The Listening Guide for coaching: exploring qualitative, relational, voice centered, evidence based methodology for coaches
Abstract Now that coaching has developed into a more recognisable and established profession, coaches must articulate and understand their own practices with growing precision (Kauffman Bachkirova, 2008) Since coaching is an evolving field, coaches are being encouraged to document research on their emerging profession (Drake, 2008) Considering this need, a new demand arises for coaches to be supported by colleagues who are familiar with existing research, best practices, and empirical bases. Because concepts such as listening, relationships, voice, and silence matter to many coaches, and given the fact that more coaches are seeking valuable methods of analysis to better understand their coaching in research based ways, the purpose of this article is to introduce the Listening Guide (e.g. Brown Gilligan, 1992; Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, Bertsch, 2003; Raider Roth, 2005; Taylor, Gilligan, Sullivan, 1995; Tolman, 2002; Way, 1998) to the field of coaching. The Listening Guide (LG) is a qualitative, relational, voice centered methodology, which may be used to seriously reflect on the ways in which we listen to our clients, learn from them, and form relationships with them. In this article, the author takes the reader through a comprehensive 'how to' of the LG, including step by step explanations and examples.