The Experience of Deep Connection in Coaching Relationships

Abstract

This paper explores how coaches experience moments of deep connection with their clients in coaching relationships. Although there is a growing interest in the coaching relationship and its importance in coaching, the topic remains under-researched. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to gain a rich ideographic understanding of the connection by interviewing six coaching participants. The findings reveal that connection is important to coaches. Their accounts encompass moments of genuine meeting, warmth, intensity, intimacy, openheartedness and strong affective bodily sensations. The research raiseS some interesting questions for coach-educators and practitioners alike, including, what coach capabilities are required to work sensitively and ethically with these intensities.

Keywords

• connection
• coaching relationship
• coaches experience
• interpretive phenomenological analysis
• relational depth