ABSTRACT
The aims of professional psychological counselling are as manifold as the spheres in which it is offered: educational counselling, family counselling, life counselling, career counselling, etc. The broad range of psychosocial counselling offers has been joined by a new variety specifically aimed at the professional and vocational sphere: coaching. Coaching should improve personal well-being and enhance professional productivity. Coaching focuses on professional performance and is more goal- than cause-orientated. Effective self-management is the supreme goal in coaching. Five coaching elements have proved to be effective: a trusting and personally supportive relationship; use of cognitive techniques for problem-solving; training of working and presentation techniques; improvement of communicative skills and psychodynamic understanding; and enhancement of individual and social resources. As in counselling, the quality of the helping relationship is of decisive moment for the success of coaching. As coaching normally foregrounds professional productivity and creativity, it attaches major significance to the analysis and improvement of work behaviour.
