When Shadows Fall: Using Psychodynamic Approaches in Executive Coaching.

This article makes the major point that events, feelings, thoughts, and patterns of behavior that are outside of the conscious awareness of executives can significantly influence what they decide and how they act. It provides a succinct overview of the conflict and object relations approaches to understanding psychodynamics and embeds the material in recent scientific reviews of unconscious mental and emotional phenomena. The situations in executive coaching in which psychodynamic material may be relevant are described along with the purposes that these concepts and methods may serve in coaching engagements. Conflicts, attachment styles, and methods of using interpretations appropriately are described and discussed. Pitfalls and limitations of using these approaches in coaching engagements are also reviewed.