{"id":8360,"date":"2025-06-26T08:25:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T08:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/?p=8360"},"modified":"2025-06-26T08:47:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T08:47:38","slug":"are-you-feeling-the-strain-of-coaching-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/are-you-feeling-the-strain-of-coaching-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you feeling the strain of coaching?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is a reprint of a Coaching Research in Practice<\/a> (September, 2018). All ReciproCoaches receive complimentary limited-time access to each new issue (10 per year). For unlimited access to more than 10 years of Coaching Research in Practice archives, purchase a membership or a subscription.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


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In an unprecedented year of bush\/wildfires, a pandemic, outrage against racial injustice and a highly controversial US election, work-related strain on coaches has been noticeable. The negative impacts of coaching clients through climate crises, protracted lockdowns and social and political unrest have shown up at ReciproCoach in coaching relationships, as well as group mentoring and supervision sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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This issue of Coaching Research in Practice considers research on one group of coaches who commonly feel strain as part of their regular coaching work. It considers factors contributing to life satisfaction and work-related mental strain, provides some suggestions for reducing negative effects of coaching and offers some consolation for coaches who have been feeling the pressure of the year of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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COACHING RESEARCH<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n


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In their 2019 paper \u201cCoach and no regrets about it: On the life satisfaction, work-related mental strain, and use of supervision of workplace coaches\u201d, M\u00fcller, Kotte and M\u00f6ller highlight the way in which the increasing demands of workplaces impact upon workplace coaches. Factors include the nature of self-employment, the expectation of ROI, \u201ccompeting agendas of different organisational stakeholders \u2026 [and] rising demands of the working world\u201d (p. 17), in addition to \u201cdifficult or unpleasant contents of the coaching sessions \u2026 [and] unpleasant behaviour towards the coach\u201d (p. 17). They also point out that \u201cresearch findings suggest that most coaches experience on average seven negative effects for themselves per coaching engagement\u201d (p. 19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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M\u00fcller et al. started their study with four hypotheses. Firstly they hypothesised that \u201ccoaches\u2019 cognitive and emotional strain differs from those of a representative sample of the general working population\u201d and secondly that \u201ccoaches\u2019 life satisfaction differs from those of a representative sample of the general population\u201d (p. 20). Their last two hypotheses were that \u201cthe majority of coaches would choose their job as coach again in retrospect\u201d and that \u201ccoaching supervision has a moderating effect on the relationship between mental strain (i.e., cognitive and emotional strain) and coaches\u2019 job satisfaction\u201d (p. 20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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One hundred and ten workplace coaches from Germany, Austria and Switzerland completed a questionnaire that sought to measure work-related mental strain and life satisfaction. Here are the findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Coaches show significantly less cognitive and emotional strain than the average working population.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Coaches are more satisfied with their jobs and leisure time, in comparison to the general working population.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • While coaches had a similar financial situation to the norm, they \u201cwere more satisfied with their income as coach than the representative population\u201d yet \u201cless satisfied with the financial security of their work as coach \u2026 and also with provision for retirement\u201d (p. 23).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Of these coaches, 73.6% would definitely \u201cchoose their job again from today\u2019s perspective\u201d (p. 23), 23.6% would most likely choose it again, and only 2.7% would likely not choose their job again.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • When coaches have an average level of mental strain, job satisfaction is average too irrespective of coaching supervision; however, \u201cif work-related mental strain is high, job satisfaction is higher when coaches use supervision \u2026 whereas coaches without supervision show substantial declines in job satisfaction\u201d (p. 23).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n


    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In summary, while coaches are better off than the average individual in the workforce in terms of work-related mental strain and life satisfaction, they experience some concern about their financial future. Furthermore, in times of higher work-related mental strain, supervision supports coaches in maintaining job satisfaction.
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    <\/p>\n\n\n\n


    IN PRACTICE<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n


    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Given the year that we\u2019ve had in 2020, where coaches have experienced numerous negative effects of the job as a result of unpleasant and intense session contents, uncertain financial times and the high demands of the changing workplace, this study highlights that in such times, as well as in times of ordinary work-related strain, supervision is a valuable resource for coaches. This provides a clear recommendation to engage in supervision to maintain your own sense of life satisfaction, despite any work-related strain. Indeed, this study recognised the important role supervision plays in coaches\u2019 self-care.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n


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    In addition, in their discussion of the study findings, M\u00fcller et al. highlight that although coaches had a \u201crelatively high prevalence of negative effects of coaching for coaches themselves, that is, on average seven negative effects per coaching engagement and their impact on the well-being of the coach\u201d (p. 24), their job satisfaction is still high. Their consideration of this sheds light on another point for practice, in that \u201chav[ing] a repertoire of support resources [may] counterbalance possible negative effects\u201d and that \u201cprofessional coping strategies might mitigate work-related strain\u201d (p. 24). Indeed, as M\u00fcller et al. suggest, as a coach you are able to professionally support others, so in turn, you could equip yourself with the same support. This might include having your own coach, for example through reciprocal peer coaching, or through self-coaching. Indeed, if you are feeling stress related to future financial security and provision for retirement, as a result of being a coach, this could be a good topic to focus on with a coach of your own.
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    Finally, you may do well to intermittently ask yourself, \u201cIf I could choose again, would I choose to be a coach?\u201d Indeed, this question could act as an effective gauge for any negative effects you might be experiencing in your work as a coach. If your answer is no, take it to your next session with your coach or to a coaching supervision session.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n


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    Reference:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n


    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    M\u00fcller, A. A., Kotte, S., & M\u00f6ller, H. (2019). Coach and no regrets about it: On the life satisfaction, work-related mental strain, and use of supervision of workplace coaches. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 13(1), 16-29. doi:10.1080\/17521882.2019.1636841<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Translating coaching research into a coaching practice,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Kerryn Griffiths, PhD (The Process of Learning in Coaching), PCC
    ReciproCoach Founder and Global Coordinator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This article is a reprint of a Coaching Research in Practice (September, 2018). All ReciproCoaches receive complimentary limited-time access to each new issue (10 per year). For unlimited access to more than 10 years of Coaching Research in Practice archives, purchase a membership or a subscription. In an unprecedented year of bush\/wildfires, a pandemic, outrage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":8361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ReciproCoach-Blog-Image-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8360"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8378,"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions\/8378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reciprocoach.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}