We are pleased to share an article entitled “Change is Good! 9 questions to expand and challenge future possibilities in coaching education” written by Jennifer Britton.
As a coach educator of more than 20 years, I am amazed that despite how radically the world has changed, fundamentally our coaching foundations have remained the same.
Even with the significant changes of the first few decades of this profession – changes to connectivity and virtualization, the growth of coaching platforms, and the overnight pivoting to online coach during the pandemic – our training remains very similar.
This raises the question – is this continuity beneficial, or should we explore new approaches?
As a critical educator by training, my work is always to inquire about what else was possible. I have led my coaching business with this mindset, pioneering group and team coaching.
As we look ahead to continued change and disruption – from urgent climate issues to economic pressures and geopolitical events – there is an opportunity for continued inquiry about what is possible, and what’s needed, with coaching education.
Coaching is inherently about change, and must also involve asking ourselves how the profession should evolve.
As an advocate for group coaching, I’ve spent 20 years expanding our vanguard from one-on-one approaches to the realm of coaching many. The shift to coaching many has not always been popular and has been met at times with resistance.
Change leaders are not always popular, and it can take time for the status quo to become the norm, as we’ve seen with group and team coaching over the last two decades.
Here are nine critical questions for coach educators to reflect on in order to stay relevant and effective in a changing world.
QUESTION #1: How do our approaches and methodologies represent the changing world of our clients and world at large?
For many years, the “standard” way to coach has remained the same, yet in much of our work through developing coaching cultures in organizations, we may see that there is a disconnect with what is possible.
As coach educators and assessors, are we coaching to the reality of the world from principles, or are we getting stuck in coaching to the “exam” of the PCC markers?
QUESTION #2: Does our time window of the coaching conversation represent what is realistic in today’s world and attention span?
I think back to how the landscape of work has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, especially with the advent of digitalization and virtualization.
Coaching around the world can look dramatically different, with budgets and resources allocated in very different ways. I always think about the differences between neighboring countries Canada and the U.S. Budgets, commitment levels and directness are subtly but vastly different in the two countries. It also can impact what coaching looks like and sounds like. It also can impact uptake, length and budget of engagement.
QUESTION #3: What changes and adjustments are we making to meet the diverse needs of clients, especially in the landscape of group and team coaching?
The recognition of coaching beyond one-on-one interactions has grown in the last decade. The peer-based collaborative conversation zone of group coaching, or the capacity building focused elements with team coaching, have been embraced by coaches and clients.
It also means that coaching is expanding out to more diverse types of individuals. This requires that the range of the coach needs to be more extensive.
Starting in the summer of 2021, I was fascinated about this specific question – how did the range of the coach need to change? It led me to create two quizzes – the Team and Group Coaching Superpower Quiz (which helps coaches explore their unique presence) and the Hybrid Work Styles Quiz, which helps employees and leaders in the evolving workspace look at their unique working preferences. These quizzes go hand in hand to help others understand their unique needs and preferences for coaching.
The sidebar explores the topic of expanding our range, and presents the five special gifts of each of the Team and Group Coaching Superpowers.
QUESTION #4: What are we doing to support coaches in growing livelihoods?
As a mentor coach and coaching supervisor, I hear regularly of the exhaustion experienced by coaches who often coach dozens of clients each week “on the platforms.” When work in these stables dries up or changes, what support can coaches lean into around building a sustainable business model?
For decades, I have seen great coaches come into and leave the profession as they were unable to create a sustainable business model. It led me to write Coaching Business Builder in 2018, and expand my work as a group coach from entrepreneurs in 2007 to also include coaches as entrepreneurs.
QUESTION #5: How are we incorporating evolving scientific insights into coaching and training?
Lately I’ve heard many comments to the effect that “neuroscience is everywhere.” As I like to say, “the science has caught up to the practice”– meaning we’re getting better at creating a bridge between the art and science of coaching.
As educators, what are we doing to incorporate this into our work and grow our understanding of the science ourselves?
One of our most popular new offerings – N-LEA (Neuroscience, Learning and Experiential Approaches) weaves these three elements together.
QUESTION #6: What are we doing to cultivate more generalized support for coaching for mindfulness and well-being?
The events of the last few years have had a demonstrated impact on well-being for many. What approaches around wellness and well-being are being embedded into our approaches and processes as coaches?
As the divide between coaching and therapy continues to blur, what are we doing to expand the skill sets and tools for coaches in working with a variety of topics – from resilience to burnout and trauma? What are the boundaries for your approaches?
QUESTION #7: What are we doing to grow ourselves as coach educators?
Significant world change begins with personal change. Creating “world change” is not affected by one person, it’s done by many. As someone who has worked on capacity development for her entire career, we know that change takes time, and happens one person, and one connection at a time.
Change requires looking at the world through different lenses and acquiring new skills, insights and perspectives.
What are we doing to grow ourselves and our capacity as coach educators? What are coach educators doing to continue their learning journey in fields outside of or aligned with coaching, to stimulate new ideas, thinking and ways of working?
QUESTION #8: What are we doing to create greater accessibility to coaching?
Part of my work has always been about answering the questions, “How do we bring more voices into the room?” and “How do we avoid the barriers to accessing the coaching conversation?”
One of the reasons why I have chosen to innovate coaching in the group coaching space has been to bring coaching to populations that may never have had access to it before.
I am often told by students that “Coaching doesn’t involve bringing creative elements like photos or images” and “Coaching isn’t about getting people to draw or go out in nature.” When I hear statements like this, it makes me question how “open” coaching education is, or how entrenched in its own “echo chamber” it has become. Who is the client that coaching students are being coach trained for?
For example, visuals act as an important doorway for shared and co-created peer learning when people may come from varied backgrounds and with different first languages.
QUESTION #9: What can we do to support others, including coaches, in bridging the divide of opposites and differences?
While many things in the world are polarized, how do we help our clients explore and embrace the gray zones – where it’s not an either/or but an AND? Many coaching models are grounded in the philosophy of AND. What can we do to further build this muscle – and mindset – with coaches and our clients? It is critical to navigate complexities in an evolving world.
As with anything in change, it is my hope that these questions open the space for reflection, pause and dialogue. As we move forward, it’s essential that we continually reassess our approaches to meet the needs of our clients and the world.
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