Yikes! Danny Bonaduce: Life Coach?

This is EXACTLY the kind of discussion I hope we’ll have in The Coaching Commons.

Rather than an argument for barriers to entry, I think it argues that barriers to entry are futile.

There’s no use closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.

As The Chronicle of Coaching has made clear, coaching is already out there. It has entered the popular culture, and nothing can cram it back into the halls of academia or anyone’s certification model.

There can be standards for professional coaches, but how can a government say what a coach is?

We’ve already seen that Europeans don’t care about ICF certification and U.S. Americans (to quote the beauty queen) are not going to fall in line just because somebody decided their qualifications don’t count. Many people have spent money, effort and time to become a Ph.D., a certified ‚Äö√Ñ√∫Dream Coach,‚Äö√Ñ√π Coachville Coach, LBF Coach, etc. and they will not simply relinquish their credential.

While the ICF is probably the leading certifying body in the U.S., there are probably more coaches working without ICF certification than with it, and they will not stand idly by if there is an attempt to require this credential.

Even if some states opt to regulate coaching, there will always be states that will allow practitioners to coach without a license, just as several states allow “Denturists” to make dentures while other states require a certain education to do so. Midwifery is another field (life and death, BTW) that is regulated in some states and not in others.

Barriers to entry to what, specifically? People who can’t afford to go to a cosmetic dentist for dentures can afford a denturist at a third of the price. People who aren’t executives might still want a coach. Should there be a barrier to entry for the potential client based on the price of coaching?

IMHO, the practical course for the future is INFORMATION to allow the client/consumer to make an informed decision about choosing a coach.

The Foundation of Coaching’s research leadership will provide information that will help.

The Global Convention on Coaching will provide information that will help.

Other sources of information will help.

But no standard or license can guarantee a coaching result, and I can’t argue with results that satisfy a client.

Someone cited the old Pat Croce : Moving In show that ran from 1994-5 . Did any of you ever watch it? Made-for-TV stuff, but Pat was sensible and offered creative exercises and reasonable suggestions for the “clients.” He seemed genuinely concerned about the people and he helped them create an action plan for an improved future.

And the Rhonda Britten-Iyanla Vanzant show ‚Äì Starting Over Рwas on NBC every day for several years starting in 2003. At times, it bordered on ridiculous soap opera, but there were some genuinely helpful coaching nuggets in there every day. I knew someone who was hooked on that show like heroin, and her life was changed by the coaching she observed and absorbed.

When Rhonda Britten attended an ICF conference, she downplayed her celebrity status and acted in a way that seemed meant to overcome the skepticism of the so-called professional coaches. She already had credibility as a coach with LITERALLY millions of people.

Anne Heche’s character on the popular ‚Äö√Ñ√∫Men In Trees‚Äö√Ñ√π on ABC is a relationship coach.

The public has already been told and shown what a coach is.

I think our challenge is to educate the public about the range of coaching services available and how to make the best choice for the situation at hand.

In the interests of disclosure, I am a college dropout, and my certification is from the International Association of Coaching.

This is an item for the History and Archives – Coaching Comes of Age!

Wow….I’d prefer to call it….”Coaching: What has Happened?” This is frightening. Just when I thought we were making progress and getting a more professional….This provides a good argument for “barriers to entry.”

In an article I wrote for the inaugural issue of the new COACHING journal speaks well to what I hear you saying, Ruth Ann. You all might find it of interest…

David

Coaching began as a broad field encompassing people who came from a wide variety of backgrounds and paths. Because of this, it may never be possible to have a unified field of coaching. One option for coaching is to borrow from the distinctions that have emerged in psychology between psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed therapists, unlicensed but trained therapists, therapeutic professionals, therapeutic volunteers, peer support, and self-help resources.

I foresee that as the field of coaching matures, it will eventually yield similar categories that formally distinguish among various levels and types of coaching providers. As a result, new forms of professional communities will arise across the spectrum of people who identify with coaching.

Even so, coaching may be more usefully seen as a network than a profession or field in the traditional sense. In time, we may even discover that coaching is not even the right word for much of what happens.

Perhaps it will come to be seen as a movement that profoundly shaped the arenas in which it is currently practiced, e.g., leadership and management development, team and individual performance, training support and organizational learning, career and life transitions, relationships and conversations — and yielded a spectrum of providers, in which only some people are seen as professional coaches.

A provocative (in a good way) discussion.

One of the forces that I think will shape whether coaching is regulated (or to what degree) in the future is the perception of whether “bad” coaching can do actual harm.

It’s one thing to help people go from “good” to “great”. It’s another (potentially) if it not only doesn’t work in some instances (say, a poorly trained coach) but if the coachee actually feels worse off and attributes that to their coach.

I believe that the more coaches extend the domain of our coaching (and the claims we make), the greater the potential risk of doing harm. If people start blaming coaches for relationships going bad, for losing jobs, or for making bad financial decisions, we are likely to fall under greater scrutiny. Thus, the value of good training, appropriate boundaries, and internal and/or external monitoring and enforcement.