Coaching in action: investigating actual coaching behaviour over time

Research on the factors contributing to effective coaching has gained significant attention in recent years. These factors, however, are rather abstract constructs that cannot readily be observed. To address this issue, we focus on coaching behaviours. Coaching behaviours describe what coaches actually do during the coaching process and represent the visible and observable part of the coaching factors. Using behavioural observation, we analysed 50 coaching sessions with an average duration of 73.02 minutes (SD = 16.26). Our analysis demonstrated that specific coaching behaviours and coaching phases can be observed with high inter-rater reliability. In addition, coaching behaviours vary across different coaching phases, suggesting that coaches implement coaching factors in specific phases. These findings deepen our understanding of how coaching factors manifest themselves on a behavioural level throughout the coaching process, informing both research and evidence-based practice. This knowledge can also serve as a foundation for developing training programmes that target coaching processes at a fine-grained level.