Getting involved in coaching research with Fiona Day Consulting LTD

The evidence base for coaching and coaching psychology is rapidly growing, and now includes multiple meta-analyses and systematic reviews. However, as in all areas of professional practice, there is much work to be done to continue to build up the scientific basis underpinning coaching. Particularly as regards the coaching process itself and how coach and client interact with each other is still under researched.

Doctors and public health specialists have a role to participate in research: it helps them to evaluate their practice objectively; advance their discipline; learn skills to improve their practice; as well as being able to question, evaluate and test different approaches objectively (1). It is well known that all patients have better health outcomes in research active hospitals, even if individual patients are not part of research (2).

I have always initiated, collaborated with, and participated in research as a doctor and as a public health leader, ranging from publishing audits, to initiating and co-supervising a PhD in health psychology, and setting up a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to improve staff health outcomes. You can see my publications here.

I’ve also worked hard to ensure that my coaching practice is as professional as my former medical and public health practice: to this end I have been actively involved in undertaking research as a Coach and as a Coaching Psychologist. This includes the recent publication of my outcomes in BMJ Leader here.

Questioning Sequences in Coaching” (QueSCo) Project

I am currently partnering with an international and interdisciplinary research project “Questioning Sequences in Coaching” (QueSCo). This has been funded for a duration of 36 months (starting March 2021) with a total amount of 900,000 EUR by national funding organisations in Austria (FWF, Lead Agency), Germany (DFG) and Switzerland (SNF). It is based at the English Department of the University of Klagenfurt, the Leibniz-Institute for the German Language in Mannheim, and the Department of Applied Psychology at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. The project is headed by Assoz. Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Graf.

My role is as a volunteer (unpaid) coach. I do not get paid for taking part in this research, I am a volunteer coach and am offering two pro-bono leadership coaching programmes to medical or public health leaders.

Questions are a core intervention in helping professions such as psychotherapy or coaching. The project investigates questioning practices in business coaching. Coaching builds on the interaction between coach and client, addresses clients’ work-related problems and aims to facilitate clients’ change. Questioning sequences is considered a crucial coaching: analysis of questioning sequences addresses a principal research gap.

The aim of the project is the development of a coaching-specific typology of questioning sequences and to investigate their coaching-specific change potentials. The project uses a mixed-methods research design, which combines qualitative linguistic and qualitative/quantitative psychological methods. The data consists of authentic, video-taped, and linguistically transcribed coaching processes from systemic solution-oriented executive coaching. The data is completely anonymized.

I believe that this project provides an innovative and important contribution to the disciplines of coaching and coaching psychology, and will also enable me to continue to improve my own practice, and to positively impact on the outcomes of my clients.

Opportunity for you to participate in coaching research – closing date 16 June 2023

I am offering two medical or public health leaders the opportunity to take part in this research project during 2023. Six x 90 minute sessions will be delivered by myself on Zoom, 2-4 weeks apart including between session support from me. It will be no different from my usual coaching programmes in style or content other than there will be no fees, and you will not be paying any fees. The programme will be bespoke to your needs and can focus on any area(s) of your professional life from leadership, career direction and/ or your wellbeing. We will set clear objectives at the start of the programme, and the content of the programme will be formulated according to your needs.

The only thing which will be different is that you will be consented to take part in the research programme by the lead researcher before the coaching programme begins. Each coaching session will be recorded, and with your signed consent, handed over to the research team in line with their data protection processes.

How do I apply?

Please complete this brief application form here before 16 June 2023. I will let you know if you have been successful before the end of June 2023.

What data is collected?

Please see the FAQ on the QueSCo site for more information on the data which is collected, and how it is used, anonymised and stored.

How will the results be communicated and what will my data look like in the final publication?

For publications and other forms of presenting the results, only short excerpts from the transcribed data (from recorded coaching sessions) will be published. In addition, for the names of all participants, places, organisations etc, pseudonyms will be used.

Illustration how data examples are used in linguistic publications

The example is taken from Jautz, S., Graf, E., Fleischhacker, M. & F. Dionne (in prep.). Agenda setting in first sessions of business coaching – A focus on coaches’ practices to manage the agenda and establish the working alliance. Frontiers in Psychology

How to read the example:

Example 5 refers to the number of examples within the article

CO7 is coach number 7 in our current corpus

KL1 is client 1 of CO7

S1 refers to session 1

598 refers to the line in the transcript

[21:27] refers to the minute in the transcript

Has Ethical approval been sought?

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland the kind of data being used must be approved by the national research institutions in the context of the research proposal. The research proposal passed the ethical committee of the national research institutions in all three of the following countries: Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Please ask for a copy of the research proposal from Fiona or the research team if you would like to see it.

I have some questions!

No problem, please just get in touch with me ahead of the closing date.

How do I apply?

Please complete this brief application form here before 16 June 2023. I will let you know if you have been successful before the end of June 2023.

Dr Fiona Day, MBChB, FFPH, CPsychol, Fiona Day Consulting LTD

References

1. Jacob H. Why all doctors should be involved in research. BMJ. 2016 Feb 23;352:i164.
2. Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery [Internet]. GOV.UK. [cited 2023 May 24]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-future-of-uk-clinical-research-delivery/saving-and-improving-lives-the-future-of-uk-clinical-research-delivery