Our 20th annual Coaching & Mentoring Research conference held in January 2024 has culminated in fourteen publications in this Special Issue of the International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring.
Dr Brajesh Bajpai’s article on Coaching in the Digital Age kicks off this edition and his work offers salient insights into the direct and indirect impact digitalisation has on executive coaching. way of coaching Our second paper, comes from another successful Doctor of Coaching & Mentoring candidate, Dr Amanda Maclean. Amanda’s paper explores the work of internal coaches working in the higher education sector and develops a conceptual framework for how internal coaching supports organisational change.
We shift focus for our third paper where Helen Sander-Williams examines the experience of coaching for women with late diagnosis ADHD. Helen’s article identifies that coaching can offer women affected by late diagnosis ADHD a range of benefits including psychoeducation, executive function training and self-esteem. Our fourth article builds on this neurodivergent theme where Cara Langford Watts’ paper identifies the role workplace coaching can have on autistic womens’ experiences of inclusion. It offers valuable explanations and actionable ways of creating inclusive workplace cultures. Continuing our neurodivergence theme our fifth paper comes from Dr Elizabeth Crosse whose adoption of Q methodology for her doctoral studies was a revelation in terms of her own experiences of dyslexia. Elizabeth’s article demystifies Q methodology and identifies its value to novice and experienced neurodiverse researchers. Dr Leoni Kitchin offers our sixth article in this special issue, where she uses Q methodology to understand how coaches understand and manage the boundary between Therapy and executive coaching. Her work identifies typologies of practitioner approaches to this issue, offering points for coach reflection and development.
Dr Janine Roberts’ article is based on her Doctor of Coaching & Mentoring investigation where she used a constructivist grounded theory methodology to understand how coaches engage with leaders’ emotions in organisational relationships. Janine develops the ACE model of emotional engagement, providing an exciting development for coach development, practice and education. Our eighth article comes from Lorna MacDougall’s research also uses constructivist grounded theory to understand the perspectives of coaches trained in Transactional Analysis on the boundary between therapy and coaching. Her work highlights the implications for the way language is used, and the management of the power dynamic in the coaching relationship.
Dr Lindsay Foreman’s article is based on her work around the connections between thoughts and emotions in goal setting. Using Q methodology she identifies four patterns of thoughts and emotions around the pursuit of goals, resulting in the development of 40 Calrity cards which coaches can use with clients to support goal realisation. Our next article comes from the work of Katie Crabtree and colleagues who share their findings of a feasibility study on a wellbeing coaching programme and its impact on socio-cognitive mindfulness. Dumitrita Hirtie’s study of life coaches investigates elements of interpersonal communitcation in their online and offline coaching interactions offering valuable insights into the role of communication in coaching. Our twelfth article comes from Sara Hampton’s work on the impact of coaching for high school teachers. The focus of this coaching study is on the way wellbeing and professional growth are supported for teachers experiencing coaching through the mid-career phase.
Our twelfth paper comes from Laleh Molaei’s seminal work on Semiotic Coaching. Laleh’s twenty month, three phase investigation focuses on the Roles/Attitudes aspect of Semiotic Coaching and how they support self-transformation. Finally, we have Dr Catherine Comfort’s article on mentoring which identifies how mentoring programme features and practices help mentees activate their assets and mobilise wider resources and networks for ongoing development.
We hope you enjoy this special issue and that you value the insightful research that emerges from these articles as much as we have.
With best wishes,
Dr Judie M. Gannon and Dr Ioanna Iordanou on behalf of the Editorial team. May 2024
International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching & Mentoring
