Stephen Palmer & Michael Cavanagh

It is which much excitement that we write this, the first editorial in the first issue of the International Coaching Psychology Review (ICPR), and we feel honoured to be the founding Co-ordinating Editors. When we first discussed the possibility of setting up an international journal in 2004 with our colleague, Dr Alison Whybrow, we were all excited that the collaborative joint venture between the proposed British Psychological Society Special Group in Coaching Psychology (BPS SGCP) and the Australian Psychological Society Interest Group in Coaching Psychology (APS IGCP) would bring our two coaching psychology communities together. At that time, in the UK, we were still attempting to form an official sub-system within the British Psychological Society. Nevertheless, the Coaching Psychology Forum, (the forerunner of the Special Group) and the APS IGCP could see the mutual benefits of working together on this project.

Coaching psychologists are at the forefront of developments in the coaching field. We now have many research and applied psychologists working in Australia, the UK, Europe and America, and benefiting both organisations and individuals who are purchasers or users of coaching. University psychology departments in Australia and the UK have set up units to focus specifically on coaching psychology and not just coaching.

But what do coaching psychologists bring to the burgeoning field of coaching? We bring more than just a framework for a conversation with a client, such as the famous GROW model. We bring a host of psychological theories and models that underpin, and bring depth to, the coaching relationship. These include an understanding of mental health; motivation; systems theory; personal and organisational growth; adaptation of therapeutic models to the field of coaching; research into effectiveness, resilience and positive psychology. However, up until now, there has not been an international publication specifically for coaching psychologists to share their understanding and research with colleagues.

Our intention is that the ICPR will have a focus on the theory, practice and research in the field of coaching psychology. Any issue of relevance to coaching is welcomed: from theoretical and empirical research into theories, models and measures, to practical application issues such as ethics and the reporting of cases. We welcome the submission of academic articles, systematic reviews, brief reports and research reports which support evidence-based practice. We intend publishing conference reports and papers given at the British Psychological Society Special Group in Coaching Psychology and Australian Psychological Society Interest in Group Coaching Psychology conferences. This is important as BPS SGCP and APS IGCP members may not always be able to attend each other’s annual conferences but will still want to read the papers given. We are also interested in notices and items of news relevant to the International Coaching Psychology Community such as coaching psychology conferences.

The ICPR has Co-editors who are recognised as experts in their particular field of coaching psychology. In addition, the International Editorial Board consists of experts in coaching psychology and related areas that inform coaching psychology theory and practice. We are pleased to be working with a well-known international team and we thank them for all of the support they have given us so far. However, this journal needs you too: your research, your theories, your ideas and your contributions.

The circulation of the ICPR is worldwide. It is available in hardcopy and PDF format. It is available free in paper and PDF format to members of the BPS SGCP, and free PDF format to APS IGCP members as a part of their annual membership. Papers should normally be no more than 6000 words, although the Co-Editors retain discretion to publish papers beyond this length in cases where the clear and concise expression of the scientific or theoretical content requires greater length.

Papers should first be submitted by email to the Co-ordinating Editor in either the UK or Australia who will focus on processing papers from their own countries. Papers from outside the UK or Australia can be submitted to either Coordinating Editor. The journal operates a policy of anonymous peer review. Papers will normally be scrutinised and commented on by at least two independent expert referees (in addition to the relevant Co-Editor) although the Co-Editor may process a paper at his or her discretion. The referees will not be aware of the identity of the author. All information about authorship including personal acknowledgements and institutional affiliations should be confined to the title page (and the text should be free of such clues as identifiable self-citations, e.g. ‘In our earlier work…’). Full details are in our Notes for Contributors. Structured abstracts are recommended for research papers.

