A world of difference
Coaching is most definitely a worldwide phenomenon and it’s on the rise globally, too. There are at least 43,000 business coaches worldwide, and the top 10 countries with the most coaches include Japan, South Africa and Brazil, reveals our survey of coaching in 162 countries.
Eighty per cent of all business coaches live in Europe, North America and Australia – representing only 20 per cent of the world population. More than two-thirds of all coaches are based in the EU, the US and Canada – 13 per cent of the world population.
The seven countries with the most coaches (US, UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, Canada, South Africa) comprise only 10 per cent of the world population – but 73 per cent of coaches.
Despite the widespread nature of coaching, however, extreme differences remain in the development and size of coaching markets within each continent and country, according to our Global Coaching Survey 2008/09 conducted by Frank Bresser Consulting, which examines the current state and development of coaching in the world overall. There are singular, highly developed and dynamic centres of coaching. However, comprehensive area-wide coverage of coaching is far from a reality – and this is true for all continents.
Global highlights
Coaching is widely accepted and used as a business tool in 28 countries (of which 14 are European). Twenty more use it to an extent, but in the remaining 114 countries (about 70 per cent), it is not widely accepted.
In 33 countries, coaching is in the growth phase (seven of these in the early stages of growth). In a further 50 countries, coaching has entered the introduction phase (five of these being early introduction). In the remaining 77 countries (nearly 50 per cent), business coaching has yet to be visibly developed. In two countries (Norway and the Netherlands), coaching has already entered the maturity phase.
In 27 countries from all continents (including 15 European), business coaching is well advanced towards becoming a profession. However, in 125 countries (77 per cent) it is not. In 10 countries this is undecided.
There is an overall balance of directive and non-directive coaching approaches, with directive in 28 countries, non-directive in 25 and undecided in 109. The use of supervision is widespread in 23 countries (around 15 per cent of all countries).
Generally, there is no dominant picture of coaching and diversity prevails. There is not a distinct African, Asian, Australasian, European, North American or South American approach.
So how did the continents compare?
Africa (2,000-2,500 coaches)
South Africa – with about 5 per cent of the African population – has some 1,600 business coaches comprising around 70 per cent of the total. Approximately 12 per cent of African coaches (260) are based in Egypt, Kenya and Morocco, so the other 44 African countries have the other 18 per cent of business coaches on the continent.
The density of coaches in Africa is one coach per 400,000-500,000 inhabitants (without South Africa it is one coach per 1-2.3 million inhabitants).
In Africa, coaching is still in its infancy. It is in the growth phase in only two countries (Morocco and South Africa), where it is well advanced towards being a profession and has a well-developed national association.
Asia (4,300-4,700 coaches)
Japan and South Korea – with about 4 per cent of the Asian population – have around 2,500 business coaches comprising about 55 per cent of all Asian coaches. Another 10 per cent of coaches are based in the region of Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The density of coaches is one coach per 900,000 inhabitants in Asia (without Japan it is one coach per 1.4-1.6 million inhabitants).
In general, Eastern and South-eastern Asia may be regarded as the two largest and most dynamic coaching regions. There are major coaching activities in only a few other countries (for example, United Arab Emirates, Israel, India). Apart from these, coaching is still in its infancy (if it exists at all) in Asia.
While some national or regional coaching bodies exist or are starting to emerge and be formalised, coaching is still driven and determined largely by multinational clients and international coaching. You rarely find Asian coaching forms and approaches.
Australasia (4,300 coaches)
Around 4,000 coaches are based in Australia and 300 in New Zealand (with up to 10 in Papua New Guinea).
The continent of Australasia has the highest density of coaches (one per 7,500 inhabitants). It only represents 0.5 per cent of the world population yet about 10 per cent of all business coaches worldwide are based here.
Coaching in Australia and New Zealand is in the growth phase, widely accepted and used as a business tool and well-advanced towards becoming a profession. In Papua New Guinea it is still in the pre-introduction phase.
A straightforward and rather directive style of coaching prevails in Australia and New Zealand.
