Burning Issues on Coaching 1

Two days ago, I attended an event hosted by Knowledge Resources, entitled Burning Issues on Coaching, where coaching experts Natalie Witthuhn, Director of Leadership Development Centre (LDC) at Wits Business School, and Sunny Stout Rostron, President of COMENSA and author of Business Coaching Wisdom and Practice, highlighted some of the principal issues around coaching in today’s society.

I thoroughly enjoyed both speakers and walked away with quite a few insights and some research to do. (And as usual came away with a couple more questions.)

First, I was surprised to discover that officially coaching as an industry is only approximately 10 years old and as a profession does not yet exist, which is why it is difficult to find any relevant information prior to that. Of course unofficially it has been around for centuries, with Socrates probably our first coach, but documentation and books on business, executive or any kind of specialized coaching have only recently become available for modern day coaching. It made me understand why when asked to choose a profession from drop-down boxes, coaching is only rarely listed.

It was also interesting to learn that currently there is no curricula available if a pre-matriculant should decide that they would want to go into coaching after passing their matric, although luckily this will be resolved by the time my 14 year old son leaves school, since the LDC is currently developing curriculum to cater to this emerging profession, where graduates are rewarded with a Business Executive Coaching Certificate (BECC) from WBS on completion of their training program, and in 2011 a Masters Degree in coaching will be available.

The program runs over a period of 6 months and includes 150 hours of classroom content and 40 hours of practical coaching, In addition to coaching competencies, the curriculum covers business acumen, handling change management and organizational theories as applied in a coaching environment.

For more details go to WBS is a member of GSAEC (Global School Alliance for Executive Coaching.)

In South Africa today, there appears to be only one coaching academy that has international accreditation and is also SETA accredited, which is the Consciousness Coaching International Training Academy CCI In fact the academy is one of only 50 academies worldwide to have received the ICF’ Accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP) certification. CCI is also currently looking at developing a coaching program specifically designed for teenagers and younger people, so my son has a double chance of pursing coaching as profession should he choose to do so.

Several coaching bodies, institutes and academies are collaborating around the world to create a charter and a code of practice, which will clearly define the requirements for coaching to become recognized as an established profession In addition to regular interaction to discuss matters pertaining to this changing world, these professionals of the coaching world will be meeting at the Global Coaching Convention to be held in Cape Town in 2010.

I found it exciting to be a part of something that will change the way coaching is viewed and applied worldwide. And it is seems very strange to me that this had not be done previously so as Natalie continued to speak my mind idly conversed,

“So what happened between the coaches of ancient Greece and today? Did humanity fall asleep? Of course it did!”

Back to Ms Witthuhn, (I probably missed some of this since my mind was busy playing with ancient coaches) who addressed five critical points, highlighting some of the steps required in order for coaching to become a profession:

1- Accreditation – Currently provided by the ICF and GASCE who are recognized in the coaching field to provide norms, measures and guidelines for coaches to follow in order to provide high quality standards of service to the client;

2- Duration – A predefined number of accountable hours must be completed by the coach, with a period of integration and competency assessments provided by an accredited third party;

3- Theoretical – What methods, knowledge, skills and attitudes are acquired by the coach which will support their partnership with their client in a professional manner;

4- What do coaches need to know –
a. How people learn
b. Understand change and change management
c. They must have some understanding of psychological literacy
d. They must be eclectic in their background knowledge

5- Supervision – How is the industry currently monitored? What happens if the coach is no longer coached, mentored or stimulated to continue their own growth

The key to successful coaching, is having a full understanding of the coaching environment and the manner in which we must constantly evolve in order to provide the best service for clients… Ms. Witthuhn outlined succinctly the principal foundations from which professional coaches can create a solid context in order to do just that…

What questions do you have around coaching that has not been answered? Maybe some of those were also raised as the morning session continued? Look out for Part 2 in the next few days to find out.

Joan Laine

First published on 20 Nov 2009 - Passion for Change & Transformation