The Professional Coaching Industry is Falling Apart.
The Reasons Why...
The professional coaching industry has evolved dramatically over the last decade. The profession sprung up fast, and coach training schools were created to meet the demand of people flocking to be trained and have a coaching business.
Within a decade, over 200 schools entered the arena and coaching quickly became a number one choice for those looking for a home-based business or a new career. Many schools did not (and do not) concern themselves with their coaching students' previous experience or education levels and took anybody.
Coaching attracted thousands of unsuitable people, who received training by telephone classes that were impersonal and were taught by coaches who, themselves, never reached financial success.
Is it any wonder that, right now, the coaching profession is on shaky ground? It seems that many coaches have not made money in the coaching business. The schools they attended didn't teach them to be "in business" and didn't provide solid sales and marketing training. In addition, many schools taught a lot of fluff, telling coaches that it wasn't important to create lasting outcomes for clients or that the clients did the work or had the answers. So, clients would hire a coach, not get value, and then quit coaching.
New Coaches were told to join large "international" coaching associations as a way to gain clients and impress their potential clients. However, prospective clients don't care about what organization you belong to. They do care about the quality of training, experience and resources that a professional coach brings with them and they do care about receiving positive outcomes for their money.
Commercial training companies, for the purpose of externally 'legitimizing' their training courses, privately founded some of the larger "international" coaching associations. These associations have a private business agenda that focuses on adding large numbers of members to their database for commercial purposes.
Because there is no standard coaching credential, these organizations are emerging and competing to declare the academic standards, competencies, and code of ethics. A few coaching bodies are working together on this issue; however, most of what is happening seems to come from competitiveness instead of collaboration, which is odd, when you consider that coaching is about collaboration.
There are over twenty-five different major coaching bodies in the world, each with their own political or private business agenda, saying they "accredit" coaches. The one with the most PR is The International Coaching Federation, which was actually founded in the mid 1990's by a coach training school to certify their own coaching courses. Many more have sprung up and it must be remembered that they are all businesses - the more paying members they have, the more money they make. This is not to say that coaches do not derive benefit from membership, but experience shows that it is not a mandatory factor in creating a lasting and successful coaching business.
Coach training programs have also found themselves a bit dry and hurting for students during the past 12-18 months. Some have closed their doors. Others moved out of coach training into other businesses, some are said to be in bankruptcy, and still others are desperately seeking buyers.
This is due to coaches who have come out of coach training, who are not making money, and who really don't understand what credential is or is not important to the public. It is also due to inexperienced people entering areas in which they are not equipped to compete. They have received their coaching designation and simply don't know where to go from there. Their efforts are haphazard, as is their coaching, and what they know about running a business is almost non-existent.
The fact that there is no association or organization that has been accredited by any government body and that no association is at all representative of full-time, professional, practicing coaches making a living from coaching, adds to the strain. When you add the negative comments about the profession of coaching made by such well known institutions as Harvard, to name just one, it makes the profession lose credibility in the public eye and it is difficult for the coach to succeed.
As the coaching industry struggles during these years, it is important to see that coaches can and do still make a great living at coaching and that the industry is still doing a good job of turning out many fine coaches, holding credentials from prestigious training programs.
As the industry has its own internal struggle over credentialing, accreditation, and the coaching programs try to stay alive, this still remains a viable and lucrative business. Stay-at-home moms, consultants, therapists, managers, solo practitioners from other fields, and even the disabled, are finding coaching to be the profession of choice.
The opportunity to make money as a coach has actually never been greater. As the poorly trained coaches and those afraid to sell or market their services leave the industry, this further clears the way for the new people being trained by quality programs, who have excellent coaching skills and can also grow a business. As in nature, the strongest will and do survive. In this case, the strongest are those who have received professional training and have a clear understanding of how to run a business.
The demand for coaching has not decreased. In fact, it is stated that business coaches are sought now more than ever in all size businesses. Corporate coaches are charging fees from $600 to $5,000 a month for coaching sessions. Some coaches are charging $600 an hour or more for corporate work.
So, coaches have the opportunity to earn more than lawyers, psychologists, psychiatrists and others - according to TIME BUSINESS NEWS. Sept.2002.
For people who want to enter the profession, the timing is great. If they select a training program that is stable, has a great curriculum, and also teaches them how to get clients and run a profitable business, the opportunity is ripe. Having said that, not every Coach needs to come from a professional background. There are niches they fill that do not require higher educational qualifications; however, this does limit their scope of practice, and some coach training organizations give placement preference to those with professional backgrounds.
For example, at Comprehensive Coaching, the number one place for Coaching Instruction for 'professionals', we have found our business continues to grow and our coaching students continue to succeed. Our students come from professional backgrounds, and because we teach solid principles and how to coach to get outcomes and return on investment for our clients, we continue to train coaches and they learn fast and apply what they learn to create lucrative and solid coaching businesses. (We also provide coach training for non-professionals, because coach training skills are proven life enhancement tools from which everyone can and does benefit in their personal lives.)
As the market shakes out and the industry becomes more grown up and grounded, the opportunity is there for those wanting to be a coach. They can get great training at dramatically reduced prices, learn at home or with a mentor who assists them one on one.
Their success has everything to do with this solid coaching foundation combined with learning how to have a profitable business, and very little to do with what association they join. Yes, professional coach training does not come cheap, but neither does any other professional qualification. If you just want to learn the coaching skills for use in your own life or current profession, you can save yourself a lot of money and many hours using a home study kit. You can find information on these at: http://terrilevine.com/kits.htm. If you are in the coaching industry already and struggling because you are one of those whose education did not cover how to run a profitable and successful business, I can help you there too. Find information here: http://terrilevine.com/2005FTproducts.html.
You don't need to be a "statistic"; not when so much help is at hand.
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Written by Terri Levine, The Guru of Coaching SM, Ph.D., MCC, PCC, MS, CCC-SLP, the Founder ofComprehensive Coaching – The Professional's Coach Training Program, a popular Master Certified personal and business Coach, sought after Public Speaker, and Author of bestsellers "Stop Managing, Start Coaching", "Work Yourself Happy", "Coaching for an Extraordinary Life" and "Create Your Ideal Body". She can be contacted via the web site at: http://www.TerriLevine.com/contact-me.htm or by telephone: 215-699-4949.
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