Fingernails, Fitness, and the Demise of the Coaching Profession
Coaching is everywhere. Have you noticed? I have, and I am betting you have, too. Take a look around, you will likely see that everywhere you turn someone is offering coaching or calling themselves a coach. As you probably know, I am a professional coach, and this change in the landscape of coaching got me curious. Is coaching really a profession at all?
Webster’s dictionary defines profession as a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science. Currently in the United States to be a coach or offer coaching services requires no formal training or acquisition of knowledge. Any Scott or Susan can at any moment decided to “become a coach.” I am in no way condoning that approach and to tell the truth is frustrates the H E double hockey sticks out of me, however, it happens day in and day out.
Here is what is fascinating to me. In Texas to become a nail technician (you know, the ladies at the salon who do manicures and pedicures all day long every day) requires 600 hours of training. Yes, 600 hours! In Texas and the rest of the US, to become a coach or provide coaching services requires 0 hours of training. To state the obvious, 0 hours of training does not meet the definition of a profession.
OK so what about some training? One large coaching skills training company that teaches managers and leaders process coaching claim they can do that in about 8 hours. There is another training that makes you a “certified life coach” in just 16 hours of training and for just $697. In the fitness regime of Crossfit the class leaders are called coaches; they have no formal coach training, and have about 16 hours of instruction in the Crossfit fitness methodology. They are not coaches. They don’t do the things coaches do. They are trainers. But at Crossfit Gyms all over the world, people call themselves coaches without a second thought, much like HR and OD professionals, ministers, therapists, teachers, trainers, consultants, speakers and (insert other professions here.) But this is not a rant about what coaching is or isn’t. I already did that in 2007.
Since coaching doesn’t meet the criteria of a profession, than what is it? It is just a service. One that just about anyone can provide, anytime, anywhere. Think I have lost it? Thomas Leonard, the grandfather of modern coaching, noticed the same thing 10 years ago, “Parents, managers, ministers, consultants, therapists, and just plain people will be proud to call themselves coaches over the coming years. And the vast majority of them will never be ‘professional coaches’ like we are“.
What’s the point?
As my graphic designer Ed Gumnick and other copywriters say:
When you emphasize everything you emphasize nothing.
If everything is coaching than coaching is nothing.
The mathematical conclusion: Coaching is no longer a viable profession, and just maybe……. it never was.
What that means for you, I will leave to you to figure out. However, if you are going to offer coaching as a service, please do your potential victims, er clients, a huge favor and at least get as much training as a nail technician before you go around messing with people’s lives.
Well I’m glad to know my nails are safe in Texas! Yes, Thomas said ‘Everyone’s a coach’ and pi**ed off a lot of coaches, but note, he did say, “…the vast majority of them will never be ‘professional coaches’ like we are“. That assumes “we” are professional coaches! Are we? You’re right, if it’s all coaching, then what isn’t coaching? And if anyone can call him/herself a coach, then how can we call it a profession? To go one further, the IAC, founded by Thomas Leonard to “improve the quality of coaching worldwide” with a skills-based certification, now licenses anyone who will pay the fee to TEACH coaching! Maybe we should give up, Mattison, and leave the poor devils to their own demise.
Julia
I have been watching this phenomenon for a few years now. I did my best to fight it, but the train has left the station. This post is me waving the white flag.
This is the post I’ve been waiting for, Mattison! It’s frustrating to know that many coaches choose not to pursue certification or even coach training for at least the same number of hours that a nail technician is required to get a license to do my nails!! And, at the same time, I believe the client selects a coach that he or she feels will do the best job ‘on their nails.’ My hope is that a discerning crowd will drive this profession, like those before it, to increase its standards and ask for the quality service it deserves.
Kathi
Thanks for your positive outlook. I agree that the cream will rise to the top and with any luck consumers will become more savvy and desiring in choosing who to hire as their coach. However, I think the point still holds that coaching is really not a “profession” as much as it is a service. A valuable, useful, marketable service, but still a service.
There are a number of ways to approach this, I think there are lawyers, aesthetcians, doctors, and sports coaches who don’t know what they’re doing and they’ve got tons of professional training. Obviously my response is towards the CrossFit coaches comments, think about it this way. You can go to art school for years, receive training under the best artists and art teachers and still not have the skill or talent to staying in the lines or produce anything worthy of calling art. On the flip side, people are born with natural artistic talent and have no formal training. They learn from doing, making mistakes and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. All of this to say what makes a good coach? Is it the alphabet soup after someones name?
