How to Coach Yourself and Others Popular Models for Coaching | Page 186
judges and evaluates this image he has of himself as a bore and
this valuing will be reflected in his self-esteem. The confident
woman may have a high self-esteem and the man who sees
himself as a bore may have a low self-esteem, presuming that
strength/confidence are highly valued and that being boring is
not.
One reason why Rogers rejected interpretation was that he
believed that, although symptoms did arise from past
experience, it was more useful for the coachee to focus on the
present and future than on the past. Rather than just liberating
coachees from there past, as psychodynamic therapists aim to
do, Rogerians hope to help their coachees to achieve personal
growth and eventually to self-actualize.
Coaching relationship
Carl Rogers saw therapists or coaches as equal partners with
their coachees rather than as experts. Within this relationship.
the coachee is responsible for improving his or her life, not the
coach or therapist. This is a deliberate change from both
psychoanalysis and behavioural therapies where the patient is
diagnosed and treated by a doctor. Instead, the coachee
consciously and rationally decides for themselves what is wrong
and what should be done about it.
Rogers strongly believed that therapists and coaches should be
warm, genuine and understanding and more like a friend who
listens and encourages on an equal level. He suggested that
coachees would be better helped if they were encouraged to
focus on their current subjective understanding rather than on
some unconscious motive or someone else's interpretation of
the situation.
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