Integral Coaching: Sessions Informed by Integral Theory
Integral Coaching is a coaching approach that draws on Ken Wilber's integral theory, which holds that a person can be understood from several perspectives at once: inner and outer, individual and shared. A session looks at a situation through those perspectives and at the stage of meaning-making you are working from. No outcome study of this approach turned up in the literature searched for this page, so claims about its benefits rest on practitioner accounts rather than on tested results.
What it is
A session takes a situation you bring and asks how it looks from several vantage points: what you do, what you feel, what you believe, the relationships and systems you belong to, and the values you act from. The coach helps you move between these views rather than settling on one.
The approach also uses ideas about developmental stages, the idea that adults can make sense of their experience in increasingly complex ways. It does not ask you to reach a particular stage. Its aim is to notice which view you are speaking from, and what becomes available from another one.
Where it comes from
Ken Wilber set out integral theory, including a psychology of consciousness and therapy, in his own writing (Wilber, 2004). Esbjörn-Hargens and Sharma (2018) describe how the framework is applied to coaching as whole-person development in a complex world.
The name Integral Coaching is a registered trademark held by another party; this page documents the approach and is not affiliated with that party.
Also known as integral-theory-informed coaching.
The principles underneath
Several perspectives at once
A situation is seen from inside and outside, and from the individual and from the groups they belong to. Each view shows something the others leave out.
Development in stages
Adults are understood to make meaning in increasingly complex ways over time. The coach asks which view you are making meaning from, without ranking that view as good or bad.
Include rather than discard
Earlier ways of seeing are treated as parts of a larger view that you keep, not as errors to be removed.
The whole person
Body, thinking, feeling, relationships and purpose are all treated as part of the same picture.
How a session runs
- You bring a situation that matters to you and say what you want to be different.
- The coach asks you to describe it from several angles: what you do, what you feel, what you believe about it, and who else is involved.
- You are asked to notice which view you are speaking from, and what that view makes easy to see and hard to see.
- The conversation explores what a different view might add, and what it would take to hold that view alongside your own.
- You finish by choosing one small change to test in the next week, and one way to notice whether it fits.
When it tends to fit
- You can describe a problem clearly but keep finding that your feelings, your work and your family tell different stories about it.
- A decision looks clear from one part of your life and unclear from another, and you want to see both.
- You keep arguing for your own view, and you want to notice what the other view is protecting.
What the research shows
Evidence: Practitioner tradition — little or no outcome research
No outcome study of integral-theory-informed coaching turned up in the literature searched for this page, so there is no tested evidence here that it changes what people do or feel. The sources found describe the framework: Wilber's own short article on integral psychology (2004), and an account of applying the framework to coaching as whole-person development (Esbjörn-Hargens & Sharma, 2018). A peer-reviewed study of mature adult ego development (Cook-Greuter, 2000) is adjacent. It concerns a related area of developmental theory and does not test this approach.
Where the evidence is thin: The tier is P because no outcome research on this approach was found. Its developmental ideas sit next to a body of adult developmental research, which is not a test of this coaching.
Sources
- Wilber, K. (2004). Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy. Nova Religio, 8(2), 125–127.
- Esbjörn-Hargens, S., & Sharma, B. (2018). Integral Coaching: Whole Person Development in a Complex World. In Professional Coaching. Springer Publishing.
- Cook-Greuter, S. R. (2000). Mature Ego Development: A Gateway to Ego Transcendence? Journal of Adult Development, 7(4), 227–240.
Where it stops
Stage language can be used to rank people, and this approach does not ask you to rank yourself or anyone else.
The framework is large and abstract, so a session can drift toward the map rather than your situation. If the language stops helping you, say so.
Trauma, depression, or a crisis involving safety are better served by a qualified clinician. A perspective-based conversation is not a substitute for that care.
Practices for this approach
- Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Moving from being run by your assumptions to being able to examine them
- Self-Authorship: Moving From the Socialized to the Self-Authored Mind
Kegan’s stages, subject-object moves, and authoring your own life
- The Ladder of Inference
From raw data to action — and how to catch the errors that happen in between
- Zhuangzi and the Practice of Perspective Shift
Using Zhuangzi’s perspective-widening method to reduce rigidity and cultivate equanimity