Skip to main content

A Fuzzy Snapshot of Life Coaching

“50,000 Life Coaches Can’t Be Wrong: Inside the industry that’s making therapy obsolete” is the cover story in the May 2014 issue of Harper’s Magazine.  Author Genevieve Smith actually participated in a group going through several months of coach training in her research for the article.  She also interviewed a number of coaches and prospective coaches.  She gets some things right and others wrong.

Let me begin with the things with which I take exception.  First, Smith participated in a program with Coach Training Institute, the organization that has trademarked the “co-active coaching” model which emphasizes the collaboration between the coach and the person being coached.  This is a very reputable program whose training is recognized by the International Coach Federation, but its methodology is only one approach to coaching. Taken to the extreme, the coaching model of CTI can seem humanistic and rather “new age.”  There are other approaches in keeping with the ICF Code of Ethics and Core Competencies with a different philosophical basis including those with a faith-based orientation.

Second, she quotes Robert Kegan of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education as saying “men in particular have been attracted to therapy in the guise of coaching.”  ICF and all reputable coaches make a clear distinction between therapy (counseling) and coaching.  Therapy looks backward to deal with significant emotional and psychological issues.  Coaching is present and future oriented and designed for reasonably healthy individuals.  A professional coach never suggests that he or she is a therapist and will make a referral to a competent professional to deal with counseling issues.  Life coaches are not attempting to take the place of therapists.

Third, Smith puts a significant emphasis on “monetizing the operation” of being “a thoughtful listener, good friend, and confidante.”  The last three terms do not really describe the work of a professional life coach.  A coach is not just a listener but a questioner.  He or she is friendly but not a friend.  A friendship describes a give and take relationship; in a coaching conversation, it is all about the person being coached.  The coach is not seeking a relationship that will benefit himself or herself personally.  Finally, the coach is more than a confidante. He or she is helping the person being coached to do something with the information being disclosed.

Smith does a good job of providing the background and history of coaching as well as the high standards of the International Coach Federation.  Although she makes some effort to place the coaching phenomenon within the larger context of changes in the nature of work and the shifting nature of the workforce, a longer perspective will be needed to validate her observations which are (at best) rather superficial.

(Thanks to my friend Tom Brown for sharing a copy of this article with me.)



Comments

Good overview of the article. I listened to her interview on NPR "On Point." You hit the areas that bothered me on the head. I'm a leadership and transition coach, and most of my time I'm educating people on the impact GOOD coaches can do for them.

Best regards,

Patrick S. Smith

Check these out

Confessions of a Recovering Southern Baptist

I am grateful for my heritage as a Southern Baptist.  I was exposed to the Bible and worship from a very young age.  I grew up in a church in south Alabama that supported the Cooperative Program of missions giving.  This meant that our church had the benefit of being part of a supportive group of local churches and the educational opportunities that afforded. Our state convention provided varied and effective ministries with groups like orphans, ethnic groups, and college students.  We supported missionaries at home and abroad.  We had good Bible study and training literature (which we paid for, of course).  I went to an accredited seminary and paid a remarkably low tuition.  Wherever you went on a Sunday morning (in the Southeast and Southwest, at least), you could find a church that sang the familiar hymns and studied the same Bible lesson. In hindsight, I realize that this Southern Baptist utopia was imperfect.  There were significant theological differences, often geograp

The Bible Tells Me So

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself.     The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church.  Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs.  What once worked no longer seems to be effective.  Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s  “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educational dimension of church ministry, as the

Metaphors of the Kingdom of God

In a recent blog , consultant Seth Godin addresses the power of metaphor.   He points out, “The best way to learn a complex idea is to find it living inside something else you already understand.”   In other words, “this” is like “that.” “When you see a story, an example, a wonderment,” says Godin, “take a moment to look for the metaphor inside.”   Jesus turned this around.   In the use of parables, he told a story or provided a metaphor and challenged his hearers to see the truth within. For example, in his teaching on the Kingdom (or Reign) of God in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom to such things as a mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, a net, a king, and a landowner.   His hearers are encouraged to use their imaginations to understand something that they had never experienced.   He also attempted to shift their perspective so that they might see signs of the Kingdom breaking into their present reality.  These are metaphors for the Kingdom. Where do w

The Tragedy of Willow Creek Community Church

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church.   On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter.  Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year.  He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability on behalf of the congreg

A Future for the Global Leadership Summit?

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business.  For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates.  He has already left the church and resigned from the board of the association.