Exploring Clients’ Readiness for Coaching

Abstract

This qualitative study explores clients’ readiness for coaching. A grounded theory methodology is adopted and framed within an interpretivist/constructivist paradigm. The research data is generated from eighteen semi-structured face-to-face interviews and nine email interviews involving coaches, coaching clients and enquirers about coaching. All research literature is treated as another form of data for testing and refining the emerging theory and therefore the literature review was delayed until the theory emerged. Clients’ readiness for coaching emerges as a multi-layered and complex concept. The study discovered enabling and hindering factors affecting clients’ readiness which are incorporated into six themes: Culture and Class, Knowledge about Coaching, Access to Coaching, Psychological Interpretations, Feeling Safe and Commitment to Change. The findings inform an emerging Coaching Client Readiness Model that describes clients’ readiness and can be applied in practice for discussing readiness issues both with clients and with organisations.

Keywords

• readiness for coaching
• client coachability
• readiness factors
• Coaching Client Readiness Model
• grounded theory