Looks at the role of coaching in France and describes the work of the newly formed Association Europeenne de Coaching
Monika Verhulst
In France, just like anywhere else, coaching has made its entrance through the door of international and national companies, where high-potential managers are trying to cope with an ever-changing economic environment. Being coached, for them, has become one of the means of coping with stress and high emotions, and a way to increase their interpersonal communication skills.

As in other countries, some HR managers in France remain reluctant to consider coaching as a valuable way of enhancing a leader’s capacity to foster personal development, not only for themselves but within their team as well. The debate about the extent of the benefits that coaching can deliver continues to rage.

The profession is still trying to find its place: overall, it has very high ethical standards, but the general public too often gains the impression that coaching is not serious; that it is an easy way to make money. This is fuelled by the way coaching is covered in the media.

Against this backdrop of fruitless discussions over coaching’s effectiveness, many coaches simply try to live up to the standards of France’s revolutionaries: “Liberté, egalité, fraternité.”

While experts continue to quarrel, grass-roots initiatives can take shape quite fast in France, and this is precisely what is happening at the moment. Making coaching accessible to people who are most in need of it has become one of the many endeavours of the newly formed Association Européenne de Coaching (AEC). With more than 10 per cent of the French workforce out of work, and the unemployment situation having been critical for years, many people badly need more assistance than just the basic help provided by the national agency for employment.

The AEC’s concept of “socially committed coaching” is far-reaching. Professional coaches who are members of the association agree to offer free coaching services to those who cannot afford to pay. Master coaches also contribute to the professionalisation of the system, providing pro bono supervision to the operating coaches. The coachees, in turn, agree to fill out questionnaires, which will then provide empirical data for researchers. In the absence of even a minimum payment, this is the coachee’s symbolic contribution to the association’s work. Once people have found a job, they are then free to make a donation to the AEC, if they wish.

After only a few months of existence, the AEC is able to demonstrate, using evidence-based support, that coaching really does work, with people finding their way back into the job market even after many years of unemployment.

Already, within weeks of the launch of this service, the association is offering free coaching to more than 80 coachees in Paris, and very soon this service will be extended to the French provinces (Nantes, Bordeaux) and on to other countries where the association has a foothold – Luxembourg, Belgium and Switzerland. The success of the AEC’s work among the general public has been tremendous and the demand is growing fast.

“Socially committed coaching” has proved to a critical public that coaching definitely has its place in society.