Is Coaching An Art Or Science

Art vs Science of coaching.

A debatable question of 1000 cents.

Do you expect your coach to be a lab court with KMnO4 in a conical flask? Ready to attempt titration, to quantitatively explain the caching method?

Or

Do you expect your coach to be an artist or a wordsmith with a high intuitive power?

Some say coaching is an amalgamation of both. The brain can’t be expressed without art and the art comes from the brain.

THE SCIENCE OF COACHING

The science most related to Coaching is neuroscience.

According to neuroscience, the prefrontal cortex is used for learning new tasks and holds our working memory. It has limited resources and fatigues quickly and is able to carry a limited number of ideas at one time.

The basal ganglia controls the daily routines and habits. The daily routines do not require a conscious thought. Once the routines are settled and stored in this part of the brain, they are hard to change.

In coaching, transformation does not happen in a day. One’s daily activities- daily meetings, regular communications and other activities are registered in the basal ganglia. Transformation involves changes in the brain circuit in the pre- frontal cortex. Coach and the client have to be consistent to create these transformational changes into regular routines.

Brain science says we resist ‘offered advice’ when it comes from someone else. A coach never puts up advice for their clients. They provide them with questions challenging them and motivating them. Motivation gives energy to the transformational process and there is less resistance when the solution comes from the clients mind.