The document discusses collaboration in coaching. It argues that traditionally, coaches operate in isolation but collaboration could provide benefits. Coaches training involved coaching triads to practice skills with peer coaches. However, once certified coaches typically worked alone with occasional check-ins. The document suggests collaboration where coaches and coachees recognize shared interests could build more sustainable relationships by sharing power and knowledge. It notes historical examples of how trade required collaboration between communities and promoted cultural exchange.

1. Collaboration - The next big
thing in Coaching
Whilst training to become a Coach in the early 2000’s, our facilitators
described the relationship between the Coach & Coachee as being
central to effective practice. We were then introduced to the many
benefits of Coaching Supervision & Continuing Professional
Development (CPD).
Before we were let loose on our first 'real' Coachees, we participated in
Coaching Triads - an opportunity to practice the Coaching techniques
we had been learning with two other trainee Coaches in relative safety.
Rotating the roles of Coach, Observer & Coachee, we experienced
Coaching from different perspectives. With specific feedback & advice,
we were able to hone our practice.
Once we were certified, the received model of Coaching within
organisations was that we all operated in isolation, checking in with
one another at CPD events & with our Supervisors for a form of quality
control based upon self-reporting.
Recipients of Coaching (the Coachees) might occasionally be asked to
report back on their experience of being Coached - particularly at the

2. conclusion of the intervention, but largely, we were left to our own
devices.
Coaches are trained to work in isolation, but does this best serve the
Coachee, the Organisation & indeed the Coach? Does the creation of a
Coach as the go-to Guru create dependency? Could this approach be
working against the building of Coaching Cultures & the widespread
adoption of Coaching tools & techniques?
What might be the benefits to working more collaboratively?
Would the giving away some of the power held by the Coach result in
chaos?
In this brief article, I will explore a different approach to Coaching
practice in which seeking out shared interests builds sustainable
relationships between the Coach, the Coachee & their organisations.
Today, if we wish to purchase goods, we either visit the shops,
exchange money for the items & then head home again, or more
commonly, complete our purchases on-line. Back in ancient times, the
process wasn't nearly as simple. If you or someone in your settlement
didn't grow it, herd it or make it, then you would go without, seek an
alternative, or else travel for it, sometimes over great distances.
Each community had differing needs & desires for goods & services not
available within their society. In order to address this, one approach
would be to simply invade your neighbour’s lands, pillage until your
carts were full, & return home again.
Such tactics, whilst generally effective in the short-term, carried with
them great risks. These included: losses in battle; reprisals by those
whose goods had been plundered; the possibility that future incursions
might not go so easily; or indeed, that the neighbouring tribe might
move elsewhere to avoid the repetition of the invasion.
This method of acquiring things was neither sustainable nor viable in

3. the long-term.
Other schemes had to be found, hence the emergence of trade.
Historians believe that the first long-distance trade occurred between
Mesopotamia & the Indus Valley in Pakistan around 3000 BC. Trade was
limited almost exclusively to luxury goods, including spices, textiles &
precious metals. The domestication of camels around 1000 BC helped
encourage over land trade routes, called caravans, & linked India with
the Mediterranean.
Around 800 BC, Homer & Hesiod wrote of the existence of permanent
places of trade (emporia) the equivalent to our modern-day shopping
centres.
Trade routes emerged, crisscrossing the entire Eurasian continent,
intricately linking cultures for the first time in history. Nomadic travel &
the ensuing trade in goods promoted an exchange of ideas &
technologies. Trade & cooperation added value.
The adversity of primitive travel over great distances was tackled &
successful entrepreneurs developed the ability to adapt to dramatic
change, whilst surviving & prospering.
The Phoenicians famous for their seafaring expertise were the trading
masters of the Mediterranean. They became trusted intermediaries,
enabling goods to be traded between (oftentimes hostile) nations.
So much for the interesting history lesson; what can the evolution of
trade teach us?
Trade brought disparate peoples into close proximity with one another
due to their shared interests in each-other’s produce. Communication &
social interaction were crucial to trade. Successful traders learnt
foreign languages & familiarised themselves with the different customs
& practices of their trading partners.

4. Peoples with shared interests share the same pathway – it is an
association based upon mutual exchange. Reframing the relationship
toward these common goals offers a path forward.
Creating a better communal understanding of how Coaches & Coachees
share complementary priorities will help bolster a more resilient
relationship able to withstand the inevitable mutual waxes and wanes.
The approach of doing things to, rather than with Coachees increases
the risk of their disengagement & proliferation of the endemic
managerial problems within organisations.
Coaches sharing the power of their knowledge with Coachees can save
time, energy & resources in the long-term. It also tends to make
Coaching relationships more balanced & stable.
Collaboration between Coaches & between Coaches & Coachees
reinforces the cohesion of community which is a key to sustainable
relationships.
Coaches collaborating with one another, rather than pitching against
one-another for ever diminishing returns will serve to promote
Coaching, rather than the Coach.
As the great political philosopher Montesquieu noted - Once power is
too concentrated, institutions become subject to the whims of those in
control. The centralising of power reduces the opportunity to protect
against the disempowerment of the beneficiaries to whom services are
provided.
At the locus of Coaching ought to be the person-centred, altruistic
desire to see the well get better, to help the Coachee overcome their
challenges & to be better equipped to face the future.
Collaboration has become increasingly recognised by companies
seeking a leading edge in a competitive marketplace. A commitment to
address discrimination, to gender equity & women’s economic

5. empowerment for example, advances the companies’ association with
the target audience & thereby increases their market share.
Power sharing can help to overcome a problem so often lamented by
Coaches – that of the Coachee’s ‘lack of commitment’ to plans drawn up
by the Coach. Sharing power cannot be achieved without sharing the
creative process – collaborating to achieve the agreed goals.
A co-creation approach involves the Coachee from the outset, working
to identify & agree actions to be taken by both parties toward their
shared interests.
Discovering what other Coaches wish to achieve, (rather than
competing against them) & aligning these with our own objectives
creates a win-win. Tensions in the Coaching marketplace diminish as a
result of relationship building & a genuine sharing of mutual goals
engenders collaboration.
Listening to the views of others is crucial if positive change is to
happen. Forming working relationships with other Coaches who share
common interests adds to the efficacy of Coaching & promotes a
positive image of the profession.
Co-creation with Coachees & other Coaches also taps into the
psychology of reciprocity (or mutual benefit). The premise of reciprocity
is that of the intention to give back that which others have given to us
in the past (either directly back to that individual, or indirectly, by
paying it forward. We inherently convey a feeling of indebtedness when
someone does something for us. This need not be based upon feelings
of guilt, or inducement to pay back, but centred upon the mutual
respect that collaboration can generate.
By working together towards a shared goal, we begin to forge
partnerships which can, over time, prove to be greater than the sum of
their parts.

6. Reframing the way we work toward a greater recognition of shared
interests is a great way for Coaches & Coachees to forge stronger &
more resilient relationships – The equilibrium of shared interests.
© Alex Clapson 21-06-20 alexclapson@yahoo.co.uk 07855 636535