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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Personal Coaches Thrive in Tumultuous Times
Paying for a personal coach seems like an unconscionable extravagance in a recession. But by most accounts, demand is high for these professionals who offer direction on life and work.
“The profession has grown tremendously and it’s still growing as people try to reinvent themselves to stay in the workforce,” says Ann Belcher, spokesperson for the International Coach Federation, Lexington, Ky. The organization has more than 17,000 coaches in 90 countries. Ten years ago, it had 1,995 members.
For those who have considered becoming a coach, the time may be right to start transitioning into the desired position. Demand is expected to continue as the benefits of coaching become better known.
The profession is still self-regulated, meaning there is no legal licensing procedure for obtaining the credential. Anyone can claim to be a coach. Increasingly, however, consumers want coaches with appropriate credentials. For instance, a 2007 ICF Global Coaching Study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 52 percent of coaches report their clients expect the coach they hire to be credentialed.
Training for coaches ranges widely, from very legitimate to suspicious organizations. ICF offers a list of approved training programs on its Web site www.coachfederation.org. The training can range from graduate-level certification to online classes.
The organization also offers its own credentialing program. As an aside, ICF members are required to do ongoing professional development in order to renew the credential every three years.
Coaches charge between $50 to $250 per hour with the average between $100 to $150 per hour.
Belcher says that coaches, unlike therapists or mentors, offer very specific help with certain challenges and opportunities in addition to working over time with someone to sharpen their thinking and decision-making skills and boost their confidence in carrying out their chosen work and life roles.
Rich Gee, a career coach in Stamford, Conn., says that above anything else, coaches need a deep desire to help people.
“That needs to be a priority because you’re focused on helping them reach their goals,” he says.
Like entrepreneurs, coaches need the confidence to promote themselves. Gee estimates that coaches spend at least 60 percent of their marketing themselves.
More than 10 years into his coaching career, Gee says that “business is booming.” One of the biggest challenges for a new coach is the time it takes to build a client base.
Sandee Roberts, a career coach on Scottsdale, Ariz., finds the demand is high but that in the economic downturn clients have less available funds. Having a niche – she offers what she calls “Emotional Freedom Techniques,” a needle-free version of acupuncture – helps her provide innovative services that aren’t easy to find elsewhere.
Roberts has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and also works as a sports psychologist and crisis intervention specialist. But she enjoys her work as a coach and helping motivate people to achieve their goals.
“It’s a very different type of work and I find it very rewarding,” she says.
Coaching is all about helping others reach their potential, says Janet Harvey, a coach in Whidbey Island, Wash.
She worked as an officer with Charles Schwab and General Mills. Then 12 years ago, she pursued a career in organizational consulting and coaching. Last fall, she became a Master Certified Coach with ICF, meaning she has more than 2,500 hours working with clients.
Harvey says that training has helped her tune in closely to how she interacts with clients.
“Coaching is really much more about the inquiry process and what clients don’t say. Those skills take time to acquire,” she says.
At any time she’s working with as many as 12-15 clients. But the advantage of being an independent coach is that when she needs more personal time, she can reduce her workload.
“I have tremendous freedom and I like that,” she says.
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