ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is on reflective learning. More broadly it is about reflective living, and the impact this may have on both learning and change throughout our lives. Coaching may often take the form of fostering transformative and emancipatory learning of a kind that enables our clients to take greater control over their lives and the choices they have in life. Coaches are in a unique position to adopt ways of working with their clients that enhance their learning for living and associated ‘performance’ in personally meaningful ways. Personal agency occurs when one has the capacity to initiate and direct purposeful action. It is enhanced when one has self-belief in one’s ability to achieve chosen goals. It could be argued that a primary goal of coaches is to ‘give their knowledge and skills away’, thereby enabling their clients to become effective ‘self-coaches’. This implies that through coaching the client gains improved reflection and change skills, and has the confidence to use these in self-coaching to support them in achieving their goals.
It is widely considered that building reflective capability has the power to enhance the coach’s professional practice. Development of the same reflective skills and mindset could therefore be assumed to enhance the practice of the client and empower them within their ‘everyday living’. I suggest that coach and client are both engaged in a process of meaning making, learning and change.
