One, and maybe the most important, indicator of a successful coaching relationship is trust. A mutual trust between the coach and the coachee. What do both need to trust in? Dennis and Michelle Reina, in their book ‘Trust and Betrayal in the workplace point out three types of transactional trust:

1) The Competence trust. This is where we trust in a person’s capabilities to do something. When it comes to coaching, the coach can trust in the coachee’s capabilities to find their own answer to their questions and come out with an action plan that will enable them to realise their goal. The coachee can trust in the coach’s skills and expertise to support them through the process.

2) The contractual trust. This is where we trust in people’s characters. In a coaching alliance both parties can trust each other to respect agreements, policies and procedures and hold each other accountable.

3) The communication trust. This is where we trust people not to disclose secrets, to respect privacy and confidentiality and to tell the truth. The communication trust is 100% applicable to a coaching agreement.

Source: Brent, M & Dent, E.F. (2017) The leadership of teams. How to develop and inspire high performance team work. London, Bloomsbury publishing Plc.