Executive coaching in an era of complexity. Study 2. Applying formulation to coaching: A description of the PAIR Framework

The business world is increasingly uncertain, unpredictable, complex and global, and coaches need methods that enable them to conceptualise and work effectively with the challenges that their executive clients now face. Following the research reported in study 1, this article describes the PAIR Framework, a coaching-specific approach to formulation that was developed to enable coaches to work with complexity. The concept of formulation, whilst well-established in other disciplines within applied psychology, has yet to be given any substantive consideration within the coaching literature, which remains extremely sparse. The use of formulation is proposed as a comprehensive and effective method in the context of coaching assignments where executives are navigating complexity. This study describes the PAIR Framework and provides an illustration of its application. The implications of incorporating formulation into coaching practice are potentially highly significant and, therefore, further research is recommended to understand more about the coaching outcomes obtained when using formulation generally, and the PAIR Framework specifically.