2019 Articles

Seeing Polaris: A Call to Integrate Visual Images into Coaching Action Plans

Prywes, Yaron; Mah, Elisabeth

This paper recommends that coaches consider equipping clients with a visual image to refer to between sessions. This recommendation is based on the authors’ personal experience as well as research and theory from the fields of education, persuasion science, and motivational psychology, which suggest that visual images may help clients learn complex new behaviors and enhance motivation for goal pursuit. The authors identify the components of an integrative approach (visualtext hybrid) called “Polaris” and present a case study to provide coaches with the information needed to adopt this tool for their own practice. The paper concludes with implications for coaching researchers, coaching supervisors and coach educators.