How Could Coaching Help Gay Men with Gay Aspects of their Professional Lives?

Abstract

To examine how coaching could support gay men with gay aspects of their professional lives, constructivist grounded-theory was used to identify that the key is creating conditions where being gay could (not should) be discussed. This requires a strong coaching relationship. The topics discussed may be offshoots of gay identity, rather than directly linked to it. The coachee might bring up their gay identity as a topic for discussion, or, depending of coach’s philosophy, purpose of the assignment, and contracting in place, the coach might broach the issue. Suggestions are made for best practice when coaching gay men at work.

Keywords

• coaching
• lgbtq+
• gay
• identity
• broaching