Coaching – going forwards and backwards
Much of my work at the moment is taking place in Serbia – more on why in a future blog post. But last weekend I was invited to the inaugural meeting of the Serbian branch of the International Coach Federation (ICF). Two things struck me about the event.
Firstly, and positively, it was uplifting to confirm that, regardless of national boundaries, when people develop a passion for coaching they see its potential in all areas of life. When we were putting our ‘Mission Statement’ together for the group, many coaches present suggested our remit was to make society better through coaching others, not just about making a decent living for ourselves. It was totally genuine, and something I’m motivated by myself -particularly after getting the coaching bug.
Secondly, the group spoke of the problem of the number of people advertising themselves as coaches, with limited experience and/or training to back it up. Now I’m not saying that ‘gatekeepers’ such as the ICF should have exclusive control over the professionalism of coaching, but there is a problem with bad coaches giving the profession a bad name.
One Serbian colleague spoke of an incident where a client, who had previously had a bad ‘coaching’ experience, came to her indicating they were now ‘willingly to pay the extra money’ to get a quality service. But equally, other colleagues relayed tales of having to defend the profession to those whose unsatisfactory coaching experiences have meant ‘never again’. Interestingly the group spoke of the other professional bodies, with strong representation and funds, being able to defend themselves in the public realm. Not only do representatives of the psychotherapy industry regularly come on Serbian TV to defend their profession, they also do so to attack coaching!
I think the difference in the UK is that there are now so many coaches, that potential clients are somewhat bewildered by the choice. How do we select a coach? What are their credentials? Ironically, as a result, coaching qualifications and representative bodies will become the distinguishing factor.
Serbia isn’t there yet, so cheap and bad coaches are still sought out.
It’s not a bad thing that there is still much ongoing work to do to ‘professionalise’ coaching. But it leaves one with the feeling of moving forwards and backwards at the same time.
Leave a reply