The article deals with methods to cope with our constantly changing world. It focuses on the phenomenon of coaching, which was discovered in the 1980s, and in particular on executive coaching.
The author supports his theory using examples from the past and based on the Kaizen philosophy, quoting such names like Vince Lombardi and Stephen Covey. The author also presents myths and truths about coaching, he talks about the legitimacy of breaking patterns and introducing changes, and he explains how we can benefit from not being afraid of the unknown.

Training processes were crucial in the times of economic transformation. They provided high-tech methods of personnel management. Coaching gained importance as a method. Any problems with defining the idea of coaching are solved by the descriptive approach of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council. Its proposal is to understand coaching through competencies. Reengineering based on coaching is gaining importance in the Polish economy. The Norman Benett Group successfully applies comprehensive coaching in organizations using syncretistic methods.

In order for a coach to think of himself as a competent professional person, he needs to constantly work on his skills and be in an ongoing process of conscious selfdevelopment. In this article I will try to clarify and explain why this is so and how it can affect the work of a coach. Of all the abilities that form the basis of the work of a coach, I have chosen three that I believe are important for the self-development of the coach.
Firstly, openness to and interest in new psycho-neurological research, knowledge and scientific discovery (cognitive researchers, neuro-biologists, neuro-scientists), and the need for ongoing experimentation and discovery. Why? Because everything can help. Everything can be important when working with people.
Secondly, ongoing self improvement and working on oneself, and in particular working on emotional wellbeing. Why? Taking care of one’s own emotional intelligence is the key to understanding others and the key to developing empathy and intuition.
Thirdly, the development of one’s own sense of humor, joy and simply laughing. Why? Laughter creates distance from difficult situations. Laughter is a type, or an element, of social intelligence. It means looking after oneself and others.

What we have presented above is but a general sketch of a deep and fascinating model for achieving profound happiness, health, healing, and helpfulness in the world. In his book Of Water and Spirit, Malidoma Some speaks of his life growing up in a West African village. In that culture, it is assumed that each new baby has crossed from the spirit world into this world in order to bring a gift to the community. He describes a village ritual in which each newborn is brought to the elders, who take several days to commune with the newly arrived spirit. The basic question the elders ask of the newborn is, “Why have you come here?”. They assume that each person has come with a special mission, and that their life should be organized around honoring and realizing this mission. Based on the response they receive, the elders seek to support the child’s development so that their mission may be realized.
In a similar way, the mythological path of the hero’s journey seeks to honor the deeper value and calling of each person’s life. It assumes that each difficulty, crisis, or setback a person faces is both an opportunity and feedback about the nature of that person’s deeper calling. It also recognizes the need to find the resources, both internally and in the collective field, that will help a person realize their deeper journey. It is this profound appreciation for the dignity and value of each person’s life that drew us to this myth. We have found it exceptionally helpful for coaching and supporting individuals and groups to discover and live a fulfilling and helpful existence. The few notes and suggestions we have made in this paper are taken from workshops we have co-led, and represent the framework for a book we are working on. We hope you find them as helpful as we have, in terms of creating a world that works for all.

The essence of the concept presented in the article is providing a map that will enable moving in the most advantageous direction of changes. When a client’s road to achieving a goal is long and uphill and the results that he achieves are disproportionally modest compared to his actions, it is very likely that he is moving in the wrong direction. The author calls these directions pillars of success. When we move in the wrong direction, we lose time, we do damage and even the best techniques will not benefit development. Finding the right direction gives a visible progress in the results that the client achieves.

This article constitutes the personal refections of a coach on the place of coaching in the contemporary world, where changes are the result of technological progress as well as the development of ideas and socio-political systems. The author uses the essence of coaching as a starting point. He deliberates on whether coaching is a process that is isolated from the rest, of which the aim is to achieve changes in the sphere of one particular goal (task, action); or whether it is a comprehensive (holistic, systemic) process of which the aim is a qualitative change. By way of describing the elements of coaching, the author indicates the possible spheres of practical application. He also puts forward the following question: is coaching supposed to serve people as autonomous entities or is it supposed to serve organizations that realize economic, social or political goals?

The practice of coaching, as one of the methods of developing human potential, is characterized with a great deal of variety or even arbitrariness. This is why every precise definition of coaching is always incomplete, because it does not (and even should not) take into consideration all the facets of the coaching practice, as well as highly specialized, because it describes in detail only one aspect (or some aspects) of the coaching practice and distinguishes it (them) from others. However, the incompleteness and specialization of any precise definition of coaching is not a flaw, but a virtue. It enables to see coaching not from a descriptive viewpoint, which tries to describe common features of all the approaches to coaching, including the ones that are based on mistaken premises, but from a normative viewpoint, which proposes theoretically sound, verified in practice and therefore popularize-worthy approaches to coaching. One of these approaches is an evidence-based approach, which is a basis for the dynamic development of all professions that involve helping other people, including psychologists, psychotherapists and coaches. The article describes interpersonal skills coaching as an example of the evidence-based approach to the coaching practice.

