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Coaching for Self-Awareness and Insight

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Positive Psychology Coaching

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Abstract

This chapter introduces the first, fundamental purpose for individual coaching in community and organisational settings—to increase self-awareness and insight. Self-awareness can be revelatory when insights result from Aha! moments that surface from the client’s subconscious during coaching. Reflective practice, in which the coach uses personal sharing to develop rapport and a trusting, working relationship with the client, incorporates relational depth to surface insights leading to personal change. Throughout, the coach engages the client in active and reflective listening to reveal their story. They also use powerful questioning to challenge any discrepancies or incongruences that appear in the client’s story as opportunities to reveal judgements, biases, and preconceived beliefs that are holding them back from achieving their goals. Clients who are self-aware and insightful are more confident and have greater ability to grow and develop personally and professionally.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Susanne Knowles

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  1. Susanne Knowles
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Knowles, S. (2021). Coaching for Self-Awareness and Insight. In: Positive Psychology Coaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88995-1_9

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