Who is the author of Challenging Coaching?

The authors of Challenging Coaching are John Blakey and Ian Day.

Management & Leadership

Challenging Coaching Book Summary - Challenging Coaching Book explained in key points

Listen to the Intro

00:00

Challenging Coaching summary

Name: Challenging Coaching
Rating: 4.3 (109 reviews)
Author: John Blakey and Ian Day

John Blakey Ian Day

Going Beyond Traditional Coaching to Face the FACTS

4.3 (109 ratings)

22 mins

Brief summary

Challenging Coaching by John Blakey and Ian Day offers an alternative approach to coaching that challenges traditional methods and promotes questioning, disobedience, and authenticity. It encourages coaches to focus on creating a safe and supportive environment in which clients can challenge themselves and grow.

Topics

Coaching

Table of Contents

Challenging Coaching
Summary of 9 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me: Find out why coaching needs an update for the twenty-first century.

Coaching became popular in the 1980s as a direct consequence of the “war over talent.” As the economy became more knowledge based, the development and retention of top talent became necessary for success. So companies started hiring coaches to ensure that their employees reached their full potential.

But have you ever asked yourself: from where did coaching appear?

Coaching developed from existing support-oriented professions like counselling and psychotherapy that are based on certain core-principles, such as being non-directive, and helping clients find their own solutions. These principles are effective for helping people in need of care, but are they effective in the case of coaching?

Challenging Coaching argues that this approach might have led self-obsessed financial traders to focus only on their own personal rewards – with catastrophic results for their companies, and even for the financial market as a whole.

So what’s wrong with the old approach?

Traditional coaching tends to fuel leaders’ egos with praise, rather than challenging them with honest feedback. And instead of focusing on accountability and the bigger picture, traditional coaches just help the client fulfill their personal goals, and stand back when they see their client breaking their own values.

Challenging Coaching believes this has to change.

In the following blinks, you’ll find out:

how traditional coaching works,
what its original inspirations were,
how those roots are holding it back, and
what a better alternative looks like: the FACTS approach, which moves away from myth-based coaching to a model that actually works.

Traditional coaching’s original influences were mainly support oriented.

Even though it might seem to have existed forever, the coaching profession is actually still in its teenage years. When it first emerged in the 1980s, it was still very much a toddler, and easily influenced by its older peers – like psychotherapy and counselling.

This influence means that coaching shares a core foundation with support-oriented counselling disciplines where the client gets unconditional positive backing.

For example, active listening and powerful questioning are the two skill sets that are fundamentally required for counselling, mentoring, therapy – and coaching. These skills are considered necessary for developing an understanding of a client’s needs – which is the starting point of all progress – and helping them find their own answers, which is key to self-determination, a major value of support-oriented disciplines.

But when coaching was born, it knew none of all this. So, in search of orientation, coaching took its biggest inspiration from person-centered therapy.

Person-centered therapy was developed by Carl Rogers, one of the most influential therapists of the twentieth century, renowned for his humanist methodology. His non-directive approach is based on the fundamental belief that a client already possesses the vast resources necessary for development. The therapist's role is to help the client find their own solutions by creating a safe space for growth using empathy (seeing through another’s eyes), congruence (being completely open and honest) and unconditional, non-judgmental positive regard. These principles have become the foundation for traditional coaching models.

For example, the popular Co-Active Coaching model significantly overlaps with Carl Rogers’ principles: the client is considered naturally resourceful, the agenda comes from the client, and the relationship is an alliance designed for the client’s growth.

Another example is the well-known GROW model, which also shares its main assumptions with Rogers: The client is considered able to find their own solutions, empathy is focused to create a safe space, and understanding is developed through non-directive questioning.

This support-orientated foundation led to three core coaching principles.

The newborn coaching profession was able to derive its methods and ethos from the theoretically established and practically proven foundations of psychotherapy and counselling. These predecessors have influenced coaching down to its core, and coaching literature widely agrees on three support-orientated principles that are emphasized as fundamentally important:

But while psychotherapy has gone through many paradigm shifts since its creation, and has constantly updated its core principles, coaching still holds on to its founding principles. Are these still up to date? Or is it time for change?

