Below is an excerpt from the paper by David Matthew Prior, MCC. The full paper as PDF file can be downloaded by clicking the link on the right.
The Profession of Coaching is not Clearly Understood by the Public
Despite an estimated 20 years of business existence and practice, the profession of coaching clearly remains in its infancy. Although many people in the United States are beginning to hear about personal and business coaches, the vast majority of the public is still unknowledgeable about what a coach actually does. More often than not, coaching is (incorrectly) understood by an unknowing public to be a virtual version of modern therapy; this misperception and comparison may be attributed to the public’s face value recognition that regular, on-going meetings with a coach look like therapy
The Evolution of Business Coaching
Coaching has been conducted in the business world for a long time, as consultants have worked with CEO’s, executives and their business teams. Utilizing and combining the processes of business coaching and consulting, strategic and action planning activities often naturally address individual behaviors, motivation, and related personal improvement. As a result of its evolutionary process, coaching has expanded from the business environment to the "life” environment where similar action-oriented work with the coach addresses matters outside the work environment.
Personal and Life Coaching
The natural outgrowth and extension of this business-related work is known as personal or life coaching, which includes a more encompassing focus on an individual’s life as it relates to goal setting, outcome creation and personal change management. It is perhaps from this broader focus that confusion arises for those who are unfamiliar with coaching. In the public's earnest effort to get a handle on what a coach does, misleading comparisons are quickly drawn to the therapeutic process, mainly because of the following personal service similarities:
- Service Delivery Method - regular face-to-face or telephone meetings
- Content – work and life challenges that an individual faces that often require change initiative and management
- Activities performed by the Professional Coach – interactive dialog, intuitive listening, sounding board feedback, client acknowledgment, etc.
Therefore, in order for knowledge to reach and benefit the end consumer, it is critical that increased efforts be made to distinguish, clarify, and honor the two professions so that the consumer can choose the most effective and appropriate service as dictated by individual life circumstances.
The ICF: Holding the Vision for a Self-Regulating Profession
The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the professional association of personal and business coaches that seeks to preserve the integrity of coaching around the globe. In order for the profession of coaching to continue to grow and dynamically create itself so that it can best serve all coaches and their clients, the ICF believes that coaching needs to remain a self-regulated profession.
To that end, it is vital that COACHES learn to communicate to their prospects, their clients, the public and the media in a language that does not confuse our profession with other seemingly "like" professions. |