Reappraising the coach–client relationship: the unassuming change agent in coaching

Regardless of preferred theoretical perspective, the foundation of effective coaching is the successful formation of a collaborative relationship.

(Stober and Grant, 2006: 360)

The coach-client relationship is a fundamental factor in every coaching contract. In recent moves towards creating a conceptual Contextual Meta-model for Coaching, and in seeking to ask the question ‘What are the common themes that are effective in coaching and within what context?’ Stober and Grant (2006) propose seven thematic factors. Two of these themes directly relate to the coach-client relationship, attesting to its imputed critical importance within the coaching process:

• a meaningful relationship where the client believes that the coach will work in the client’s best interest

• the coach’s role within a collaborative working alliance is to enhance the client’s development, performance or skill set, while appropriately pacing the intervention to both maintain challenge and facilitate change.