HR Zone Feature

International executive coaching: Trends for 2008 and beyond

Dr Sabine Dembkowski, Fiona Eldridge, Prof David Lane,

Wendy Johnson, and Stephan Oberli exchange views on the

developing profession of executive coaching and share the

conclusions of their discussions.

It's that time of year when we develop a Janus-like approach – reflecting

back on the past year and looking forward to the new. We have exchanged views with a circle

of leading international executive coaches and those who watch emerging trends in the

developing profession of executive coaching.

This article explores the conclusions of our discussions and focuses on six key trends:

•

Driving for professional standards

•

Coming of age – more professional services

•

Initiating corporate coaching cultures

•

Growing your own – internal coaching activity

•

The growth of differentiation

•

Meeting the demands for integrating methods

Driving for professional standards

Executive coaching is still a relatively young profession which presents both opportunity and

challenge. At the moment 'executive coach' is a title which anyone can use to describe

themselves and their professional service offering. Unlike other professional services there

are very few barriers to entry and no formal requirements before you can describe yourself as

an executive coach. While this is common in the developmental stage of a profession, it does

lead to confusion.

"Executive coaching is still a relatively young profession which presents both

opportunity and challenge."

Buyers of coaching services are also confused by the multiplicity of business and executive

coaches. With no clear professional qualifications and standards they lack guidance about

whose services to use. In addition, the lack of defined standards can create problems for the

acceptance of the profession as a whole.

In an attempt to standardise coaching many organisational buyers are proactive and initiated

standards for their own organisation. These are then used for pre contract assessment

centres. Organisational buyers feel more comfortable knowing that the coaches in their pool

have been through a proper assessment. However, there is little sharing of these standards

and coaches can find themselves going through new assessments for each organisation.

Whilst the development of standards is to be applauded it is surely a poor use of resources

for each organisation to ‘reinvent the wheel’.

So, who can lead the development of universally accepted standards? The profession has

responded by developing competencies and standards within leading bodies such as the

International Coaching Federation, the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches, the

European Mentoring and Coaching Council and the Association for Coaching.

So far, no universally-agreed standards have been developed and different organisations

adopting slightly different standards does nothing to clarify the issue. Prof David Lane has

initiated the Global Convention on Coaching to facilitate the development of a global standard

and individual organisations have started to talk with each other to identify common ground.

Coaching organisations and training institutions can view the development of assessment

centres by client organisations with some scepticism and concern as they feel the "industry

does not always understand what needs to be assessed". As a critical observer can see there

are real signs that parallel worlds are emerging and, in the interest of all parties, a unified

view needs to be developed.

'Coming of age' – more professional services

Over the last two years we have seen a marked growth in the professionalism of companies

and individuals providing coaching. This is a sign that the coaching profession is maturing and

also an indicator of the increasing demands placed on coaches by their clients.

This move towards adopting professional practices seen in other professions ranges from

providing formal contracts setting out roles and responsibilities and clarifying expectations

about intended outcomes/results to well-produced websites and other marketing materials.

Less immediately visible, but equally important, is a continuous intellectual debate in

academic and professional journals.

"A profession builds on a common platform of expertise – agreement marks the point

at which a profession can lay claim to expert status."

A profession builds on a common platform of expertise – agreement marks the point at which

a profession can lay claim to expert status. However, executive coaches cannot just claim

professional status they must find a common understanding with their potential clients.

Initiating corporate coaching cultures

Surveys by The School of Coaching and the CIPD in the UK indicate that between 92 per

cent and 97 per cent of organisations use coaching. However, some organisations are fully

committed to developing a coaching culture to create a new management style. However,

many others are still in the process of working out how to move away from old 'command and

control' cultures.

The benefits of changing to a coaching culture are many and in line with the trends towards

flatter organisational structures with clear accountabilities. The benefits include; creating a

more open and honest climate, increased perception of organisational commitment to

individual development and career advancement, a more rapid spread of behaviours which

support organisational values and a decrease in expenditure on external support.

