ABSTRACT
There are two pivotal statements that characterise the nature of this chapter. First, identifying coaching effectiveness is an important but seemingly intractable problem. The tenor of the arguments presented may seem a little negative, as if there are few answers. Unfortunately, the conclusion may be that the practical solutions available do not match the more impractical answers provided by increased conceptual clarity. Second, this issue is perhaps the best example in this treatment of the coaching process of an absence of adequate conceptual analysis. Swift (2001) offers a reminder that ‘conceptual analysis is a fancy name for the job of working out what people mean when they say things’ (2001: 42). The literature in this field is a prime example of the failure of authors to help the reader by enumerating the assumptions underlying their concept of coaching and effectiveness. The result is a lack of precision in terminology and approach, and a singular failure to relate effectiveness literature to any conceptual understanding of the coaching process. The purpose of the chapter, therefore, is to offer a conceptual analysis of coaching effectiveness: in other words, what do we mean when we use this term?
