California
is an incubator for new products, new franchises, new
professions, and even new religions; ideas from high tech to
Hollywood have eventually affected the way the rest of the
world does business. Coaching is one of them.
In the early 1990s, some clever Californians turned the
voluntary job of mentor into a profession: a personal coach
behind every successful executive. Feature articles
pictured coaches in shorts on their boats or terraces, talking
by cell phone to clients in a high rise office buildings half
a city – or half a continent – away, and getting paid for it.
Eventually, coaches moved beyond that less-then-professional
image and began to be hired by executives as backstage
consultants who promised an objective ear as managers met the
challenges of corporate policy, career paths, dual careers and
company politics.
In 1992, The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) was founded in
San Francisco, as one of the first educational institutions to
develop and offer coach training. The International Coach
Federation followed in 1996, the with the purpose of
regulating the fast growing industry and certifying its
practitioners; it now represents more than 8,000 professional
coaches (up from only 1,500 ten years ago) with 133 chapters
in 30 countries. The European Coaching Institute was founded
in 2000 and seeks to standardize the profession in the EU and
surrounding countries.
Defining coaching
But what is a coach? Is it true, as it often said in sports,
that someone who can't play coaches?
According to the ICF, professional coaches "provide an ongoing
partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling
results in their personal and professional lives. Coaches help
people improve their performances and enhance the quality of
their lives. . . . The coach's job is to provide support to
enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client
already has."
Now, fifteen years on, the profession of coaching has swept
the world of global business and as we enter 2006 this trend
shows no signs of weakening. What began as one-on-one
interaction between an executive and his or her personal
cheerleader, sounding board or mentor, has morphed into a new
career for as many as 40,000 self-styled coaches in dozens of
countries. Many coaches are also, to name a few professions,
therapists, recruiters, former executives, ex-human resources
people, business consultants, expatriate/ repatriate
/relocation consultants. (Will there soon be no one left to
coach because everyone has become one?) Are these coaches
practicing a new profession, or are they re-packaging
something they have always done? It may be a bit of both.
As those officially certified by the International Coach
Federation and other bodies begin to add the word "coach" to
their CVs, perhaps now is the time to review what coaching is
all about, as well as what it isn't. According to John Wyche,
a coach and consultant in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida "there are
more regulations for barbers and beauticians than for business
coaches. Anyone can wake up in the morning and start calling
himself a professional business coach."
Traditionally, coaching is about personal interaction. Often,
a business executive needs an objective viewpoint, something
he or she can't get from friends or relatives, or even
in-house human resources personnel. The coach, whose only
focus is the development of his client, works to clarify a
situation – personal and business goals of the client, the
corporate politics, or management strategies– and, together,
they find the best path through the corporate (or personal)
minefield.
According to Bonnie Busekrus, a ICF-certified coach based in
Denver, with a master's degree in management, "It is now quite
common to hire a coach for any number of reasons: career
transition, internal company transition, professional
development in communications skills, presentation skills,
negotiation skills, general management, conflict management,
relationship changes (personal or corporate). Any desired
life or business change is a coaching opportunity."
Busekrus is adamantly "not an outplacement agency, a
therapist, career counsellor, [or] recruiter. I am a
career/life coach and work with individuals who are 'stuck' in
some way personally or professionally and are very desirous of
initiating significant change in their lives or careers."
Executive coaching for international assignees from Expatriate
Counseling
On the other hand, Robbert-jan Nuis of Expatriate Counseling
in the
Netherlands, a therapist and coach, has specialized in
"executive coaching [that] helps international companies to
prepare their employees before being sent abroad. . . . The
executive coach works with the executive and family members
involved to get a better understanding of what the relocation
might entail."
This focus may reflect the more international, cross-cultural
needs of the business community outside the United States.
Historically, cross-cultural training provided by corporations
has failed to meet the expectations of the
expatriate/repatriate community. Coaching may provide a more
personalized, inter-active opportunity to make these
transitions easier.
Alanea Kowalski, based out of Toronto and Paris, with over two
decades in the corporate world, also devotes much of her
coaching practice to executive relocation issues. "The
majority of my work is with expats who are moving to Europe,
or, from Europe to North America. About 70 percent of my
clients are female, expat executives and this is my specialty
niche." More than half of Kowalski's clients pay for coaching
themselves.
Although coaching initially began as a one-on-one process
between the coach and an individual, today it has moved into
the corporate arena. Kowalski makes the distinction in this
way, "Life coaches almost always work on individual contracts,
usually charge less and focus on personal goals and
challenges. Corporate or Executive Coaches can be retained by
an individual or a company and these coaches tend to focus on
business objectives or goals. . . ."
Coaching as a perk
Some major corporations are using coaching as a way to polish
executives destined for promotion, offering everything from
etiquette lessons to leadership and management skills. In
fact, according to Jay McDonald, writing in BankRate.com,
coaching has become a sought after perk that factors into the
competition to keep good managers from going elsewhere. After
being scorned by corporations for years, coaching experienced
a turnaround when studies began to show that it resulted in a
positive ROI, rather than a drag on the budget.
Busekrus observes, "If offered at the corporate level, it's
important to acquire buy-in from both the HR department, as
well as the CEO and senior management, as part of a
professional development program or EAP program. . . .
Confidentiality parameters must be agreed upon at the outset
by the company, HR department, employee, and coach."
Coaching and diversity management
Some coaches are going beyond these more traditional
definitions of coaching and looking at this kind of
interactive as a way to achieve other goals. It may be a
stretch to say that coaching can help recruiters, but it might
help create an atmosphere where diversity is the norm.
Professor Kurt April spoke about diversity in the workplace at
a seminar at Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus
University, suggesting that coaching "could be the enabling
force" in helping people live and work in more ambiguous
situations (for the full story go to
Diversity management: Less about
culture and more about identity). Netherlands-based
executive coach Fredrik Fogelberg states, "I am coaching
individuals in using diversity more effectively. . . . I can
see coaching making a practical contribution to practicing
diversity in a better way."
The bottom line
Coaching, as a qualitative inter-active activity, can enhance
the skill levels and productivity of both employees and
companies. It can be a valuable addition to employee
training, seminars, and management courses, bumping up the
retention of the information by participants. If coaching is
indeed something different, rather than a new label put on the
same consulting old products, then coaches must prove their
credibility with competence, credentials and certification.
For more information or to make an appointment you can email
Robbert-Jan
Nuis at
rjnuis@expatriatecounseling.com
or call + 31(0)6-282 440 88
more about RJ Nuis
