Practice tool 2 theories.

Lesson 1, you examined the nature of coaching as well as some of the theories of psychology you can use as the basis for effective coaching. As part of your review of coaching types, you defined the opportunities that coaching provides from personal and professional perspectives. You further explored how to apply psychological theories to coaching situations to provide the foundational knowledge needed for effective coaching.

In this lesson, you will examine the philosophy behind transactional analysis as well as models that describe human developmental stages. The area of transactional analysis provides both a philosophical approach to coaching and methodology that enables effective coaching. You can use the various developmental models as you try to understand where a client might be in terms of level of development in areas such as ethical reasoning and identity. You can then use these models to prepare for coaching sessions. After exploring a number of developmental models and reading about transactional analysis, you will use the coaching session preparation tool to prepare for a coaching session with your hypothetical client.

Readings, Resources, and Assignments
Required Readings
Textbook:

Wildflower, L., & Brennan, D. (2011). The handbook of knowledge-based coaching: From theory to practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 4: pp. 29-37

Chapter 5: pp. 39-49

Required Assignments
Assignment: Coaching Session Preparation Tool
Practice (required assignment): Identify and complete one of the coaching applications on pages 35 or 36. Reflect on the usefulness of transactional analysis in this application.

Adult Learning & Coaching Research Guide: Your one-stop shop for EDA research.

Check Prior Knowledge
Complete this activity before you start this lesson. You are not required to submit this activity to your instructor. The activity helps you to check the level of knowledge you bring into this lesson upon which you will build.

Think about your personal beliefs about people and their ability to change. Do you believe that people are okay, people strive to do their best, people can change, and people need to accept others? Conversely, do you believe that people come with a lot of baggage, people tend to be lazy and take advantage of others, people resist change, and people need to decide who to accept and who to reject?

Focusing Your Learning
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Evaluate transactional analysis as it applies to the coaching role.
Describe the various adult development theories.
Key Terms

As you read your assignment for this lesson, pay close attention to the key terms and phrases PDF listed throughout the chapter(s). These terms and concepts are important for your understanding of the information provided in the lesson.

Instruction
Transactional Analysis: A Concept Whose Time Has Come
Transactional analysis has been around since the early 1950s when Dr. Eric Berne developed it. Berne created it as a theory that everyone could understand and use rather than a theory just for psychiatrists and psychologists. On a general level, this theory helps people understand how humans have developed as well as how people treat themselves and how people treat others and communicate with them. Transactional analysis has a general positive psychology outlook behind it, in that it proposes that people are okay, people can change, and people need to accept others.

Transactional analysis has continued to evolve as a field of coaching and an area of research. Universities offer training in the area of transactional analysis, often at the master’s degree level. People from all different professions take courses in transactional analysis. These individuals include consultants, coaches, managers, teachers, clergy, and psychiatrists.

Web Activity: Transactional Analysis as an Ethical Approach: The field of transactional analysis has allowed many people to engage in providing coaching and even therapy based on an ethical set of practices. One Web site that discusses transactional analysis and how to use it for good or ethical therapy is called GoodTherapy.org. Take a look at the GoodTherapy.org Web site information on transactional analysis. As you look at this Web site, search for the answer to this question “Having read about this model and the concepts and philosophy behind it, why is transactional analysis considered a form of good or ethical therapy?”

One of the transactional analysis coaching tools is analysis of the games people play using the three ego states. This tool is explained on a Web site about Eric Berne who authored the book Games People Play.

As noted by Berne (1996), these three ego states are the parent, the adult, and the child. In the parent state, many recordings reflect the experience and coaching of a parent. In this ego state, people hear messages such as “Never talk to strangers,” or “Always be prepared.” In the child state, the recordings that play in people’s minds are quite different. They are the emotions and feelings experienced. Statements might include “It was really funny to see those two acting that way,” or “Monsters are really scary.” Finally, the adult state reflects those things people have learned over time. People learn much as a result of ongoing experiences. So, people may have learned “Do not touch a hot pot,” or “Do not bother sleeping dogs,” because they have seen a dog approach another sleeping dog, and the sleeping dog bit or barked at the first dog. The three stages can be summarized as follows:

Parent – taught the concept
Child – felt the concept
Adult – learned the concept

Video Activity: Tour the following Web site to see how these states are used to analyze how people play games: Transactional Analysis. View each of the following four videos to see Dr. Eric Berne discuss the games people play and the theory behind them. Ask yourself, “How might I use this information when coaching individuals?”

Role of Developmental Theories in Coaching
The field of psychology contains various developmental theories. In fact, developmental psychology is devoted to the study of developmental theories. Each of these different theories looks at specific psychological aspects of the human being. For example, theories proposed by Jean Piaget focus on the development of analytical reasoning throughout the life of an individual. Today, the Jean Piaget Society Web site supports continued work related to his theories.

Often, people refer to Piaget’s work as examining the development of analytical reasoning (Gibbs, 2013). On the other hand, Lawrence Kohlberg has been credited with creating a developmental model of moral reasoning (Gibbs, 2013). Moral development becomes significant in the field of coaching because it is important to recognize the moral or ethical stage at which a person may be reasoning. Understanding this stage then allows one to identify the best approach and examples to use for coaching about any moral or ethical issues that might arise. A high-level overview of Kohlberg’s model can be seen at “Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development.”