Andrew
Thanks for your comment. You make some good points. I totally agree that years of training does not guarantee that someone will be good at something. Like doctoring, lawyering. From my perspective there is something else at play there, but that is a different blog post.
I also agree that on the job learning and experimentation is a great way to improve. It takes a lot of curiosity to do it that way. You have to know what you don’t know, do a lot professional and personal development and most importantly be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. I wrote about that here in 2007 in the blog post Go Out and Fail – Please http://greystoneguides.com/blog/go-out-and-fail-please/
There are many great people at Crossfit who are helping people everyday and I appreciate you defending them. But when a coach is coaching a WOD and never gives encouragement, or feedback or corrects glaring technique issues, or even pays attention to the clients, you have to admit that is a problem. I have seen it happen, I have been in those WODS.
Ultimately I was using Crossfit as one example in making my case that coaching is not a profession. I don’t deny that there are lots of really great coaches out there, there are also lots of really bad ones. Coaching will remain a viable service for a long time, but I am sticking with the point, it is not a profession. It just doesn’t meet the defintion.
The most wonderful thing about our society and our country is that we have the freedom to be picky when it comes to choosing the services or coaches we desire. We can research, shop around, and weigh our options to find the best of best in their field. This is true in medicine, psychotherapy, nail technicians, fitness, food, life coaching, and just about anything else one desires. The majority of those that provide the service or coaching will define that as their profession. Whether good, bad, or in between, the quality of the service or coaching does not define the fact that it is or is not a profession. Like you mentioned in a previous reply, there will always be bad coaches in all walks of life. But why do we let those determine that coaching is not a profession? The consumer will, in the end, help the good coach flourish, while the weak will falter under their poor preparation, training, etc.. My point? Why not ignore the coaches that you, as the consumer, feel have not had adequate training to make their service a profession, and choose one that satisfies whatever need you’re trying to fill.
Charlie G. is absolutely right. Let it go, great coaches, you guys will float to the top.
My favorite dictionary site (www.thefreedictionary.com) has the definition of a coach as follows: A person who gives instruction, as in singing or acting, or a private tutor employed to prepare a student for an examination.
Realistically, if you’re going to redefine a word, you’re going to have to start a revolution. Mattison, if anybody can do it, you can. It is a long and hard road, and you have the passion to do it.
I would encourage you, though, to let go of the negativity. Let those other non-coaches call themselves whatever they want. Instead of fighting the battle of, “no really, that’s not what the coach is…” turn the battle on its ear. The bottom line is that the service you provide is so much more (and very different) than the service they provide. Therefore, you don’t want to be called the same thing. For branding, marketing and personal reasons this makes sense, and is wise to do. The fact is that the “real coaches” are few and far between and the non-coaches have already claimed the word coach. With the exception of creating a new word (bad idea), you have to otherwise differentiate yourself. Perhaps the real coaches can band together and call yourselves coaching specialists or some other term that involves the word coach and will make people say, “And what’s the difference between a coach and a coaching specialist?”At this point make sure not to go into the negative “I’m a real coach” speech. Choose a handful of differentiating points to make.
Oh, and if the person on the other end of the conversation says, “I’m a coach too,” smile and say, “That’s great.” After knowing you for a short time they will come to their own conclusion that, no, they’re not a coach.
I am one such non-coach, by the way. What I do some people might call coaching. I never call it that, because I am a convert. I’m a professional consultant in idea engineering.
See? You’re on your way to winning the battle.
Well said Charlie!
I also like what you’re getting at “Idearella”. With all of that being said, I see no reason to discuss this further. Have a great weekend all.
Thanks everyone for a great discussion.
Charlie
It seems like you and Kathi agree, the best coaches will rise to the top. I agree too. I also agree the quality of the service does not define it as a profession, there are good and bad everything. The problem is often when people have a bad experiences with a coach, they conclude that coaching doesn’t work, and give up. When a person has a bad experiencing at the doctor, they don’t say, medicine doesn’t work, they say that doctor stinks and look for a new doctor. I don’t know why that is, but I bet Kathi and Julia have heard similar things.
Bonnie
The conversion about the word coach is a very interesting one and a WHOLE other conversation. Thank you – I totally agree that what I do is very different (and better) than what most people are doing. I have been doing it for 13 years. I was a “coach” before anyone knew what that was. Those were the good ole’ days.
Think about it like this: My chosen profession, that I love, have been studying everyday for 13 years, spent over 1200 hours and tens of thousand of dollars on training has been commandeered. Taken over by people who have no training, and even worse, not even enough curiosity to regard for their “clients’ to get some training. What can I do about that? At this point nothing. That train has left the station. Your question is a good one: How do I talk about what I do without using the C word?
