|
Life coaching most notably began as executive coaching. Some have written that life coaching originated with the out-placement services offered to executives who were out of work. Providing these services evolved into organizational development combining with psychological theories resulting in executive coaching.
Some believe coaching began to appear in organizations in the 1980's to help their executives improve the way they interacted with subordinates.
By the 1990’s executive coaching started to evolve into life coaching and individuals recognized how hiring a coach could help them achieve their goals. Now in the 21st century some large financial firms such as Prudential have added life coaching to their employee assistance programs.
Anthony M. Grant performed an extensive literature review for his coaching students at the University of Sydney, Coaching Psychology Unit, School of Psychology. He created an annotated bibliography from the behavioral science literature. He found that between 1937 and July of 2008 there were a total of 428 papers published related to coaching. There were 93 articles published between 1937 and 1999. 335 articles were published between 2000 and 2008.
One of the first articles he sites is Gorby, C.B. (1937). Everyone gets a share of the profits. "Factory Management 95: 82-3. Older employees coach younger employees. Grant (2002) has also traced research on coaching back to 1958 where there was a discussion about psychological consultations to aide executives in improving performance.
Life coaching has grown tremendously and will continue to grow. Psychologists are now seeking to provide life coaching with a framework rooted in evidence -based practices and through research studies providing a empirical foundation.
The Australian Psychological Society and the British Psychological Society have special interest groups in coaching psychology.
FREE COACHING SESSION
|