Global coaching and evidence based coaching: Multiple perspectives operating in a process of pragmatic humanism
G Abbott, P Rosinski International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring 2007
This article highlights relationships between the emerging practice of global coaching, described in Rosinski (2003a, 2006) and six leading ‘evidence based’ approaches to coaching (Stober & Grant, 2006). Attention is given to global coaching in the international business environment, positioning the treatment within an executive coaching framework. These connections clarify the concept of global coaching; and generate new insights, fresh angles, and empirical evidence to clarify and enhance the concept and practice of global coaching. The article emphasises themes and patterns essential for effective global coaching such as: openness, curiosity about other systems, comfort with complexity and interdependence, thriving on paradoxes, search for meaning, multiple perspectives, engagement with culture at multiple levels, and innovation at the edge of chaos. The article covers how global coaching and the cultural perspective interconnect with the following coaching perspectives; (1) Cognitive-behavioural, (2) Psychoanalytic, (3) Adult development, (4) Action learning, (5) Systemic, and (6) Positive psychology. A case study of an Australian-Guatemalan expatriate manager in Central America, drawn from a recent doctoral action research study (Abbott, 2006) is used to illustrate how the different perspectives intersect in practice and concludes that global coaching, which is both pragmatic and humanistic, may be an effective catalyst for bringing individual and organizational success as well as for promoting corporate citizenship.