Coaching approaches

The ACHIEVE coaching model, from Sabine Dembkowski and Fiona Eldridge, is a seven-step executive coaching model. Where it came from and the evidence.

Action learning coaching works through a real problem in a small group, with questions rather than answers. How a session runs and the evidence.

Authentic relating is a structured way for people to share what is true for them and notice how they are received. What it involves and what studies show.

Behavioral coaching focuses on what a person does and what keeps it going. How a session runs, and what the research does and does not show.

Career construction coaching helps you read your working life as a story and choose the next step. What sessions involve and what the research shows.

The CLEAR coaching model moves a session through five stages, from contracting to review. What each stage involves and what the evidence shows.

Co-Active coaching starts from what matters to you, looks at your values and whole life, and builds action from there. What the research shows.

Dialogue practice is a group conversation that looks at assumptions together rather than debating to win. What it involves and what research shows.

Embodied leadership coaching brings body awareness, movement and mindfulness into how a leader acts. What it involves and what the evidence shows.

A coach helps a parent notice, name and respond to a child's feelings. This page sets out how a session runs and what the research shows.

Ericksonian and hypnotic approaches use indirect language and imagery to work with change. Here is what a trained practitioner does and what studies show.

Family-constellation work places a person's family relationships in a group setting to explore them. Here is how a session runs and what the studies show.

Feedforward coaching asks for ideas about what to do next instead of judgments about what went wrong. How a session runs and where the evidence is thin.

Grief-informed coaching works with a loss in everyday life, using bereavement research. It covers how a session runs and where the evidence stops.

Group coaching brings several people together with one coach around goals. What a group session involves and what the small research base shows.

Health and wellness coaching focuses on everyday health habits, through goals and motivation. How a session runs, and what the research covers so far.

Leadership Agility describes leaders in five developmental levels. What the coaching approach involves and what the research does and does not show.

Mental toughness coaching works on staying steady under pressure, a concept researchers still debate. It covers how a session runs and what studies show.

Money Scripts look at the beliefs behind money decisions, as well as the numbers. How financial psychology coaching runs and what research shows.

OSKAR is a five-step solution-focused coaching model: outcome, scale, resources, action and review. What a session involves and what evidence exists.

Peer coaching has colleagues at a similar level help each other learn and change. What it involves and what the research shows so far.

Performance psychology coaching applies mental skills tested in sport to real performance. It covers how a session runs and what the evidence shows.

Positive Intelligence, developed by Shirzad Chamine, names the inner saboteur voices that undermine effort. How a session runs and what studies show.

Stephen Palmer described PRACTICE as a seven-step model. This page covers the four activities its abstract names, and what research exists.

Process Work, developed by Arnold Mindell, follows the signals a person gives in body, dreams and conflict. How a session runs and the evidence.

Psychodynamic coaching looks at repeating patterns behind a work problem, using the conversation itself as material. What the research shows.

Socratic coaching uses questions instead of advice, so you examine your own reasoning and reach your own conclusions. What the research shows.

Stakeholder Centered Coaching asks the people a leader works with which behaviors should change, then follows up. How it runs and the evidence.

Stoic-informed coaching separates what depends on you from what does not, and tests the judgements that add to distress. What the research shows.

The Gottman Method applies John and Julie Gottman research on couples to a few structured coaching conversations. How it runs and what studies show.

The Inner Game, from W. Timothy Gallwey, treats self-criticism and over-control as what gets in the way of skill. How a session runs and the evidence.

The SCARF model, from David Rock, proposes five social domains: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness. What studies support.

The Thinking Environment is Nancy Kline's listening approach, built on full attention and questions, not advice. How a session runs and the evidence.

Transformational coaching examines the commitments and assumptions behind a goal. What it involves and what the research can show.

WOOP, or mental contrasting with if-then plans, sets a wished-for outcome against the inner obstacle likely to block it. Steps and research.

Alliance-first coaching puts the relationship first, then goals and tasks, and repairs strain as it arises. What the evidence shows.

Disconfirmation coaching works on an old expectation while it is active, pairs it with new experience, and checks the shift.

Emotional-granularity coaching works on naming feelings more precisely. What it involves, where the idea comes from and what research shows.

Expressive-writing coaching uses a structured written task to put a hard experience into words. How a session runs and what the research covers.

Feedback-informed coaching rates progress at each session and changes course when the work stalls. What it involves and what research shows.

Method-rotation coaching changes approach when the need changes and keeps the base rules constant. What it involves and what research shows.

Moment-timed coaching offers support when it is most likely to be used, drawing on just-in-time adaptive intervention research.

Personal-science coaching turns a hunch into a specific guess and tests one change at a time. What it involves and what the evidence shows.

Self-distancing coaching helps you reflect on a difficult event from a step back, using third-person talk and a view across time. What the research shows.

Stage-matched coaching fits a session's challenge and pace to how a person makes sense of experience, drawing on Kegan's model. Here is what it involves.