The article shows the influence of socio-economic determinants on professional counseling and coaching. It demonstrates how the changes of the economic system enforce changes in the working methods of professional counselors and coaches. Globalization, the economic crisis, the extension of the labor markets on the one hand and the decrease in the number of employment opportunities on the other hand, and the need to make professional choices with every step of development of the professional career cause traditional counseling to evolve more towards job and career coaching. The present-day labor market needs workers that know their professional inclinations, resources, competencies and know how to use them in the benefit of the organization.

Me first part of this paper presents the essence of coaching and defines the coaching position among other available methods of human development. Moreover, the role and place of implementing executive coaching in learning organizations will be discussed. Thus, the main idea of this article is to generate aprofound picture of the coaching process that was used in a wider context and as apart of the internal development program for Top Managers in Deloitte in Poland – the “Pursuit of Excellence” Program. Furthermore, it was researched how the coaching process infuences the development of top talented employees. Based on the conducted research studies it was verified that coaching is an effective method for talent development.

The article is about the important and widely discussed issue of the financial evaluation of the effciency of coaching, mentoring and trainings. Me authors question how human development projects should be treated in accounting: more as operational costs or long term investments. Mey explain when projects are pro&table and how to measure the profitability of such projects. Me article presents the main assump-tions and methods of the financial evaluation of coaching, mentoring and training eficiency. Me authors present the Kirkpatrick ’s Model and Philips’ Model. Finally the authors present the results of an evaluation study that they conducted in Polish conditions using the mentioned methods.

This paper provides an overview on the development of a coaching culture. It focuses on the best practices that are developing within the US and the European Union and presents a five stage model for the development of a coaching culture within organizations. Me five stages are: Informal External Coaching, Professional External coaching, Coaching for A ll, Coaching as a Management Style and Coaching Across the Network. Me article suggests that many organizations have aspirations to build a coaching culture, but a large number of them are currently at level one, two or three a long this journey.

Me victim mentality involves vulnerability, asense of injustice, avoiding responsibility and complaining. Both in business and in coaching, cases of this phenomenon have been identied, using the so-called structure of vulnerability. Me article presents the basic directions for change, which enable moving away from the victim mentality and implementing acoaching strategy for overcoming diffculties relating to withdrawal and the sense of permanent dissatisfaction and frustration (Victoria Strategy). Based on these deliberations, it is easier to identify behaviors that are the result of avictim mentality, to more effectively replace the victim mentality with action and to obtain useful strategies for dealing with complaints and helplessness, which can be used in training, coaching and self-development.

Me article encourages mak ing use of the scienti&c k nowledge from developmental psycholog y. It replies to the thesis that coaching needs areliable theor y based on scientific research for achiev ing higher professionalism. A s there is such athing as coaching psycholog y, its scientific basis can easily be adult developmental psychology. It is based on the concept of the human life track. Me end of development is not (as it cannot be) childhood or adolescence. According to the human life track concept humans also develop throughout their adult life. Mere are indicatorsof this development, conditions for supporting it and even developmental task per-formance, which lets one achieve wellbeing, or even personal and professional happiness.

Me article presents an evidence-based approach. It focuses on the meaning of psychologi-cal knowledge and the research &ndings relating to the increase in credibility and eVcacy of coaching practice, and also the development of coaching as amethod of support.

This is paper explores a post-modern Gestalt approach to coaching which suggests multiple levels of engagement inclusive of physical/sensory, social/cultural, emotional/biological, projective/imagined and spiritual/intuitive levels of influence. The model reviewed here focuses primarily upon the ‘process’ of communication rather than its content, and deals with what is emerging ‘now’ rather than past problems and issues.

This article presents a number of legal issues relating to the broad understanding of the concept of coaching. At the present stage of coaching services development in Poland it is essential to begin a discussion on their legal aspects, including the dangers arising from poorly delivered services by persons engaged in providing coaching services.

The present article describes in detail a model for coaching supervision, created on the basis of the author’s own experience and information acquired during an annual supervisor training programme led by the Academy of Executive Coaching.

This article presents arguments for applying the transactional analysis (TA) in the coaching. Theoretical notions, techniques and workings models of TA can arrange a practice of coaching. Coaching simply needs many theories as sources of its inspiration. TA refers to a current of positive psychology. It discusses a norm and a supporting the development and it does not concentrate on pathology. TA is the conception, which the language is simply, blunt and humorous.