By Helen Slingsby
Coaching is proving highly resilient to the current recession, with more than a third of coaches saying their business has grown during the downturn.
Despite arguably the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, a further 36 per cent of coaches say business has remained the same, according to a joint survey by the Association for Coaching (AC), the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and the International Coach Federation (ICF), which teamed up to assess the impact of the recession on its joint membership and on practice.
The key reasons for the growth include coaching being seen as an incentive and alternative to a pay rise at organisational level; opportunities provided by the public sector; the need for individual support in difficult times, plus increased demand for career coaching help during transition between jobs.
The vast majority of the 626 coaches responding were external coaches (83 per cent). The three main types of work for this study were: executive coaching, career coaching and life/personal coaching. Length of experience ranged fairly evenly across those surveyed, from 1-5 years, 5-10 years and more than 10 years.
Some 17 per cent are deriving income from coaching alone, while 28 per cent use three-quarters of their income-generating time earning money elsewhere. These other activities include consultancy (68 per cent); training/facilitation (57 per cent); mentoring, and supervising (both 20 per cent). Other areas encompass academic research, writing and therapy.
UK ICF president, Kathryn Pope, said: “Many coaches have come to coaching having already had successful first careers. It is often their own experiences, as well as their skills, that have motivated them to move into coaching in the first place.
I am not surprised that they not only retain a wide range of skills and interests, but that many offer coaching as part of a wider portfolio. This may well contribute to their resilience during challenging times.”
Chief executive officer of AC Global, Katherine Tulpa, said: “A number of coaches and members I have spoken to indicated that they have taken the time during the downturn to reach out to past clients and ask for referrals. I also think that coaches are by nature – through all our training – resilient, and look to being solution-focused. I believe it is this mindset that is helping us through these times and by identifying creative ways to achieve results.”
While 70 per cent of coaches said their business had grown or remained static in the six months to August 2009, 20 per cent said it had shrunk due to the recession. These blame loss of key clients due to the downturn; redundancy of important contacts; growth of in-house coaching, and an inability to spend time and money developing their coaching business.
A majority (78 per cent) believe recession has significantly affected the subjects discussed with clients. Hot topics include stress management, career management, engaging employees, redundancy and job seeking. Some 63 per cent say they have helped people with career transition and managing through the recession.
“Many are finding themselves severely stretched and less experienced and less well-equipped for this recession than they had been for the buoyant years. There is a distinctly different aspect to the current ‘work-life balance’ conversations with executives, when the work overwhelm is focused on keeping the’ wolf from the door’, the business afloat, or on who to retain and who to let go, rather than coping with the challenges of how to maximise and invest the hard-earned bonus”, said Pope.
Clients are benefiting from using coaches in a recession to help them manage uncertainty (61 per cent); to be creative and think laterally about their condition and future (50 per cent); boost confidence (43 per cent) and perspective (43 per cent), and aid positive thinking (59 per cent).
Meanwhile the survey shows, anecdotally, that the recession may raise the bar in coaching even further. Coaches cite an increased demand by organisations for evidence of return on investment before they are employed. Alongside this is an increase in employing internal coaches as companies look to grow their own talent and save money.
The downturn may help get rid of the poorer practitioners, say others, while at the other end of the scale companies are recognising the need to make their employees “work smarter” and thus are employing coaches to help people reach their potential.
Mike Hurley, president of EMCC UK, said: “These results confirm the value organisations and individuals place on coaching support. They also highlight the resourcefulness of coaches in adopting a flexible approach to their professional practice. Both externally and internally sourced coaching is proving key in securing the best from and for people whatever their role.”
This survey was groundbreaking as it was the first time the three coaching bodies had collaborated in this way. “We’re delighted and are looking forward to doing more joint research in the months to come,” said Tulpa.
Helen Slingsby is an AC member and part of the AC Communications Committee; Helen.slingsby@careerbreakthrough.co.uk
| Length of time coaching | (%) | Types of coaches | (%) |
| Under 1 year | 8 | External | 83 |
| Between 1 and 5 years | 34 | In-house/buyers | 9 |
| Between 5 and 10 years | 26 | Coaching organisations | 7 |
| More than 10 years | 28 | Other | |
| No response | 4 |
| Types of coaching | (%) | Income via coaching | (%) |
| Executive | 51 | 100% | 17 |
| Career/redundancy | 38 | 75-99% | 16 |
| Life/personal | 28 | 50-74% | 18 |
| Business | 19 | 25-49% | 21 |
| In-house | 10 | less than 25% | 28 |
| Other | 8 |
| Activities in addition to coaching | (%) | Is recession affecting topics? | (%) |
| Consultancy | 68 | Not at all | 21 |
| Training/facilitation | 57 | Somewhat | 67 |
| Teaching/lecturing | 20 | Completely | 11 |
| Mentoring | 20 | ||
| Supervision | 20 | ||
| In-house role | 15 | ||
| Academic research | 10 |
| Key topics discussed | (%) | Key benefits | (%) |
| Managing uncertainty | 61 | ||
| Stress management | 44 | Plan of action | 60 |
| Career management | 43 | Positive thinking | 59 |
| Engaging employees | 39 | Reflection time | 58 |
| Managing through the recession | 32 | Clarity of decision-making | 56 |
| Career transition | 31 | Ideas generation | 51 |
| Finding work/a job | 28 | Ideas generation/new options/change of approach | 50 |
| Redundancy | 27 | Confidence | 43 |
| Cost cutting | 24 | Resilience | 43 |
| Growth | 22 | Perspective | 43 |
| Downsizing | 19 | Affirmative action/focus | 32 |
| Improved relationships | 29 | ||
| Empowerment | 22 | ||
| Independent sounding board | 14 |
| Has coaching benefited from the recession? | (%) | How has your practice changed in the past six months? | (%) |
| To a great extent/more work | 21 | Grown | 34 |
| To some extent/stayed the same | 32 | Stayed the same | 36 |
| Not at all /less work | 33 | Shrunk due to the recession | 20 |
| Don’t know | 15 | shrunk due to other reasons | 10 |
Volume 4, Issue 6