Until recently there were two “third rails” in the field of professional coaching. These were topics that were never to be addressed during a coaching session—nor mentioned in any dialogue among coaches about the struggles they are having in their work. One of these “third rail” themes is money and finances. This is still a forbidden topic—which is one of the reasons why we will soon be devoting an entire issue to this topic. The second forbidden topic has been religion and spirituality. While many founders of the field of professional coaching came to their work as coaches with deeply held religious beliefs, these beliefs were not to be shared with their coaching clients nor were these beliefs to influence the content and strategies of their coaching sessions (unless they have been contracted to do coaching precisely because of their religious beliefs).
This is now all changing regarding spirituality. It is no longer a third rail. For instance, at a summit conference held last year in the state of Maine, senior-level coaches brought the matter of spirituality and coaching to center stage in their deliberations. Furthermore, many of the most successful executive coaches speak about and write about ways in which their own spiritual orientation – be it Christian, Jewish or Buddhist—has informed their practices as a coach. The fundamental reasons that they are serving as a coach are often informed by their religious beliefs or spiritually based values.
It is time for us to look more deeply into what spirituality means, how it impacts the world in which we are engaged as coaches, and the broader perspective we must take in welcoming and entertaining diverse spiritual practices and values. This deeper exploration is particularly important given what is occurring in our deeply troubled mid-21st Century world. This issue of The Future of Coaching is devoted to these important matters regarding spirituality and coaching. Five of the ten essays appearing in this issue have been prepared specifically for this issue, while the other five essays have already been publishing in The Library of Professional Coaching or in The Library of Professional Psychology (our companion library).
What is Spirituality?
This issue begins with an essay written by Veronique Pioch Eberhart (a sociologist specializing in the study of spirituality and coaching). She has directly addressed the fundamental question: what is spirituality and how does it relate to the field of professional coaching.
I have prepared the second essay. It concerns the way someone like me who considers himself to be a “secularist” deals with life experiences that seem to call for a spiritual perspective.
The third essay is taken from the archives of The Library of Professional Coaching. It is the transcript of an interview I conducted with Julio Olalla—one of the major thought-leaders in the field of professional coaching and an exceptionally wise guide to the world of spirituality and the making of meaning (ontology).
This section concludes with an essay I have prepared for this issue of The Future of Coaching. It concerns multiple perspectives on the role played by spirituality in the life of a community. How are “habits of the heart” formed by and manifest in specific spiritual traditions?
Spirituality in Organizations
In what ways is spirituality to be found in the organizations where many of us providing our coaching services? John Bush published an essay several years ago in The Future of Coaching that addresses this important question.
Jeannine Sandstrom and Lee Smith are two of the major contributors over the past three decades to our understanding of effective leadership practices. Their Legacy Leadership training program has been widely used with great success. Both Sandstrom and Smith come to their work with strong religious convictions. They have offered insights regarding how leadership can be particularly effective when a religious (and more broadly spiritual) perspectives has been brought into the practice of leadership. I have built on the work of Sandstrom and Smith in suggesting ways in which spirituality might be incorporated in their five best practices.
Diversity of Perspectives
I offer three essays already published in The Library of Professional Coaching that broaden our perspective on spirituality. We must open up to new perspective if we are to acknowledge and potentially incorporate spirituality in our coaching practices.
Linda Bark offers a multidimensional approach to coaching that helps clients access imagery, body responses, sense of purpose and feelings. This broader perspective allows coaching clients to make choices and take actions that integrate all parts of themselves.
From our archives we retrieve another remarkably insightful essay written by Lloyd Raines. This senior level coach notes that each of us has a particularly unique approach and style when we coach—a particular manner and focus to our curiosity and inquiry, how we challenge, evoke, sometimes provoke, and listen with discernment and non-judgment.
We turn to another highly experienced coach, Maynard Brusman, who brings in another important spirituality-founded practice: mindfulness. Brusman suggests that it takes self-awareness, energy and an entrepreneurial spirit to discover one’s true passion, identity and the work that is meant to be done.
Future of Coaching Bookshelf
This issue of The Future of Coaching ends with the re-introduction of the Future of Coaching Bookshelf. On occasion, there is a specific book that we believe contributes in an important way to the theme being addressed in a Future of Coaching issue. In this case, the noteworthy book is Spiritual Evolution—written by George Vaillant, an eminent researcher on human development. Engaging a positive psychology perspective, Vaillant introduces research findings related to such matters as faith, love, hope, joy, forgiveness and compassion.
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I hope that you agree with me that the topic of spirituality and coaching needs to be brought into the light. It no longer should be silenced. This issue of The Future of Coaching should be just one of many forums for deliberations regarding the role that spirituality might play in the expanding field of professional coaching.
William Bergquist
Editor