How Research Can Affect and Improve Coaching Performance

Thursday 26 June, 14h – 16h, Hotel Crowne Plaza Geneva

In a competitive market place, coaches today need to have an edge when marketing and demonstrating their skills. One particularly powerful edge is for coaches to be able to assert that their coaching design and techniques have been proven effective through researched studies.

The primary purpose of the symposium is to discuss the ways research is relevant to coach practitioners, both in terms of marketing and also as a method of designing more effective coaching protocols. The symposium is open to any interested professionals, academics, and coaches. Symposium presenters will discuss:
• New developments in outcome research in the field of coaching.
• Specific ways in which research (both outcome research and research from related
  disciplines) affects coaching performance.
• The relationship between researched theories and coaching practice.
Our goal is twofold: First, we want to inform coach practitioners of new research and the value of research as a marketing tool and in improving coaching performance. Second - and equally important - as researchers we want to learn from practitioners about new practices and techniques that should be verified as effective through research studies.

If you would like to attend the Coaching Research Symposium, please BOOK NOW. Attendance is free to paid conference participants. Non-paid participants: 50 Sfr

Symposium Leaders:

David B. Drake, PhD David B. Drake, PhD is Executive Director of the Center for Narrative Coaching in California. He works globally with organizations to improve their internal coaching capabilities, develop integrated coaching strategies and foster a coaching culture. Current projects include coaching/culture change for PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia and program development/research with Melbourne Business School. David also teaches advanced narrative and coaching skills to professionals around the world (www.narrativecoaching.com). He has written over twenty publications on narratives, evidence, and coaching. He is the executive editor for a new coaching anthology, "The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching: Insights and Issues” published by Wiley UK, 2008 (www.practiceofcoaching.com). (www.practiceofcoaching.com).


Peter Szabo, MCC is founder of SolutionSurfers / Weiterbildungsforum Basel, the largest coaching school in Switzerland. He teaches post graduate courses in coaching at different universities and gives workshops on solution-focused coaching worldwide. In his private practice, he specializes on short coaching processes with executives. He is an assessor in the ICF international credentialing team since 2002. He has published “Brief Coaching for Lasting Solutions” with Insoo Kim Berg (WW.Norton Publishers, 2005).



Francine Campone EdD, PCC, offers coaching and consulting to mature professionals making mid-life and mid-career transitions. Her practice draws on a thirty-year career in higher and adult education and formal coach training, complemented by training in humanistic mediation, group dynamics and facilitation, and Constructive Living Practice. A member of the Fielding University and University of Texas at Dallas faculties, Francine developed and teaches a course in research for coaches, as well as graduate classes in evidence-based coaching. Dr. Campone served as co-chair of the review process and co-editor of the Proceedings of the ICF Research Symposium in 2004, 2005 and 2006. She hosts the Research Special Interest Group for the International Coach Federation and is engaged in an on-going research project with colleagues studying the development of coaches. Dr. Campone also serves as Docent to the Research Repository for The Foundation of Coaching. She recently published Connecting the Dots: Coaching Research Past, Present and Future in The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching (2008, Wiley & Sons). Contact: Francine@reinventinglife.com


Kim Gørtz is a philosopher from the University of Copenhagen who is carrying out an in-depth investigation, now in its 3rd year, in the largest bank in Scandinavia (30.000 employees), Nordea Bank - focusing on the effects and benefits of coaching in relation to leadership development, internal relations, customer relations and the implementation of lean processes. He is a member of the editorial board of IJCO. He has been involved in editing two coaching anthologies, as well as written a book on coaching from several philosophical perspectives, and has a new book forthcoming on the relationship between coaching and values in business-life.

Research Symposium Organizer:
Leni Wildflower, Ph.D., PCC, is the Director of the graduate-level Evidence Based Coaching Certificate Program at Fielding Graduate University. Fielding is an accredited graduate distance and distributed university, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, USA. ICF Coaching certification from at Fielding is combined with graduate credit at both masters and doctorate levels. Dr. Wildflower has over thirty years experience as an executive coach, consultant, and university professor. She has trained coaches in corporate and not-for-profit organizations, including BP, Rockwell International, First Data Corporation, Center for Creative Leadership, and Santa Barbara County government.