coaching approach.
