Does It Matter What the Coach Thinks? – A New Foundation for Professional Development

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the culture of pragmatism. Coaching is a discipline of application. Coaching is similar to any area of application of social science. It has been argued that the advance of social science is not helped by false dualisms. The culture of pragmatism argues a false dualism. It is an artifact of the history of the development of coaching. It is time to move on, reframe the epistemology of coaching, and adopt one that allows and encourages development of the discipline and its practitioners. Theory and practice are not alternatives, but a range of shades and indeed of tones. As a discipline, and as practitioners, one must be committed to an active engagement with the full spectrum of evidence–empirical, intuitive, best practice, cultural–and be prepared to examine the basis of his preferences through supervision, reflective practice, and exposure to peer review. This is what professional development means. In terms of the industry's growth, it might be a time for a jump, a moment to reassess where some ideas have come from and where they are going.

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