Beyond coping and adaptation: Toward a sociology of coaching. A necessary paradigm shift to address contemporary dramatic social change

Abstract

This article discusses how, in today’s world of disruptive and dramatic social change, non-sports related coaching, which includes a wide range of services such as life coaching, career coaching, executive coaching, and team coaching, can inadvertently fuel undesirable social dynamics. There is little or no awareness of this risk among coaches and coachees. The global, fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar industry aimed at supporting people and organizations to perform better and increase wellbeing while managing and adapting to change has been developed with limited sociological input. The article is based on 15 years of social constructionist-informed reflective practice by a sociologist-turned-coach, and uses a multi-layered theory-driven autoethnographic account to argue for a sociologically informed paradigm shift in coaching, as well as relevant sociological knowledge, learning sciences, and action research methodology in coaches’ education. It presents the rationale and key features of a new coaching approach that places dramatic social change-relevant sociological concepts at the heart of the process, helps people develop psycho-sociological awareness, and uses a learning-to-develop through research design. A new definition of coaching to address dramatic social change is derived. Coaching practitioners will find dramatic social change-relevant sociological concepts, critical reflections, coaching questions, and procedures to expand coaching effectiveness. Interdisciplinary research topics are proposed, combining coaching sociology – which must be developed to make coaching a well-founded profession – and coaching psychology, which currently dominates the knowledge production in the field. Implications for workplace strategies to attract, motivate, and retain employees in search of meaning or purpose in life are also suggested.