Beware of the Wild West of Coaching

In the U.S. alone estimated market value for personal coaching was $955 million in 2015 and $1.02 billion in 2016, compared to $707 million in 2011. It's expected to reach $1.34 billion by 2022 — or a 6.7% average yearly growth rate from 2016 to 2022.

I have come upon a lot of coaching requests that made me furious just within the last year. I have also seen coaches guide executives in corporations and start-ups - all of which failed and I was lucky enough to have been coached once in a lifetime, by a really exceptional coach (Christopher Lesko) who clearly made me see the difference between good and bad coaching. So let me tell you what makes me furious about the new wave of coaching "specialists" lately popping up all around me.

1. The barriers to becoming a “coach” are famously low. 

Never have I seen as much mediocracy than in the coaching business. The executive coaching field is scattered with self-anointed practitioners with little experience working in a business context or senior-level position, as well as ex-C-suite leaders who have the experience but may view a coaching practice as a way to “semi-retire”. The coach’s professional background is important and a certificate as a coach is certainly not a guarantee for a good coach.

2. The world has changed so why do we still hype systematic coaching?

Most organizations and start-ups have implemented "New Ways - Change Management Approaches". If this is good or not, might be the topic for a different article, but the fact is - most organizations, even conservative ones do no longer have linear structures. The coaching industry however largely fails the dynamic context in which coaching should occur. The context, which has been described as VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) describes the state of leadership today and requires coaches to be fully present with their clients, shifting their practice at the moment to meet their clients where they are. In spite of coaching’s dynamic context, the coaching industry relies on static competency frameworks, which tend to assume predictable cause-effect relationships in stable client environments.

3. Coaching is not a one-time event.

Studies show that most executives and teams come out of coachings no matter good or bad highly motivated, citing coaching a success. But studies also show, that if you ask half a year later - really NOTHING has changed and everyone is back to their old ways. Why is that? I came across this highly hyped post in my newsfeed the other day, which for me is the epiphany of why most coachings fail.

Everything about this image and the article is right. It's easy to understand why it has thousands of likes and how it motivates people. But that is also the crux of it. It's a piece of cake to change the way you speak - but to truly live by the meaning of these words means you have to change your habits and even more the perception of who you are and how you act and this might take a matter of years. Which brings me to my last point.

4. People are creatures of habit

If you know me you might be aware, I am a big fan of cognitive science. A few years ago I came upon a behavior scientist called B.J. Fogg, who truly changed my perspective and the way I consult business strategy today. To explain his complex approach simple, he says the following: Every year around this time, millions of people start their New Year's resolution, one of them being: Live healthily and do more sports. Now if this is one of yours, don't start by going for a run on the first of January, if you are really serious about doing sports. What you need to do is changing your habits in baby steps. So for a while, you start taking out your running shoes every morning, putting them in front of your bed. After a few weeks when this has become the new normal, you start putting them on, then after another while you start walking once around the blog....you get the drift? - And that is exactly while most coaches fail. The linear matrix of coaching mostly neglects personal habits and abilities at large, because its a one fits all solution of motivational truth, that sounds great at first sight but will get lost in daily business as soon as people return into their work routine.

So my 5 cents for picking a great coach?

Don't fall for the first best thing - the few coaches I met that were really qualified and successful had a few things in common:

1.) They did not come cheap

2.) They had an exceptional background in psychology and team building

3.) They had been both, hugely successful in business, but also went through personal failure at one time

4.) They often said no and had the ability to break and make people

5.) They did not jump on a money-making train, because they failed in their area of expertise and found coaching an easy way out to pay the bills

6.) They brought years of real-life experience to the table, not just a certificate and an expertise learned from books.

7.) And lastly, coaching success is not just on them - you and all members of the team must be ready and willing to truly change, personally and as an organization, even if that means that at the end of the day you might have to part from your old ways or people.

You want to know the best part of advise I have ever heard. Funny enough it is a soccer analogy and I do not even like soccer, but this might also explain, why the second most successful coaching, I have ever witnessed came from Jogi L?w. You have to build your team and everyone has a very clear position. Once you start running there is absolutely no way that a striker all of a sudden plays defense, because if he would, the whole game would fail. And with that, I wish you good luck in mastering the Wild West of Coaching in 2020.