Research Paper: Implications from Neuroscience to Coaching

Research Paper By Anja Unkel
(Life Coaching, GERMANY)

Brain Matters: Implications of Neuroscience to Coaching

• Why change is hard, but yet manageable
• Why is Neuroscience relevant to coaching?

According to the 2010 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study the highest ranked motivation that brings people to coaching is the wish to optimize individual and/or team performance, followed by the wish to expand professional career opportunities, the improvement of business management strategies, and other more personal motivations as increase selfesteem/self-confidence and manage work life balance (ICF- Homepage). And there are much more reasons that bring people to coaching. But all of these people who engage a coach have three things in common:

1. They want to optimize, develop or change something within their lives.
2. They need to explore, train, learn and/or unlearn something new or different.
3. They need to think and to activate their brains.

This means one of the fundamental pillars linking neuroscience and coaching together is the human brain and its fantastic ability to learn. And it shines up that the fields of brain-basedlearning and the contemporary neuroscience are most relevant fishing-grounds for coaches and their coaching practice.