We hope that the ICPR will be the first place coaching psychologists, academics, researchers and practitioners from other associated disciplines will consider submitting relevant papers. Few new academic and practitioner journals start with over 2500 subscribers who are members of the SGCP and IGCP. The readership will be much larger especially after six months as the ICPR will be freely available online. This ‘bumper’ inaugural issue has eight papers ranging from historical to theoretical, empirical, quantitative and qualitative research, practical issues and opinion pieces. The first paper is a largely historical piece by Stephen Palmer and Alison Whybrow, the Co-proposers of the BPS Special Group in Coaching Psychology. They provide a brief history of the formation of the BPS Special Group. (A similar history of the formation of the APS Interest Group will appear in the next edition - due out later this year.) It takes much effort and much generosity on the part of many people to successfully establish groups such as the SGCP and IGCP. We felt it appropriate that the early editions of the ICPR recognise and thank those involved for their efforts.

We have seven papers which discuss substantive theoretical, research and practical issues facing coaching. Anthony Grant leads off with his personal perspective on professional coaching and the development of coaching psychology. He suggests that as coaching psychology continues to grow its challenges will include the issue of distinguishing the work and professional practices of coaching psychologists from coaches who are not psychologists. He believes that the emergence of coaching psychology can make psychology more accessible and acceptable to the public.

Annette Fillery-Travis and David Lane boldly launch into the difficult waters of measuring return on investment in coaching. Along with their review of the practitioner and academic literature on this subject, they present a framework for understanding the varied purposes of coaching. They argue that before we ask ‘does coaching work?’ we should be asking what is it being used for, and then design our measures accordingly.

Alex Linley and Susan Harrington take us on a journey into coaching from the perspective of psychological strengths. After considering the history of psychological strengths in the wider psychological literature, they present a theory of strengths based on a conception of the human person as both capable and inherently motivated toward the development of the self. They argue for this conception as a foundation for coaching.

Stephen Joseph’s article also considers the foundational models within which coaching is situated. He takes a personcentred perspective on coaching psychology. He argues that because coaching psychology has emerged in relation to other professional branches of psychology which do adopt the medical model, it has as a consequence implicitly adopted the values of the medical model. He believes that coaching psychology should adopt the person-centred meta-theoretical perspective instead.

As a counterpoint to the papers by Linley and Harrington and Joseph, Whybrow and Palmer present some interesting empirical research on the shape of coaching psychology in the UK. They investigate, among other things, the backgrounds and theoretical orientations of those involved in coaching psychology. They examine the level and type of engagement psychologist’s have in coaching, and the range of attitudes expressed by coaches towards issues such as supervision, training, and ongoing professional development. This research also looks at how coaching psychology is changing in terms of these important features over time.

In a similar vein, Spence, Cavanagh and Grant report on a survey of Australian life and executive coaches. Their data focuses aspects of coaching related to the duty of care in an unregulated coaching industry. They note that previous Australian studies have suggested that many coaching clients may be using coaching as a socially acceptable form of meeting their therapeutic needs. This highlights the need for coaches to have competencies that adequately safeguard clients’ mental health and well-being. A key question that the paper raises is whether or not coaches can reliably identify and then refer clients with mental health issues?

The final paper in this inaugural edition reports on the qualitative study conducted by Gyllensten and Palmer. Qualitative data is often very rich data. They investigated the impact of coaching on stress and provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the comments and experiences reported by coaching clients.

These papers, and this issue of the ICPR, is a beginning. Already we can see a wide range of approaches and opinions, and we hope to be able to publish an even wider range! As coaching psychologists, we have the privilege of working in a fantastically rich and exciting field. As several of the authors in this issue point out, there is continuing growth and real engagement with coaching in the workplace and in the wider community. Coaching in general, and coaching psychology in particular, has the potential to make an effective and lasting contribution to people’s lives and to our world.

It is our hope that the ICPR will come to play a part in this great enterprise by being a forum that stimulates thinking, comment and research in coaching psychology. As editors, we look forward with great enthusiasm, to receiving and publishing your contributions!

Stephen Palmer
Coaching Psychology Unit,
Department of Psychology,
City University,
London, UK.
E-mail: dr.palmer@btinternet.com

Michael Cavanagh
Coaching Psychology Unit,
Department of Psychology,
Sydney University,
Sydney, Australia.
E-mail: michaelc@psych.usyd.edu.au