Coaching needs robust quantitative outcome studies and meaningful coaching effectiveness measures. Coaching effectiveness research needs to develop rigor and status similar to other helping professions to sustain coaching credibility. Currently, most coaching effectiveness studies present shortcomings in the design that impact the quality of conclusions, for example: self-reported measures; lack of random allocation; data being collected in a pre- and post-coaching design (or at three data points). The pre/post designs, that are currently a predominant approach to assessing change over time in the coaching research, tend to show relatively small changes over time, as most of the before and after intervention studies.

This workshop will review a rigorous study of coaching effectiveness with important information for you and your coaching practice.

Joanna Molyn - Joanna is an academic researcher and lecturer with a background in City finance (Dresdner/Allianz), Organisational Development (OD) and consultancy. Joanna’s research looks into the effectiveness of coaching and into coaching as a Higher Education tool to increase students’ employability effort. She is currently working in collaboration with Professor David Gray from the University of Greenwich and Professor Erik de Haan from Ashridg Business School on developing a research bid for the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School.

Before joining academia, Joanna worked in the City investment bank, Dresden Kleinwort, in their Corporate Finance, Marketing and Global Debt divisions in different roles. Prior to that, Joanna worked as a Research Assistant for Business Management and Finance (BMF UK) Ltd, an official advisor to the Polish government responsible for major restructuring and privatisation programmes in Poland.

Most recently, Joanna has worked as a leadership facilitator and coach. She designed and delivered two leadership and innovation development programmes for the BBC, and a marketing project “The Commercial Value of Innovation” for BNY Mellon. Joanna has also designed and facilitated leadership workshops for Angel Academe and FLASH (a EU funded project).

Erik de Haan is the Director of Ashridge's Centre for Coaching with over twenty years of experience in organisational and personal development. He aims to support individuals in their search for what is right and just for themselves and for others in their organisations. His expertise covers process consulting for organisational change, facilitating management teams, working conferences, executive and team coaching.

Erik has an MSc in Theoretical Physics and gained his PhD with his research into learning and decision-making processes in perception. He is a British Psychoanalytic Council registered psychodynamic psychotherapist with an MA in psychotherapy from the Tavistock Clinic, has co-authored more than 150 articles and 10 books, and sits on the editorial board of three journals including the Consulting Psychology Journal.

Erik has worked with universities, hospitals and multinational companies. He is currently Professor of Organisation Development at the VU University Amsterdam. Erik is an Ashridge accredited coach and supervisor and is qualified to deliver a range of psychometric instruments.