Stress-reappraisal coaching helps you read a racing heart or tight stomach before a task as useful energy, not a sign of threat. What the research shows.

Values reflection has you write about what you care about, and asks you to assert nothing untrue. What it involves and what the research shows.

Wise-intervention coaching offers a brief reframe at the moment a situation feels threatening, and links it to values. What the research shows.

Acceptance and commitment coaching works on values, committed action and making room for difficult thoughts. How a session runs and what research shows.

Appreciative inquiry coaching starts from what is already working and builds forward from it. How a session runs and what the research shows.

Awareness coaching works mainly by helping you see your own thinking, habits and reactions more clearly. How a session runs and what the evidence can show.

Circling, also called intersubjective inquiry, looks at what passes between people in the room in the present moment. How it runs and what research shows.

Cognitive-behavioral coaching helps you test the thoughts that get in the way of a goal. How a session runs, and what the research shows.

The Collective Trauma Integration Process works with hurt shared across a group or community. What the approach involves and what the evidence shows.

Constructive-developmental coaching works on how you make sense of experience. What a session involves, and what the research does and does not show.

Emotional intelligence coaching builds skills for noticing, naming and using feelings. What a session involves and what the research shows.

Enneagram-based coaching uses the nine-type typology to look at habits and motives. How sessions run, and why its validity evidence is weak or mixed.

Focusing-oriented coaching works with a bodily sense of a situation until words fit it. How a session runs and what the research does and does not show.

Gestalt coaching works with what you notice now and the contact you make with others. What a session involves and what research does and does not show.

A GROW coaching session moves through goal, reality, options and will. What each step involves, where the model came from, and what research shows.

Integral Coaching views one situation from several perspectives, drawing on Ken Wilber's integral theory. What a session involves and why evidence is thin.

Integral Life Practice is a regular routine across body, mind, spirit and shadow, drawn from integral theory. What it involves and what is not yet tested.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) coaching explores the inner parts you live with and what each one is protecting. How a session runs and the research.

Mindfulness-based coaching uses attention training and meditation to support goals and wellbeing. How a session runs and what studies show.

Motivational interviewing in coaching helps you hear your own reasons for change. What a session involves, and what the clinical evidence shows.

Nervous-system regulation coaching uses body awareness and short settling practices. It draws on polyvagal theory, which some researchers contest.

NLP-based coaching uses techniques for language, rapport and reframing. What a session involves, and what the research on it shows so far.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC), from Marshall Rosenberg, separates what happened from your judgement of it. How a session runs and what studies show.

OSCAR coaching moves from the outcome you want through your situation, choices, actions and review. What it involves and what research shows.

Positive psychology coaching builds goals from strengths, meaning and what is going well. How a session runs and what the evidence can and cannot show.

Integration support is clinical work done after psychedelic experiences. This reference page covers its origins, how it is done, and what research covers.

Reality Therapy and Choice Theory, from William Glasser, asks what you want and whether what you do is working. How coaching runs and the evidence.

Shadow integration coaching uses Jung's idea of disowned traits to work with projection and inner conflict. How it runs and how thin the research is.

Solution-focused coaching builds on what is already working: a clear picture of the outcome you want, scaling, and one small next step.

Somatic Experiencing is a body-based trauma approach that trained practitioners deliver. What a coach can and cannot do, and when to refer on.

States-of-consciousness coaching treats the states you pass through as information. Roots in Charles Tart and Ken Wilber; no outcome study was found.

Strengths-based coaching starts from what you already do well and plans how to use it on purpose. How a session runs and what the research shows.

The Sedona Method is a self-guided practice: notice a feeling, allow it, and ask whether you could let it go. What it involves and what research says.

The Work of Byron Katie tests one painful thought against your own experience, using four questions. How a session runs and what studies show.

Transactional Analysis looks at which ego state a reply comes from and why the same exchanges repeat. What a session involves and what research shows.

Wheel of Life coaching rates several areas of life from 0 to 10, then picks one for a next step. What a session involves and what research shows.

The Work That Reconnects is Joanna Macy's approach to despair about the world. What it involves, and what research does and does not show.

Adaptive leadership coaching helps leaders tell technical problems from adaptive ones and work on the values behind change. What the research shows.

Adlerian coaching looks at what a behaviour aims at, the beliefs behind it and how you contribute to others. What sessions involve and the evidence.

Alexander technique lessons teach you how to hold and move yourself, one to one. What a lesson involves and what the back pain trials found.

Attachment-informed coaching looks at repeating patterns in how you seek closeness and handle support. How a session runs and what the evidence shows.

Bioenergetic analysis in coaching works with breath, posture and body awareness. What a session involves and what the research does not yet show.

Buddhist-informed coaching draws on impermanence, non-self, attention and compassion practice. What a session involves and what the evidence shows.

Clean language coaching reuses your own words and images in its questions. How a session runs and what the research shows.

Compassion-focused coaching works with shame and self-criticism through a caring way of relating. How a session runs and what the evidence covers.

