In plain language
The relationship between a coach and the person being coached has been called the "vehicle for change" in coaching, yet there is surprisingly little empirical research on it. This study asked whether the type of coaching matters for how strong that relationship becomes. It compared two approaches: skills coaching (didactic, focused on improving job competencies) and transformational coaching (exploring the coachee's own values, beliefs, and life vision to produce deeper change).
Staff from four Australian non-government mental health services were trained in the Collaborative Recovery Model and then received monthly coaching from internal coaches to help implement it, with work teams randomly allocated to skills-based or transformational coaching. Forty coachees who completed at least three sessions over six months were included. Coaches rated the coaching alliance after every session; coachees rated their working alliance and "real relationship" (the genuine, undistorted personal connection) after six months.
From both perspectives, transformational coaching produced stronger relationships. Coaches' alliance ratings increased significantly over time in the transformational condition but did not change in the skills condition, and coachees who received transformational coaching reported stronger working alliances and more realistic perceptions of their coach. The findings suggest coaching approaches closer to the therapeutic end of the spectrum foster relationships more akin to therapeutic ones — and raise the question, for future research, of whether these stronger relationships translate into better coaching outcomes.
Key findings
- A significant time-by-group interaction showed coaches' alliance ratings increased significantly across sessions in transformational coaching but showed no change in skills (implementation) coaching.
- By the final session, alliance ratings were significantly higher in the transformational condition than in the skills condition, despite no difference at the first session.
- After six months, coachees in transformational coaching reported significantly stronger working alliances (higher total, rapport, and client focus scores on the modified SWAI-T) than those in skills coaching.
- Coachees in transformational coaching scored significantly higher on the Realism subscale of the Real Relationship Inventory, indicating more accurate, undistorted perceptions of their coach; Genuineness showed a similar but non-significant trend.
- Working alliance and real relationship ratings were moderately to strongly correlated (rs = .51 to .79), supporting the view that they are related but distinct constructs — mirroring findings from psychotherapy research.
- Only 40 of the trained staff received three or more coaching sessions in six months, highlighting low coaching uptake in mental health organisations with high staff turnover.
How to cite
APA
Sun, B. J., Deane, F. P., Crowe, T. P., Andresen, R., Oades, L., & Ciarrochi, J. (2013). A preliminary exploration of the working alliance and ‘real relationship’ in two coaching approaches with mental health workers. International Coaching Psychology Review, 8(2), 6–17.
BibTeX
@article{sun2013preliminary,
author = {Sun, Belinda J. and Deane, Frank P. and Crowe, Trevor P. and Andresen, Retta and Oades, Lindsay and Ciarrochi, Joseph},
title = {A preliminary exploration of the working alliance and 'real relationship' in two coaching approaches with mental health workers},
journal = {International Coaching Psychology Review},
year = {2013},
volume = {8},
number = {2},
pages = {6--17}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version.