ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a developmental perspective and how this might inform the coaching relationship to considering the dynamics of the relationship as they unfold between coach and coachee from an intersubjective perspective. It shows the coaching relationship as a two-person endeavour to which both participants contribute and to which both bring their own 'organising principles'. Moments of meeting in an authentic encounter between two human beings are central to effective coaching as these 'I-Thou' moments can facilitate contact and change. In a relational orientation to coaching, a fundamental working assumption is that each member of the dyad is seen as needing to take responsibility for his or her own part in the coaching process, adopting an orientation of co-responsibility. The chapter emphasises that the word 'rupture' is a very powerful term that suggests that something is sundered apart, whereas it can also refer to those instances when we 'miss' the coachee in our communication.