Contemplative psychology coaching uses attention training and open awareness. No outcome study of the coaching form turned up in the sources checked.

Core Energetics, from John Pierrakos, brings sensation and feeling into coaching alongside thought. What it involves and where the research stops.

Dialectical behavior skills from DBT for intense feelings and hard conversations. What the skills are, how a skills session runs, and what trials show.

EMDR is a clinical therapy for distressing memories, delivered by trained clinicians. What a coach can and cannot do, and what the research shows.

Emotion-focused coaching treats feelings as information about what matters to you. What a session involves and what research shows.

Existential coaching explores freedom, responsibility and what matters to you when a choice feels stuck. What a session involves and what research covers.

Expressive arts coaching uses drawing, movement, writing and sound to reach what words alone miss. How a session runs and what research shows.

Flow coaching uses Csikszentmihalyi's research on absorption to find tasks that stretch you. How a session runs, and what the studies do and do not show.

Growth mindset coaching works on beliefs about whether ability can develop. See how a session runs and why the mindset research is mixed.

Habit science coaching turns research on how habits form into a plan: a clear cue, a small first step and tracking. What the studies do and do not show.

HeartMath's heart-rhythm coherence practice pairs slow, steady breathing with attention to feeling. What a session involves and what research shows.

Holotropic breathwork uses fast, deep breathing to explore altered states. What a session involves, what research shows, and why it needs a practitioner.

The structured couples dialogue from Imago Relationship Therapy takes turns speaking and reflecting, without debate. What it involves and the research.

Immunity to Change maps the commitments that pull against a goal, and the worry each one protects. What a session involves and the evidence.

Interpersonal neurobiology coaching links relationships, the body and the brain in one frame. How a session runs and where the evidence stops.

Jungian coaching works with dreams, the shadow and individuation. What a session involves, where its ideas come from, and what is known.

Meaning-centred coaching draws on Viktor Frankl's logotherapy to work on purpose and values. See how a session runs and what the trials do and do not show.

Memory-reconsolidation coaching looks for the logic behind a recurring feeling. What the mechanism research shows, and what it does not show.

Moral development coaching works on how you reason about right and wrong, using real dilemmas and discussion. How a session runs and what research shows.

Narrative coaching helps you see the story you tell about a situation and the details that do not fit it. What a session involves and what research shows.

Narrative identity coaching looks at the life story you tell about yourself and what it means going forward. What the research shows and where it stops.

Object relations coaching looks at how early relationships shape the patterns you bring to work and to people. What it involves and what research shows.

Ontological coaching works with the requests, promises, moods and interpretations in conversation. What the approach is and what the research shows.

PERMA coaching works through Seligman's five elements of wellbeing. This page covers how a session runs and what the research does and does not show.

Person-centred coaching puts you at the centre, with a coach who listens closely and does not steer. What a session involves and what research shows.

Polarity Management, developed by Barry Johnson, treats some tensions as two valuable poles to hold, not one answer to pick. What research shows.

Positive disintegration coaching treats intense feeling and inner conflict as possible signs of development. It draws on Kazimierz Dąbrowski's theory.

Post-traumatic growth coaching looks at what has changed since a hard event, alongside what it still costs. How sessions run and what research shows.

Provocative coaching uses humour and direct challenge to test the stories you tell about yourself. How a session runs and what research shows.

Psychodrama coaching acts out a situation in the room, then reflects on it. What a session involves and what the research shows so far.

Psychological capital coaching builds hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism around one goal. What a session involves and what workplace studies show.

Psychosynthesis coaching works with the parts of you and with a central sense of self. What a session involves and what the research shows.

Relational psychoanalytic coaching looks at the patterns you repeat in relationships, including the one in the conversation. How it works and the evidence.

Relational-cultural coaching looks at how relationships and culture shape your growth. See how a session runs and what the research shows so far.

Resilience coaching helps you recover from setbacks and keep going. See how a session runs and what the trials and reviews do and do not show.

Self-compassion coaching helps you meet your own difficulties with the kindness you would give a friend. How a session runs and what the trials show.

Self-determination coaching supports your sense of choice, so motivation comes from what you value. What a session involves and what research shows.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, from Pat Ogden, is body-based trauma work done with a clinician. What a coach can and cannot offer, and the evidence.

Spiral Dynamics builds on Graves' levels of existence, which describe adult values in stages. How coaching uses it and how thin the evidence is.

Systemic team coaching works with a whole team and the wider system around it, not each member alone. How a session runs and what research shows.

The Feldenkrais Method, or awareness through movement, uses slow guided movement to build body awareness. How sessions run and what research shows.

The Hakomi Method, developed by Ron Kurtz, works with body sensation as it happens. What a session involves and what the evidence shows.

Theory U is a leadership approach that works from sensing what is emerging, not from past patterns. How a session runs and what the evidence shows.

Voice dialogue coaching helps you speak from the inner voices that take turns running your choices. How a session runs and what research shows.