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I think there is big distinction between the definition of a coach and the definition of a profession. I still can’t work it out in my head, how EVERYTHING can be coaching and it can be a profession, but I really appreciate all of you for helping me see it from your perspective.
Mattison – I find myself asking more and more, ‘What’s next after coaching?’ We’re definitely at a crossroads. Something’s about to happen. I’ve been seeing evidence for almost 2 years. Things have changed.
Here’s what’s obvious to me: Some coaches are professionals; other’s aren’t. And that’s not entirely a value judgment. Coaching is a hybrid. I’ve polled nearly 300 coaches on whether they consider themselves entrepreneurs 1st or professionals 1st. Only a tiny percentage chooses one or the other. Most say both equally.
But this conversation about whether coaching is a profession tends to be either/or. The thing is that we haven’t yet designed/understood the profession/service to the point that we can BE both consistently, much less communicate that we’re both.
We’re shifting paradigms here. We won’t know what the next paradigm is until we get there, but folks who are front runners can help the rest get ready for it. And then we have to figure out how to communicate it to our clients…
This is the change I’m seeing.
Mattison evaluates personal coaching as a profession based only upon how much training coaches have or don’t have. You exhibit a common agenda among “trained coaches” who bought into the sales pitch by the over 490 “for profit” coach training schools that their training entitles them to call themselves coaches at the exclusion of others without “training.”
Yet, you only mention the most important participant in the entire coaching process with a negative warning; the coaching clients!
“Sports coaching” is a very well recognized and very respected profession. Many times “sports coaches” are even revered. Bill Belichick, Nick Saben, John Wooden, Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, Phil Jackson, Bear Bryant, and Joe Torre are or were well-paid and well-respected professional sports coaches. Yet, none of these coaches and virtually no sports coaches have taken any “coach training,” none are certified, and there are virtually no sports coaching training schools. These coaches and all other sports coaches are rated only by the successes of their players and teams. They are messing with people’s lives without the training requirements of your nail technician.
Personal coaches would be smart to follow sports coaching and focus on the success of their clients to be rated only by their clients successes, not whether they paid for and completed some form of “coach training.” Placing the emphasis on clients’ successes and not the coaches would boost the professionalism of personal coaching almost overnight.
By using Mattison’s example that personal coaching is not a profession because of the lack of training then “sports coaching” isn’t either, and we can all go seek help from the well-trained nail technicians in Texas.
Bill
You covered a lot of ground and I actually agree with you on some things.
First, I totally agree that “Placing the emphasis on clients’ successes and not the coaches would boost the professionalism of personal coaching almost overnight”. When clients get great results everyone wins, however, that doesn’t always happen. Many people who work with “coaches” or get “coaching” don’t have great experiences. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say,” I had a coach once, it was nice, but I didn’t really get anything out of it”. Does coach training guarantee some is a great coach? NO, but I think it makes the chances at least a bit better.
I also agree that the client is the most important part of the equation, but I can’t see what you mean by the reference of a “negative warning to the client”
I do have to disagree with your point that sports coaches don’t have any training. Sports coaches participate in a long standing tradition of apprenticeships, called assistant coaching. This is their training ground and meets the definition of profession.
Nick Sabin spent 17 years as an assistant coach before becoming a head coach. Bear Bryant and Dean Smith each spent 5 years as assistant coaches before becoming head coaches. Phil Jackson spent years coaching lower-level professional leagues, in the Continental Basketball Association and Puerto Rico’s National Superior Basketball until he become the assistant coach for the Bulls from 1987-1989.
This tradition of serving as an assistant coach first is everywhere in sports and serves as the training ground for sports coaches. The majority have at least 5 years as an assistant before being considered for a head coaching position.
So maybe the public/potential clients should demand their life coach complete a 5 year apprenticeship before they sign up for services? If life, business or executive coaches were to spend 5 years as an assistant coach or in an apprenticeship before they could see clients on their own, this would be a very different conversation. It’s a great idea, but very few people who become life, business or executive coaches would do it. Why? BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE TO. Just has they don’t have to get any training. I am not arguing that many people who become coaches are not professional. They are. That doesn’t mean it’s a viable profession.
My point remains: People will continue to put out their shingle as a business, life or executive coach without meeting the definition of profession and it that will continue to confuse everyone.
Mattison,
We agree on many things, but still disagree on a few things, especially the key point of your blog, but you have relaxed your position somewhat.
