• What to do when your client is late for a telephone coaching session.
• Is mentoring the poor relation to coaching.

Emily Harper 917 days ago

• The Coaching Hall of Fame
• Coaching as a profession: Licensed? Registered? Chatered? Regulated?

Emily Harper 911 days ago

The concept of coaching being a "profession" immediately leads to a requirement for licensing.

Although the thought initially has some attraction -- getting all the wannabe consultants and sales (I'll tell you how to ...x,y,and z) people out of the picture -- any move toward licensing has severe drawbacks for most coaches:

For example, you can be sure that in the US alone (where I live)  - each and every state (if not county or municipality) will want their own bureaucracy (including boards and big tax $$$ and bigger license fees.) Thus, if you coach by phone or travel across state lines, you now need potentially dozens of licenses (each with different requirements) to practice.

This also all but eliminates any potential of coaching across borders of countries.

Finally, there is the question of WHO is the magic all knowing authority who will set up the requirements -- ICF, IAC, WABC, Joe's coaching school, or the existing medical profession state regulators, etc.... -- for the profession.

Any licensing also requires regulation and enforcement -- with an incredible amount of fun filing forms AND increased need for practice insurance.

Finally, with regulation comes likely government fee setting, commoditization of services, and audits.

(I would suggest that these are the same reasons that the high powered consultant profession has also NOT moved to licensing itself)

So, before I sign on, I would have a few (hundred) concerns to be addressed.

Instead, it seems that we have a number of actions we can and should take, such as:
1. Adhere to, explain, and distribute our code of ethics that we follow (whichever org you belong to)

2. Actively address how to pick a qualified coach -- on your website and in your marketing materials

3. Exemplify the professionalism that we believe in -- which includes striving for excellence and achieving our own personal Peak Coach Performance™.

Best Regards,
Chuck Schroeder
Executive Coach and Founder,
http://AllThingsCoaching.com  http://ExecWellnessCoach.com

((I am accepting ALL Linked In invitations from professional coaches))

Chuck Schroeder 907 days ago

• How to be a successful coach

Emily Harper 905 days ago