How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 53

FACIILITATIVE INTERVENTIONS
4 Cathartic: A cathartic intervention seeks to enable the
other person to discharge and express painful emotion,
usually grief, anger or fear (Heron believed that
unexpressed emotion could block development and
creativity)
For example – “I notice that whenever you speak about
your research you look rather anxious”.
5 Catalytic: A catalytic intervention seeks to elicit self
discovery, self directed learning, and problem solving
For example – “Tell me about a previous time when you
had to work with a colleague who you found particularly
challenging … How did you deal with that?”
6 Supportive: A supportive intervention seeks to affirm
the worth and value of the other person, and their
qualities, attitudes and actions
For example – “It sounds like you handled that in a very
mature and confident way”.
In developing effective coaching relationships, it is usual for
the coach to rely more on facilitative interventions rather
than on authoritative ones – to enable the coachee to
develop their own solutions and autonomy.
(Developed from John Heron ‘Helping the Coachee’ (1990) London
Sage)

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