Coaching and Mentoring: A critical Text
(2013) European Journal of Training and Development — Vol. 37, n° 3, p. 327-330 (2013)
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- Abstract
- This book is written for coaches, HR practitioners, trainers, management educators, students and academics participating in coaching and management development programmes. Through a critical lens, the author wants to offer a broader scope on the field of coaching and mentoring and question some of the normative assumptions of coaching in the existing literature. The author begins with an introduction in which the core aims of the book are described and the coaching phenomenon is presented. Coaching is positioned between the “wounded self” and the “celebrated self”. In coaching sessions, a bridge is made between these two selves by focusing on positive change, transformation, self‐discovery, improved performance while at the same time working on the hidden parts that appear of the wounded self. Similarities and differences between coaching and mentoring are discussed and the diversity in the typology of coaching and mentoring landscape is described. In order to better understand the micro‐practices of coaching, the macro‐social influences should be examined first, according to the author, to gain a clearer picture. Therefore, this book on coaching and mentoring contains an in‐depth analysis of the historical, social and cultural background of coaching. The reader is taken through three historical periods: pre‐modernity, modernity and post‐modernity. Each historical period is analysed from three perspectives: friendship, the soul healer and the work realm. The way coaching has emerged as a distinct, new and hybrid practice is elaborated. Thus, the author's retrospective examination helps to shed new light on contemporary practice. The book reveals four dominant discourses within coaching: the soul guide discourse (describes how coaching works as a “mirror to the soul”, the coach focuses on human experience), the psy expert discourse (reveals how coaches work as “technicians of the psyche”, the coach focuses on personal performance), the managerial discourse (describes how coaches work in the discourse of managerialism, where the coach focuses on productivity) and the network coach discourse (which situates the individual in the network of work and society to realise interdependencies, where the coach focuses on connectivity). Coaching and mentoring will depend on which discourses dominate in each coaching context. The author discusses each of these discourses in terms of strengths and challenges and how they influence and shape the coaching practice. Finally, the author sets out a theoretical outlook for future coaching practice. In so doing, the author develops a meta‐theory of coaching which includes a micro and macro perspective and describes a pedagogy aligned to the four discourses. A coaching process and pedagogical guidelines are set out for future coaching and mentoring.
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Citations
Raemdonck, I. (2013). Coaching and Mentoring: A critical Text. European Journal of Training and Development, 37(3), 327-330. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090591311312787 (Original work published 2013)