Video Activity: Kohlberg’s model includes six basic stages through which people develop during their lifetimes. One interesting concept behind moral reasoning is the use of ethical dilemmas to help develop an individual’s level of moral reasoning. View the following short video explaining a moral dilemma and how people reason through it at the different stages. As you view this video and think about these stages of development, consider how you might use this model of moral reasoning to coach a child or young adult through behaviors that might be considered immoral or unethical.

Another developmental theory discussed in this lesson’s reading is Erik Erikson’s theory of development of identity. This theory looks at the various stages of identity development and addresses issues such as trust and autonomy as well as initiative and guilt. A short overview of these stages can be viewed at “Erik Erikson’s Stages of Development.”

Developmental theories are available for various aspects of human behavior. As coaches, it is important to understand the scope of these theories and to be able to access the information when needed. One Web site that provides a list of these theories and links to them on other Web sites is “Theories of Human Development.”

Coaching Session Preparation Tool
When planning a coaching situation, it is important to consider which psychological models you might want to review as well as how you might use them to analyze the situation or to provide coaching on a topic. A simple way to do this is to use a coaching session preparation tool. This table helps you identify the model you want to review, allows you to identify how you might use the model, and provides a place to keep notes on the model. This tool is shown as a table.

Coaching Session Preparation Tool
Model in Consideration for Use Description of the Model and Its Relevance Location of resources or information on the model How might I use the model?
Example:

Transactional Analysis Model

The transactional analysis model helps to describe various behaviors in interactions among people.

List books, Web sites, and videos that will provide information.

I will work with individuals to get them to realize that they must accept their own human behaviors as well as others’ behaviors before beginning to work on how to improve interactions with peers.

I will review the assumptions behind TA: People are okay. Everyone has the capacity to think. You can decide to change.

Then, I will review how transactions take place as well as some of the effective and ineffective communication and interaction mechanisms. Finally, I will ask my clients to identify one instance where they defined a script and played a game and explain how this might have been detrimental.
Selecting a Hypothetical Client for Your Application
As mentioned in the previous lesson, you will apply theories, concepts, and skills to coaching. Find a colleague or friend with whom you want to practice these coaching activities or applications. Please ensure that you do not promise the person that you will actually do real coaching since you are still in the learning process. This person could be someone you know at work, in your family, or in an organization for which you are a member. You may select different people for each of the application activities.

Practice
Applying Theories of Psychology to Coaching (required – not graded)

Use a person who is willing to participate in some coaching activities, as discussed in the previous section. Review the chapter on transactional analysis. Identify and complete one of the applications on page 35 or 36. Reflect on the usefulness of transactional analysis in this application.

Assessing Your Learning
Lesson 2 Practice Activity (0 points). This is a required, non-graded activity. Complete the Practice Activity located in the Instruction section of the lesson. Then, in the textbox, located in the following link, indicate whether you used the application on page 35 or the one on page 36. Describe if you found this tool useful. Lesson 2 Practice

Lesson 2 Assignment (30 points)

Coaching Session Preparation Tool

Using the client you identified in your Lesson 1 Essay, complete the coaching session preparation tool in one of three ways:

Open and save this MS Word version of the coaching tool ZIP to your computer. Fill in the sections, save your work, and submit it to your instructor using the link below.
Open and print this PDF version of the coaching tool PDF. Fill in the sections legibly by hand, scan the document as a PDF, and submit it to your instructor using the link below.
Create your own version of the coaching tool based on the information provided in the Instruction section of the lesson and submit it to your instructor.
Remember that the purpose of the coaching session preparation tool (described in this lesson) is to identify and describe how you could use a theory or concept within a coaching session with a client.

For this assignment identify two theories. They can come from Chapter 5 or another source. Then, for each theory do the following: (1) briefly describe the theory, (2) describe how the theory might be relevant to your planned coaching session with your hypothetical client, (3) locate resources for the theory, and (4) identify how you will use the theory in a coaching session. You should write each section in complete sentences. You can express the information in short paragraphs or a bulleted list.

Two in-text citations of the textbook are required. The essay should be 250-500 words.

Review the following checklist/rubric before submitting your assignment to your instructor.

Checklist/Rubric Points
Identification: The student describes two theories from Chapter 5 or another source, accurately identifying the relevance of the two theories to a client. 15
Interpretation: The student clearly and precisely explains how to use the two theories in a coaching session. 12
Mechanics: The assignment exhibits college-level writing skills with few or no mistakes in grammar or punctuation. 3
To submit the assignment, attach your file within the assignment submission window at the following link: Lesson 2 Preparation Tool Assignment.

If you need help attaching your file to the submission window, refer to these instructions.

Summarizing Your Learning
Use the following questions to help evaluate your own learning in this lesson. Take a few minutes to reflect on these questions and what they personally mean to you. Then, answer the questions using the information in this lesson.

What are the risks and benefits of applying transactional analysis concepts to coaching?
Why is it important for effective coaching to understand developmental theories of psychology?

References

Berne, E. (1996). Games people play: The basic handbook of
2 therioes carl jung and piget transactional analysis. Old Saybrook, CT: Tantor eBooks.

Gibbs, J. C. (2013). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg, Hoffman, and Haidt. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Have You Met The Objectives For This Lesson?