How client affiliation and competition influence the authenticity of a coach’s empathy.

Abstract

In this set of studies we explored the influence of the client's affiliation and potential competition on the coach's empathy. We expected that both competition and low affiliation would negatively affect the coach's inner empathy. In three studies we manipulated the coaching client in terms of affiliation and competition. In the first study (N 1 = 198) the participants were asked to coach either an affiliating, competing, or neutral client. In the second study (N 2 = 155) they were asked to coach either a less affiliating, competing, or neutral client. In the third study (N 3 = 52) they coached either a neutral client or a client who was both competing and less affiliating. The results of all three studies revealed that both competition and affiliation influenced the coach's affiliation feelings and inner empathy but not their expressed empathy. We further found that coaches felt less authentic in their behavior and their empathy when coaching a competing and less affiliating client than when coaching a neutral client. The set of studies provides evidence for the client's influence on a coach's empathy with a valuable degree of external validity because a mixed sample, future psychologists, and real coaches were tested. The results of these studies suggest that the coach's expressed empathy does not change dependent on the client. Thus, coaches stay in their professional role. However, staying authentic seems to be difficult when being confronted with a competing and less affiliating client.

The empathy factor: An important aspect of success in every coaching session.

“…For instance, people tend to show more empathy in situations of affiliation (e.g., friends, ingroup, people with similarities) than in situations of competition (e.g., competitors striving for the same reward, competitive out-groups), as well as more empathy when their counterparts express positive emotions rather than negative emotions (Zaki, 2017). This situation-specific motivation for empathy was also found in the coaching context: Coaches are motivated to show more empathy in a setting of affiliation (i.e., a client you want to affiliate with) than in a setting of competition (i.e., a client expressing coach-conflicting interests; Diller, Jutzi, et al, 2021). Furthermore, there is a difference between actual empathic behavior and inner processes of empathic intention, empathic feelings, and situation perception (Zaki, 2017).…”

“…Furthermore, there is a difference between actual empathic behavior and inner processes of empathic intention, empathic feelings, and situation perception (Zaki, 2017). For example, in the presented study, coaches expressed the same amount of actual empathic behavior toward clients even though they had highly differing inner empathic processes, making this an issue of authenticity (Diller, Jutzi, et al, 2021). Last but not least, the coach’s actual empathic behavior can differ from the client’s perception, although these two seem to positively correlate (B.…”

“…Because the client can influence the coach's empathy (Diller, Jutzi, et al, 2021), we further assessed motivation-related affective states to see whether the effect of empathy may be influenced by the client's approach-related (e.g., feeling energized, capable, powerful, determined) or avoidance-related (e.g., feeling worried, anxious, inhibited) affective states (Harmon-Jones et al, 2013). Such approach-related affective states are important for following and attaining a goal in coaching: Only with a certain energization and power, individuals are motivated to follow a goal (Mühlberger et al, in press, 2018).…”

“…Empathy training can increase a person's development of empathy (Bibeau et al, 2016;Block-Lerner et al, 2007;Teding van Berkhout & Malouff, 2016). Particularly in situations where it may be more difficult to show empathy toward a client, training to develop an authentic way of showing empathy is essential (Diller, Jutzi, et al, 2021).…”