I agree, “Many people who work with “coaches” or get “coaching” don’t have great experiences. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say,” I had a coach once, it was nice, but I didn’t really get anything out of it”. Frankly, having talked to over 8,000 people about coaching during the past 11 years, too many people, mostly within the past 2 years tell me they had been coached with little, if any, positive results. But upon further research we discovered together that they rarely received real coaching as developed by Thomas Leonard.
We also agree that apprenticeship “is a great idea, but very few people who become life, business or executive coaches would do it. Why? BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE TO. Just has they don’t have to get any training.” Yet, in my world our coaches are required to have true coaching experience for a number of years with a minimum number of real coaching clients, as a minimum requirement before we will allow them to begin our screening process.
I do not fully agree with your statement “This tradition of serving as an assistant coach first is everywhere in sports and serves as the training ground for sports coaches. The majority have at least 5 years as an assistant before being considered for a head coaching position.” First, most of the sports coaches begin coaching right away, whether as assistant coaches or at lower levels. Your own examples confirm that. They are actually coaching. None of the sports coaches have to complete artificial “Training” to begin actually coaching. Bill Russell had no coaching experience when he first coached the Celtics to the NBA title. I know of many little league, middle school, and even high school sports coaches who began coaching with no apprenticeship. Are there lots of sports coaches that are not good at coaching? Certainly. I can personally regale you with a number of sports coaching horror stories. But they are eventually rated and separated by the successes of their players and teams.
Are there lots of personal coaches who are either not good at coaching or worse; they are performing other services and activities that are different from coaching but they call it coaching? Absolutely! In fact, through my personal contacts with over 3,500 people who call themselves “coaches”, I estimate that over 60% of them are not performing personal coaching. This is true whether they have received “coach training” or not.
I believe you still consider the artificial personal coaching “training” to be the same “training” that the sports coaches gain by the actual coaching experiences they conduct from the very beginning. One is based upon training or studying; the other is based on live experience. They are not the same thing.
In fact, I seriously question the quality, the need, and the intentions of the over 490 “for profit coaching and training schools” in the personal coaching field. By my estimate there were only 10 to 14 such schools in the year 2000. Between 470 and 475 for profit schools have popped up in the last 10 years. Why, because they make lots of money. I know of NO minimum entrance requirements for any of the coach training schools, other than paying the required fees. They claim that when people buy their coach training, they will become successful and effective coaches.
When in truth, I have found that NONE of the coach training schools prepare their students (Victims?) to become good personal coaches. Yet, far too many graduates feel that the money they paid not only makes them good coaches but also entitles them to exalted status, especially over people who have not paid for such training. This is what I felt from your original blog. But you have come off that superior position when you said: “Does coach training guarantee some is a great coach? NO, but I think it makes the chances at least a bit better.”
We still disagree about the importance of “coach training.”
You feel that coach training creates good coaches. I believe actual coaching experience creates good and even great coaches. You believe that whether a person has received coach training would be the best way to determine if a person is likely to be a good coach. I feel strongly that the percentage and total number of the actual successes of the clients of coaches would be the only way to determine if coaches are good coaches. Thomas Leonard, the most prolific trainer of coaches (CTI, Coach U, and Coachville) said it best. The best way to learn to become a great coach is to coach. Nothing beats experience.
I am confused about your definition of a “profession” and how it continues to confuse everyone whether coaches meet this mysterious definition, or why it matters.
But happily, we agree on the most important point.
We totally agree that “When clients get great results everyone wins, however, that doesn’t always happen”, and “that the client is the most important part of the equation.” I firmly believe that the success of coaching clients is the absolute key to the defining the personal coaching profession and to being recognized and respected as a true profession. Period!
How can we get the entire personal coaching industry to refocus its energies and priorities on making sure coaching clients succeed?
Mattison has brought up a contentious topic here and I’m glad for the ensuing conversation, because it’s a topic that I care about. But let’s face it, arguing solves nothing. So let’s move on to solutions, shall we? It sounds like everyone here agrees that quality and professionalism are important and that quality can be measured by results. Perhaps that’s the only measurement that matters, perhaps not.
* The Coach Connection is one approach, but since it represents only 130 coaches, it has not solved the issue of quality in coaching for the tens of thousands of other coaches.
* Skills-based certifications are another approach and that is what Thomas Leonard advocated. To the extent that skills-based certifications predict results and professionalism, they have value, but most coaches don’t seek or don’t pass these certifications, perhaps because they are afraid they will fail. My school requires recommendations from paying clients in additions to a skills-based certification, to verify that the coach gets results. However, with small numbers of coaches who are passing, this is not yet a solution, either.
