Product reviews for Provocative Coaching

Provoke to reset business thinking.

Author, Jaap Hollander is a clinical psychologist who is proficient in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), symbol work, hypnosis and provocative coaching. He has written ten books related to NLP and psychotherapy.

Here he uses an unusual technique by essentially transcribing, almost verbatim, a three-day training seminar held in Wroclaw, Poland. Most of the book is written in the form of a single workshop over three chapters, each representing the three respective days.

The author says this transcribed workshop format is far easier to read and digest than a conventionally written formal text.

Provocative coaching was originally developed, accidentally, by Frank Farrelly.

He was using therapist Carl Rogers' “client-centred therapy”, where the client is the centre of attention rather than the therapist. It also means that the therapist is “kind” to the client.

One day Farrelly lost his patience and told a client what he really thought about them. But he also used humour, which is an essential component in unlocking the potential of this novel approach to therapy.

Farrelly called his approach Provocative Therapy but Japp Hollander calls it Provocative Coaching for “marketing reasons”. It uses shock tactics to make the client gain insight into themselves and their problems. It works because they are thinking about themselves anyway and their thoughts just need to be brought out in the open. Provocative Coaching offers new possibilities in business, a way to approach problems differently and even reset thinking.