How to Coach Yourself and Others Popular Models for Coaching | Page 191

Unconditional Positive Regard
The next Rogerian core condition is unconditional positive
regard. Rogers believed that for people to grow and fulfill their
potential it is important that they are valued as themselves.
This refers to the therapist's deep and genuine caring for the
coachee. The therapist may not approve of some of the
coachee's actions but the therapist does approve of the coachee.
In short, the therapist needs an attitude of "I'll accept you as you
are." The person-centred coach is thus careful to always
maintain a positive attitude to the coachee, even when disgusted
by the coachee's actions.

Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand what the coachee is
feeling. This refers to the therapist's ability to understand
sensitively and accurately [but not sympathetically] the
coachee's experience and feelings in the here-and-now. An
important part of the task of the person-centred coach is to
follow precisely what the coachee is feeling and to communicate
to them that the therapist understands what they are feeling.
In the words of Rogers (1975), accurate empathic
understanding is as follows: "If I am truly open to the way life is
experienced by another person...if I can take his or her world into
mine, then I risk seeing life in his or her way...and of being changed
myself, and we all resist change. Since we all resist change, we tend
to view the other person's world only in our terms, not in his or hers.
Then we analyse and evaluate it. We do not understand their world.
But, when the therapist does understand how it truly feels to be in
another person's world, without wanting or trying to analyse or
judge it, then the therapist and the coachee can truly blossom and
grow in that climate."

193