* Coach training is yet another approach. It’s interesting that Thomas mentioned that results are key, but that he worked tirelessly to professionalize coaching by starting two non-profit coach certifying organizations and launching 2 of the biggest coaching schools, ever. Clearly, he thought there was more to it. There is a huge gap in the quality of coaching schools and new coaches are extremely confused. But let me debunk one myth right here: There are too many coaching schools because there is a popular BELIEF that they ‘make lots of money’. I own a coaching school and I have an insider’s view of that. About 10% of all coaching schools went out of business last year. Even some of the biggest and oldest are laying off their instructors. I make more money as a coach than as a coach trainer. I train because I care about the quality of coaching. Does coach training lead to better results? Yes, with the right training – and yes, that includes thousands of hours of practice. Without it, many coaches will have to learn to coach the way Thomas Leonard did: with 20 years of practice.
But isn’t it coaching clients, themselves, who need a voice, instead of us self-appointed experts? And don’t we have the tools to give them that voice? Anyone here who is willing to put up your time and money to do that can email here: julia [@] schoolofcoachingmastery [.] com
Julia,
What I, and hopefully Mattison, call clarification you disparage and call it arguing! I personally feel that I have a much better understanding of Mattison’s perspectives now, because we both tried to clarify things.
Please allow me to further clarify things, if you will not accuse me of arguing.
You claim, “The Coach Connection is one approach, but since it represents only 130 coaches, it has not solved the issue of quality in coaching for the tens of thousands of other coaches.” As if it is our responsibility and objective to create good coaches. Although we have coached many people into become “coach” many of them very good, even excellent “coaches” we do not publicly sell or promote our coaching as a path to becoming a good coach.
Our objective is to attract the best “Coaches” in the English-speaking world to provide the one place any client can turn to and know he or she will be connected with a proven excellent coach. We have multilingual coaches but they also speak very good English. We have succeeded in achieving our objective very well.
I have revealed the unbiased and objective observations of the criteria we have found that indicate whether someone calling himself or herself a coach will actually be an excellent coach. We have kept this information secret for over 10 years. We have no stake in the game other than to serve and protect our most important and valuable resource-“Our clients”. I shared what the clients really want. We have no program, no system, or no products to sell or defend. I thought it would help coaches know what they could do to improve their coaching capabilities and success rates. Go out and coach!
WOW Mattison, your blog post definitely struck a nerve! What a spirited discussion you generated!! Time and time again you have demonstrated your gift for being able to see patterns and developments before they are visible to others. I so appreciate you generously sharing your observations.
As a coach, I’d rather be in a place where I can position myself for the future rather than react to it after the fact. I am so grateful to you for that gift.
My condolences as you say good-bye to your profession and so excited to see what Phoenix you create out of it!
– Sarah, Image and TV Appearance Specialist (FKA Image and TV Coach…yes, I have officially changed my title)
I very much liked how you made the distinction between a trainer an a coach. I definitely let all my clients know that this is not a one time, one hour and all is well service. they get to first test drive me but when then they must also be in for the long drive. thanks
I’m a year late in commenting but wanted to say — Mattison, you are a gutsy blogger and clearly a very impassioned professional coach that tells it like it is. I feel you.
And it is disheartening when something we value so highly is co-opted by so many. I believe that the industry has struggled partially because it isn’t clear to the uninitiated exactly what coaching is or why it’s so valuable.
So we continue to have the extra job of educating. Bless us all and bless the field of coaching for coming along when the world truly needs it. And many thanks, Mattison.
Rhonda,
Thanks so much for the comment and the acknowledgement. I think we agree on this and as you can see from the comments, this was one of my most controversial posts. Which sits really well with me. The sad and frustrating thing is that, in my opinion, things haven’t really improved over the last year. In some ways it may be worse. I am just going to keep doing what I do and not worry about the stuff I can’t control – like pseudo coaches and coaches that are really nothing than internet marketers.
I’m an “old” Coach U grad. I believe I had 40 courses (each at 4 hours or more) so that gave me about 160 hours of training AND a certificate. Then, I got certified by ICF. I’m proud of all that. I’ve been coaching since 1997. I teach the Master Class in Coaching at NYU and I tell my students that Mastery is important to be a “professional.” But, is coaching MY profession? Not sure. I am a Speaker (proud member of NSA for 16 years), but degreed as a Clinical Social Worker.
When people tell me they want to hang a shingle as a coach, I say … better get trained. It’s all I can do. I can’t insist … it’s their choice.
Hard issue. Thanks for raising it.