Transactional Analysis Explained and How It Can Help In Coaching and Improving Communication

What is Transactional Analysis?

Transactional Analysis (TA) was developed in the 1950’s and 60’s by Eric Berne, a Freudian trained psychiatrist.

Berne wanted a theory which could be understood and available to everyone. He was a brilliant observer of human interaction with an eye for patterns of behaviour and began to develop what came to be called Transactional Analysis.
Berne concluded that people operate in three modes or ‘ego states’ that of Parent, Adult and Child (PAC).
PAC is the first model in Transactional Analysis and the one that got the ball rolling.

I explain the model in the video below.

How is Transactional Analysis Useful in Coaching?

I’d argue that the purpose of coaching is to facilitate personal development, growth and improvement. PAC model aside, Transactional Analysis provides many useful theories that the coach can utilize to elicit the self-awareness that the client will require to do this.

Specifically, a coach with a good knowledge of the PAC model can understand how clients communicate from their different ego states. More specifically, they will be able to identify if the client is speaking from an early part of their personality (parent or child) or is present and speaking rationally (adult). Generally, we switch between these two modes of being, and clients often assume they are being entirely rational, when it is pretty obvious they are speaking from an early part of themselves. The coach can use their effective listening skills to notice these inconsistencies and help a client become aware of them too. The goal of coaching is to help a client gain more of an ability to begin to notice these shifts within themselves and move forward accordingly.

Additionally, the coach can use the PAC model to observe their own internal processes, filters and biases ensuring they stay in an adult state themselves.

How can TA improve your communication skills?

I believe the key here is to be mindful of which ego state you are communicating from and how helpful to your outcomes will that type of communication be. Most communication is better done from the adult ego state – communicating from the here and now and using your adult capacity will increase the likelihood of you gaining a favourable response from others and enable you to set boundaries more elegantly.