The 'relational turn' is a movement affecting a range of disciplines including neuroscience, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, organisational consulting and, more recently, coaching. Its primary focus is on the centrality of human relating in determining how individuals develop, make meaning and function individually and collectively. In The Theory and Practice of Relational Coaching: Complexity, Paradox and Integration, Simon Cavicchia and Maria Gilbert expand existing coaching theory and practice to focus on the implications of the relational turn for how coaches and clients think about the nature of identity, the self, change, learning, and individual and organisational development.
Key Features
- Explores the implications of the relational turn for coaching practice.
- Draws on perspectives such as relational neuroscience and the foundations of personality development.
- Sheds light on paradoxes and challenges in modern organisational environments.
- Offers practical suggestions for integrating a relational orientation in coaching.
- Appeals to coaches, coaching psychologists, counsellors, and psychotherapists.
Additional Information
Drawing on perspectives as varied as psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, shame, vulnerability, complexity and systems ideas, the authors shed light on many of the paradoxes and challenges facing coaches and their clients in today’s fast-paced, volatile and uncertain organisational environments. These include holding tensions such as the uniqueness of individual needs with the requirements of organisational contexts, managing multiple stakeholder expectations and networks and balancing linear approaches to change with adjusting to emerging and unpredictable events.
Given the ever-increasing volatility, complexity and uncertainty that coaches and their clients face, The Theory and Practice of Relational Coaching guides the reader through a series of illuminating perspectives, examples and practical suggestions. These will enable coaches to integrate a more relational orientation in their work and extend their range and that of their clients for responding creatively to the challenges of modern organisational life.
