Executive Coaching: A Psychodynamic Approach (Coaching in Practice (Paperback))

"Executive Coaching is a thought-provoking and valuable book that should stimulate coaches to evaluate, and perhaps modify, their own approach."
HR Zone, 25th January 2012

"This is a thought-provoking and sophisticated book … Coaches should find it easy to use and a welcome addition to their tool-kit. However, the psychodynamic approach should come with a warning. To use it effectively, as Sandler shows, coaches need a high level of self-awareness and the ability to apply that awareness in response to the client."
Dr Barbara Moyes

This beautifully-written book, by one of the UK’s most experienced and highly-regarded executive coaches, provides a clear and concise introduction to psychodynamic concepts and their practical application to executive coaching. The book illustrates the value of this perspective for coaches and allied professionals and shows how they can incorporate it into their work.

To bring her coaching practice alive, Catherine Sandler shares numerous examples of her client work, including three full-length case-studies. She describes exactly what she does when coaching, and why, explaining step-by-step how psychodynamic concepts influence her practice. In particular, she demonstrates how the skilful use of psychodynamic insights can enable coaches to:

• Understand their clients in depth, including those thoughts and emotions that lie ‘below the surface’
• Forge strong working relationships with their clients that rapidly engage them in the coaching process
• Promote significant, observable improvement in their clients’ behaviour and performance at work
• Help clients to remain effective and skilful even when under pressure
• Deliver real benefit to the clients’ organisations

Executive Coaching is designed for executive coaches and allied professionals who would like to learn more about how psychodynamic psychology can be applied to executive coaching. While the author works mainly with senior role-holders, the ideas and techniques described are relevant to any individual who has responsibility for leading, managing or influencing others.