These core principles limit progress and bear great risks.

We’ve now learned about the origins of traditional coaching. But what if its fundamental principles are flawed to their very core? What if these principles need to be challenged?

FACTS coaching believes that traditional coaching’s core principles hinder progress.

FACTS-based coaching is fundamentally more effective than traditional coaching.

Have you ever had a teacher who became a good friend? Who filled your lessons with laughter and joy? That’s great – but for the sake of your progress, it might have been better if you had felt challenged rather than entertained, and had seriously tackled your weaknesses instead of focusing on fun. The same logic can be applied for coaching.

FACTS-based coaching aims to find the right balance of challenge and support, in contrast to traditional coaching, which focuses too much on support. This lack of challenge leads to limited action, because taking risks could mean disrupting the cosy coach–client bond.

F: Coaches must overcome their fear of giving Feedback.

There are three main reasons why traditional coaches don’t provide honest feedback:

1. Feedback might have been experienced as judgmental. We’ve all felt angry when someone has criticized us, which can make us reluctant to make suggestions of our own.

A: Clients must be held Accountable for their commitments.

During the oil spill crisis in Louisiana, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward found himself at the eye of a political storm. Giving his testimony before the US Congress, he distanced himself from the company’s mistakes and struggled to recall any of the events he was asked about. His behavior provoked fury among not only the direct victims of the oil spill, but also the public at large.

This kind of behavior has led society to demand greater transparency and accountability on a governmental and economic level. Political parties and major public debates have even formed based on these issues – for example, the Pirate Party and Snowden’s NSA revelations both revolve around this topic.

C: Courageous Goals are crucial for thriving in the current business environment.

In May 1961, US President John F. Kennedy stood before Congress and proclaimed that the United States “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” But a traditional coach would never have agreed with Kennedy on setting this goal.

Why?

T: Tension is essential for optimal performance.

Alexander Karelin felt pretty relaxed. At the 2000 Olympic Games he was the three-time defending champion of Greco-Roman wrestling, and had never lost a single match in his 15 years of international competition. His opponent in the finals, Rulon Gardner, had never finished higher than fifth in any international wrestling competition, and was arguably perceived as the easiest opponent Karelin had ever to face in a final match. But although Alexander Karelin had won 887 wrestling matches, he lost this one. There was no cheating, no injury, no bad luck – nothing out of the ordinary.

So why did he lose?

S: System Thinking helps prevent individuals bringing down entire companies.

We’ve all heard of the bank employees who took down the whole bank. Nick Leeson is one of them. A former broker at Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest investment bank, he earned Barings £10,000,000 in his first year as general manager of future markets, which translated into a £130,000 bonus for himself. Motivated by his bonuses, Leeson started investing in increasingly risky trades – which led to the demise of the entire bank. By the end of 1995, his investments totalled a loss of £827,000,000, and Barings had to declare bankruptcy.

What went wrong?

Want to see all full key ideas from Challenging Coaching?

Key ideas in Challenging Coaching

More knowledge in less time

Read or listen

Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.

Find your next read

Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.

Shortcasts ^New

We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

What is Challenging Coaching about?

Challenging Coaching argues that traditional coaching is limited by its therapeutic origins. Blakey and Day introduce a better alternative for the twenty-first century business environment: the FACTS approach. Its emphasis on demanding challenging Feedback, Accountability, Courageous Goals, Tension and Systems Thinking drives a client to achieve their full potential.

Challenging Coaching Review

Challenging Coaching (2012) is an insightful book that takes a fresh look at the world of coaching, offering valuable lessons for both coaches and leaders. Here's why this book is a worthwhile read:

With its provocative viewpoints and unconventional advice, it challenges traditional coaching methods and encourages readers to think outside the box.
By exploring the limitations of traditional coaching models and proposing new approaches, it sparks critical thinking and stimulates growth in the coaching field.
The book's practical strategies and case studies equip readers with tools and techniques to enhance their coaching skills and create lasting change for themselves and their clients.

Best quote from Challenging Coaching

I love it when you challenge me, so challenge me more!

—John Blakey and Ian Day

Who should read Challenging Coaching?

