Research Paper: Implications from Neuroscience to Coaching

What is Neuroscience?

When we want to find a definition for Neuroscience, we can choose from a bunch of different definitions, each varying a little bit, depending on the researcher’s origin discipline and main field of interest. A quite generic definition of Neuroscience is Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. (www.wikipedia.com)

A little more distinct and for the purpose if this article good serving definition as it emphasizes the relevance of our neural system for human behavior and learning can be found in the Online Dictionary Merriam Webster, where Neurosciences is defined as a branch of life sciences that deals with the anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, or molecular biology of nerves and nervous tissue and especially with their relation to behavior and learning. )

What makes a neuroscientist, Brain-Based Approach to Coaching so Attractive?

A brain-based approach to coaching is utilizing neuroscientist findings to better understand, how and why coaching works and to underline techniques that support our clients on their journey towards change effectivly. I personally think there are three major reasons that make a brain based approach to coaching so attractive:

1. It is tangible and evidence based. The neuroscience and the research behind it, have a long history, is robust, and recognized far beyond its own fields. This means that the findings that come from it are objective and reproducible. Since coaching itself is a relatively new emerging profession that claims to bring sustainable results and change to the client it does not have a large body of objective evidence to support its techniques and. This way neuroscience might serve as a field of study that academically underpins & explains why and how coaching works.
2. Neuroscientistic findings explain in a connectable way, why change is so hard, but yet possible under certain preconditions. In the role of serving as „change – agents“ for our clients Neuroscience gives us a deeper and more evidence based insight in a system that constantly guides our and our client’s thoughts, feelings and behavior and should therefore shape our coaching interventions and techniques to enhance and support the effectivity of our coaching.
3. Last but not least it is an interesting and useful perspective, that enables us to explain in scientific terms why the brain needs coaches and how coaching might help the brain to improve functioning. For the coaching practice this means that coaching with the brain in mind gives us an awareness of how we will be able to demonstrate that we bring ‘added value’ to clients with our interventions based on evidence and not just a feel good factor at the end of each session.

I personally also do believe that the insights from Neuroscience and brain based learning are fundamental to every coaching process that is committed to support and facilitate growth and sustainable results. Understanding and implementing aspects of Neuropsychology within coaching practice offers the possibility to enrich our client’s lives in a long term perspective and gives our clients and us a profound and evidence based understanding of facilitating change as underlying principle of each coaching process. Clients who have been coached with a brain based perspective in mind will leave with an increased understanding of change and the capacity to change: Knowledge, that improves the capacity for more resilience in future, knowledge, that allows clients to truly transform, even against stormy winds and knowledge, that helps us as coaches to support our client’s learning process with methods and tools, that support them best to achieve, whatever they want to achieve.

Therefore the aim and purpose of this article is to discuss some of the current trends within the
contemporary neuroscience and their relevance for coaching.

The concept of Neuroplasticity

Learning takes place in the human brain, one of the most complex organs of the human body. Weighing about 1.4 kilograms it contains about one hundred billions of neurons and an average of ten thousand synaptic connections linking one neuron to others. And based on our individual history, genetic, and experience there are no two identical brain in this world, as these synaptic linkages are created by both, genes and experience. But there are some basic principles valid for each brain, that support brain based approaches and provide us an insight into why and how coaching is working on the brain level.

One of these most important principles it the concept of neuroplasticity:

Some years ago we still thought, that we are hard wired. Dammed to live and die with what we have on nerve cells, brain capacity and connections. But researchers all over the world just recently discovered, that we are not. One of the dogmas that neuroscience needed to overcome despite some findings that already indicated this early before. But finally and due to the work of neuroscience in these last decades, we nowadays know that our brains are plastic and can constantly change and build up new connections. This capacity of the brain to grow & change is a lifelong one. It is a revolution input for the rehabilitation practice and the ones who felt quite comfortable with saying:

I am who I am. There is no chance to change an old’s tree thinking and behaving.

So, when we all are able to grow and build up new connections and mental maps why is change so hard? In these last years neuroscientists have been confirming, what many of us already felt and knew:

1. Change is harder than we think
2. Change requires more than just thoughts and reflection
3. Change is yet manageable