From: Awareness, Immediacy, and Intimacy: The Experience of Coaching as Heard in the Voices of Gestalt Coaches and their Clients

Martin J. Leahy, Ph.D. and Mark H. Magerman, Ph.D.

Core Aspects: The Experience of Coaching

Person, or group, with a goal

• ???Particular person in a situation (experience)
• ???Sensing a need, problem, or opportunity (awareness)
• ???Identifying a desire for assistance and exploring potential sources (relationship)

Creating a relationship with a coach

• ???Creating space (experiencing the relationship): challenge and support, awareness, lack of judgment
• ???Being present (awareness of the relationship is cultivated)
• ???Relating to the particular person of the coach (relationship)?

Experiencing/experimenting

• ???Experiencing first: A stance, a basic orientation to life (experience)
• ???Noticing what happened in the experience to raise awareness (awareness)
• ???Experiments, experimental approach to learning
• ???Experiencing self-examination in an environment of unconditional acceptance (relationship)

Becoming aware

• ???Questioning and experimenting to raise awareness (experience)
• ???Knowing self and self-in-relation to environment and other persons (awareness)
• ???Acknowledging the importance of the relationship between client and coach (relationship)

Realizing results

• ???Contractual goals
• ???New skills, knowledge, and attitudes
• ???Better contact with other persons
• ???More exciting and satisfying life (sometimes transformation)