However, introducing a coaching culture to any organisation faces the same challenges as

other culture change programmes. With an increase in the size of the organisation the

challenge will grow. International, cross-cultural and diversity aspects will receive increasing

emphasis and are an integral part of developing a sound coaching culture.

We anticipate that the trend towards the development of coaching cultures within

organisations will continue to increase in the future although new ways of naming this type of

culture may emerge.

Growing your own - internal coaching activity

Cost control has contributed to the trend within some large organisations to develop their own

internal coaching capabilities. Generally, the HR team undertake a programme to develop

internal coaches. These coaches receive varying degrees of training and supervision.

In leading organisations we have observed two main types of programmes. In some,

individuals take on coaching responsibilities in addition to their existing day-to-day activities.

In other programmes, individuals are trained as coaches and then devote all their time to

providing coaching across the organisation and, in some cases, to other external

organisations. In this way the organisation develops an entirely separate coaching service.

Internal coaching activities are perceived to be a cost effective option for organisations

especially for entry, lower and middle management levels and hence this is a trend which is

likely to spread more widely.

However, internal coaches tend not to operate at senior levels. For external coaches

operating at the lower levels this trend presents a potential threat to market share, business

growth and puts pressure on professional fees. However, within organisations strongly

committed to a coaching culture, external coaches are often used as trainers and supervisors

of the internal coaches – this is an emerging area of business for coaches.

Growth of differentiation

As mentioned above, the provision of internal coaches is beginning to have an impact on the

marketplace. This is intensified by a constant flow of new coaches into the market. Pressure

on fees is most marked for coaching services at the lower management levels.

"Internal coaching activities are perceived to be a cost effective option for

organisations especially for entry, lower and middle management levels and hence this

is a trend which is likely to spread more widely."

These market forces are leading towards more differentiated coaching services tailored to the

level of the individual client. In particular there is a small premium market emerging for senior

executives.

For this group it is particularly important that coaches market their full profile including such

things as their educational level and past career history together with their intellectual capital

in the area of executive coaching. The service offering has to be pitched at the level of the

client or to the level to which he aspires.

By matching the profile of the company to those they seek to coach, coaching providers can

deliver a differentiated service which gives them a competitive advantage.

Meeting the demand for integrating methods

In the early days of executive coaching it was usually sufficient for a coach to be trained

within one field of expertise. Today’s market is more sophisticated. The trend is for buyers to

demand a greater breadth of techniques, experience and training from their coaches.

In response, coaches (particularly those in the premium market segment) now follow several

training programmes and understand a great variety of methods and techniques. Increasingly,

methods and techniques are integrated which equips experienced coaches to work with a

diversity of clients and situations.

This trend is reflected in the executive coach training field where, particularly at Masters level,

course content is drawn from multiple disciplines to produce coaches with a great breadth of

techniques in their toolkit.

Another way of achieving integration is through coaches’ supervision arrangements. For

example, coaches with a psychology background choose a supervisor from the business

world and vice versa. We regard this as an increasingly valid path to ensure integration and

see it as strengthening the knowledge base within this growing profession.

Where did our discussions lead us? It seems to us that the profession is gaining in confidence

and status and what once was regarded as a passing management fad has become widely

used and accepted.

However, with increased maturity also comes increased challenges. For the profession as a

whole the challenge is to define, agree and monitor professional standards. For individual

coaches and coaching companies, the challenge will be to stay agile in response to client

demands and provide a differentiated service.

About the authors

Dr Sabine Dembkowski is founder and director of

The Coaching Centre

in London & Cologne.

Fiona Eldridge co-founded The Coaching Centre and is MD in the UK. Much of her work

centres on supporting leaders across the public sector.

Professor David Lane is director of the International Centre for the Study of Coaching

Middlesex University UK and of the

Professional Development Foundation

.

Wendy Johnson is president and CEO of the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches

(WABC).

Stephan Oberli is CEO of Lore International Institute Europe AG. He was one of the founders

of the 1st European Coach Conference and a leading member of the International Coach

Federation.

HR Zone, 7-Feb-2008