Anyone interested in coaching or being coached
Anyone interested in peak performance

About the Author

John Blakey and Ian Day both have extensive experience coaching board-level leaders all around the world.

Categories with Challenging Coaching

Management & Leadership

Book summaries like Challenging Coaching

The Coach's Survival Guide

Kim Morgan

An essential companion to anyone setting out as a professional coach

21 min

4.2

The Advice Trap

Michael Bungay Stanier

Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever

17 min

4.6

Coaching for Performance

Sir John Whitmore

The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership

How to Get the Most Out of Any Team

Changing Business, Transforming Lives - The Book That Helped Define the Field of Professional Coaching

How to Build a Profitable Career As a Small-Business Coach

18 min

4.2

How to Speed Read People

Patrick King

Think Like a Psychologist, Analyze Human Behavior, and Decode Emotions

19 min

4.0

The Practice of Not Thinking

Ryunosuke Koike

A Guide to Mindful Living

18 min

4.3

The Inner Game of Tennis

W. Timothy Gallwey

The Ultimate Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

13 min

4.3

The 5 Types of Wealth

Sahil Bloom

A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life

The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better

The Nine Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds

21 min

4.5

How to Begin

Michael Bungay Stanier

A Proven Plan to Start Something That Matters

23 min

4.4

The Procrastination Cure

Damon Zahariades

21 Proven Tactics for Conquering Your Inner Procrastinator, Mastering Your Time, and Boosting Your Productivity!

The Secret to Love That Lasts

20 min

4.4

The Thin Book of Trust

Charles Feltman

An Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work

15 min

Psychological Types

Carl Jung

Collected works from the supreme theorist of the conscious

20 min

4.6

The Entrepreneurial Mindset Advantage

Gary G. Schoeniger

The Hidden Logic That Unleashes Human Potential

18 min

3.6

Tell Yourself a Better Lie

Marisa Peer

Use the Power of Rapid Transformational Therapy to Edit Your Story and Rewrite Your Life.

21 min

3.4

The Danish Way of Parenting

Jessica Joelle Alexander

What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids

20 min

4.5

The Seven Tensions of Negotiation

Cash Nickerson

Breathe and Let the Opposition Make the Tough Decisions

Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

28 min

4.2

First, Break all the Rules

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently

A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads

20 min

4.4

Building Your Money Machine with ChatGPT

Larry Wheeler

Use AI to Generate Ideas, Automate Marketing, and Build Profits

17 min

3.2

Big Goals

Caroline Adams Miller

The Science of Setting Them, Achieving Them, and Creating Your Best Life

18 min

4.2

You Coach You

Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis

How to Overcome Challenges at Work and Take Control of Your Career

21 min

4.4

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

Jim Dethmer

A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success

Presenting with More Stories and Less PowerPoint

Secrets for Commanding Attention and Getting Results

16 min

4.3

Communication Miracles for Couples

Jonathan Robinson

Easy and Effective Tools to Create More Love and Less Conflict

21 min

4.1

The First Rule of Mastery

Michael Gervais

Stop Worrying about What People Think of You

The New Psychology of Success

15 min

4.4

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Joseph Murphy (Ian McMahan revised)

Unlock Your Master Key to Success

What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference

19 min

3.6

The Fearless Organization

Amy C. Edmondson

Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth

The Secret History of China's Most Powerful Company

Why We’re Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life

23 min

4.3

Surfaces and Essences

Douglas Hofstadter

Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking

16 min

The Fifth Discipline

Peter M. Senge

The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization

An examination of the amoral game and techniques of seducers

How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership

18 min

Good to Great

Jim Collins

Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future

19 min

4.3

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie

Basic rules for how to make a good first impression

18 min

4.5

Mistakes I Made at Work

Jessica Bacal

25 Influential Women on Lessons Learned from Mistakes

Master the Skills You Need to Lead in Just Minutes a Day

A Handbook for Adjustment in the Face of Accelerating Change

19 min

4.4

Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Emotional Eating

Allen Carr

Set Yourself Free from Binge-Eating and Comfort-Eating

The Evolution of Human Sexuality

17 min

3.5

People ❤️ Blinkist

Sven O.

It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

Thi Viet Quynh N.

Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

Jonathan A.

Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

Renee D.

Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.