Europe (18,000 coaches)
This is the continent with the highest number of coaches. However, the numbers are not evenly distributed. The UK and Germany (nearly 20 per cent of the European population) comprise around 70 per cent of all business coaches on the continent. In contrast, only about 5 per cent of all coaches are based in the former communist countries (40 per cent of the population).
The density of coaches in Europe is one per 45,000 inhabitants (without Germany and the UK it would be one per 120,000). The density in the European Union is one per 29,000 (the same as the density of coaches in the US plus Canada).
Generally speaking, there is a west-east and a slight north-south divide in the development of coaching in Europe. The Anglo region, the founder countries of the European Community and Scandinavia, have well-developed coaching industries. This is less true for the Mediterranean region, and even less so for the former communist area. Within each of these regions, the practice and development of coaching may differ enormously.
North America (12,300 coaches)
The US and Canada comprise around 11,600 business coaches, and Mexico 600, which means that there are only 100-150 business coaches in all of Central America and the Caribbean.
The US, with at least 10,000 business coaches, has the highest number of coaches in the world in terms of absolute coach figures. Canada is ranked at six, with at least 1,600 coaches).
The density of coaches on the whole continent is one per 43,000 inhabitants. In Northern America (USA and Canada) it is, as in the EU, 1 per 29,000.
There is an extreme north-south divide in the development of coaching within North America. The US and Canada have highly advanced coaching industries, whereas the whole of Central America is in the pre-introduction phase, and there are few coaches operating in the Caribbean. Coaching in Mexico is somewhere in between the two.
South America (2,200-2,300 coaches)
This figure is quite low compared with other regions of the world, in particular given the overall high development of coaching on the continent (such as in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru).
The density of coaches in South America is one per 170,000 inhabitants. While Brazil has the highest number of business coaches at 1,000, its large population means the density of coaches is lower here (one per 195,000) than in the continent average.
Another characteristic of coaching in South America is the high number of national coaching associations. This suggests that some coaching communities are actively shaping the development and understanding of coaching in a more local way.
How we carried out the survey
The general lack of statistics on coaching supported a qualitative – rather than quantitative – approach. The main sources of data were qualified organisations and people who have a good overview of coaching in their country and the resources to gather further relevant information as needed.
First, we identified the existing national and international coaching associations around the world. Then we identified a leading one in each country and invited them to respond to our questionnaire. Where no coaching association existed in a country, we searched for a suitable leading coaching-related association such as HR, coaching provider or coaching-related university faculty with credibility in providing relevant information.
It was the responsibility of each participating organisation to decide on the most appropriate approach/resources to gather the required information. This ranged from local surveys and board meetings to market research/analyses to the use of existing statistics.
However, it is important to underline that in many cases responses are rough estimates. Coaching is a young discipline, and exact figures are rarely available. So while the survey can provide a good first idea of coaching around the world, in each continent, region and country, it is far from being absolutely accurate. In particular cases, where no visible coaching industry or suitable participant in a country could be identified, we used our own research findings.
We will be carrying out the Global Coaching Survey every two to three years from now on. It will be very interesting to see how coaching evolves on each continent in the future.
- The Executive Summary and a detailed report on the results of the Global Coaching Survey 2008/09 (as well as special editions for each continent) are available free as downloads from: www.frank-bresser-consulting.com/globalcoachingsurvey.html
Share your expertise
The Global Coaching Survey 2008/09 was carried out by Frank Bresser Consulting. If you want to share your expertise or thoughts on coaching in a specific continent, region or country, please email Frank Bresser at: info@bresser-consulting.com
About the authors
Frank Bresser is a global business expert on implementation and improvement of coaching in organisations. Supported by his worldwide team, he advises companies on the effective use of coaching. He is the initiator and head of the Global Coaching Survey 2008/09.
info@bresser-consulting.com
www.frank-bresser-consulting.com
Amanda Bouch, senior consultant at Frank Bresser Consulting, assisted as adviser and co-editor on the Global Coaching Survey 2008/09.
Lutz Stradmann, senior consultant at Frank Bresser Consulting, assisted as co-manager and coordinator on the Global Coaching Survey 2008/09.