What makes a ‘good’ coach? How stakeholder groups understand the virtues of a coach

This study explores the virtues needed to be a good coach. In contrast to the considerable focus on competencies, there has been little discussion about what the character traits of a coach should be. We therefore explored what key stakeholders in coaching understood about the virtues of coaches. Experienced coaches and clients (predominantly from a workplace context) were interviewed and the data analysed by reflexive thematic analysis. This identified six virtues: wisdom, temperance, courage, loyalty, non-judgemental and attentive, which were made up of 22 components. This provides a helpful framework for professional reflection and the training and development of coaches, as well as future research.