Are All Executive Coaches Equal?

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”
John Wooden

Coaches work in a variety of specializations. Personal/life coaches, career coaches, lifestyle modification coaches, and executive coaches are just a few.

Education and training will likely vary with each coach’s area of practice and can include professional certificates, business degrees, and advanced academic degrees. Each of these backgrounds may be well suited for different types of client needs. For instance, an executive coach working with a CEO will typically use skills relevant to assessment, adult learning, organizational systems and development, change management, and leadership development.  On the other hand, a coach working with a sales manager to improve productivity may need skills such as business knowledge, performance management, sales, marketing, interpersonal relations, and sales industry knowledge.

The field of coaching is relatively young, growing, and somewhat of a “wild west” for clients to accurately discern relevant training, background and credentials to ensure both competence and adherence to professional and ethical practices. Unfortunately, there is little agreement upon a common set of competencies required for the different types of coaching, few published professional practice guidelines, and multiple professional associations with diverse training requirements to become a “certified” coach ((Nowack, K. (2003). Executive Coaching: Fad or Future?. California Psychologist Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, 16-17)).

International Coaching Trends

The 2012 International Coach Federation Coaching Study evaluated practices for 12,133 coaches in North America, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania.  Of the estimated 47,500 worldwide coaches, six in 10 coaches said they had experienced an increase in clients, compared to 16% saying their client numbers had decreased.

A majority of coaches (53%) believed that coaching should become regulated. On the other hand, 23% did not believe that coaching should become regulated and the remaining 24% indicated that they were unsure on the subject. Untrained individuals who call themselves coaches were viewed as the main future obstacle for coaching over the next 12 months (43%), followed by marketplace confusion (30%).

North American Study

A recent study by Dr. Joyce Bono from the University of Minnesota has helped to answer some important questions about the ongoing debate about the practice of coaching and similarities and differences between psychologists and non-psychologists in the field ((Bono, J., Purvanova, R.K., Towler, A.J., Peterson, D.B. (2009).  A survey of executive coaching practices.  Personnel Psychology, 62, 361-404)).  Bono’s survey was completed by 428 coaches (172 psychologists and 256 non-psychologists), focusing on coaching practices (46 questions), coaching outcomes (23 questions), and information about the coach (education, preferred title, income, ethnicity, formal training, etc.).

Coaches were asked to share three competencies they believed were critical to successful coaching. Results indicated that, compared to non-psychologists, psychologists who provide executive coaching services were significantly more likely to:

• Meet face-to-face
• Contract for fewer coaching sessions (38 percent of non-psychologists reported “often” holding 21-30 sessions, compared to only 19 percent of psychologists)
• Avoid using behavior modification, neuro-linguistic programming, or psychoanalytic techniques
• Assist clients with applying new skills back at the job
• Focus more on building rapport with their clients
• Incorporate and utilize more assessments into the coaching interventions (360-degree feedback assessments, personality inventories, interviews)

There was enough data in the survey even to compare differences between psychologists (industrial/organizational, counseling, clinical, and personality/social).  The findings suggest that few differences occurred in the use of coaching methods or assessments/tools, but some statistically significant differences were found mostly for clinical psychologists (e.g., clinical psychologists tended to use personality inventories more frequently, as well as have more CEO/President levels). Indeed, like other helping professions, “helpers” can be effective, with diverse experiences, training, and backgrounds with particular clients and problems.

Evaluating Executive Coaching Effectiveness

One of the best ways to evaluate the effectiveness of the coaching engagement is to measure whether clients are perceived to actually change behavior.  We have developed our own ProgressPulse goal evaluation to measure whether clients are perceived to have improved on specific competencies they have targeted.

This tool provides a way that coaches can measure behavioral change and progress in their clients.  We allow clients to ask any colleagues, direct reports, bosses and others they want to provide a mini-evaluation of what they have been working on during their coaching engagement.

The results provide a direct metric of how well the coaching intervention has helped the client become more effective in the goal area they have been working wtih their coach on.

Not all coaches have the same background, training, theoretical orientation, or style but all share a common goal of helping their client become more insightful self-confident, and behaviorally more competent.

Have you hugged your coach today?  Be well…..

Ken Nowack

Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)