Coaching is disrupted, normal service will not be resumed as soon as possible, it will most likely be better

Coaching will not quite be the same again as a result impact of the pandemic on businesses around the world. Admittedly, in the post pandemic world many senior executives will sit down with their coaches in the same rooms and continue where they left off, but the impact of the pandemic has accelerated a number of changes to the industry which were already well under way.

• Coaching continues to grow as an industry. A recent study estimated the industry at $15billion in 2019. Coaching works. People value it even more in the fast moving, high pressure environments that the modern digital world creates; they may value it even more now if they are isolated and working away from their colleagues in the office. People value thinking partners who help them step back from the urgent and focus on the important.
• The demand is growing but so is the supply. In fact, supply is probably growing faster than demand.  The recent ICF Survey estimated that there were 71,000 Coaching Practitioners. The number of people moving into coaching, which is growing quickly, is likely to be further increased by Covid19 as people leave companies, voluntarily and involuntarily and decide that coaching is a good career option for them.
• Prices for coaching will fall.  Top coaches who can work at the most senior and strategic levels will continue to command a premium to reflect their experience and the value they add but coaching is likely to be 'commoditised' by the growth in the supply of coaches and the use of coaching platforms to deliver the service.
• The industry is professionalising with organisations such as the ICF and EMCC growing in membership, providing credentials and supporting continuous professional development. Clients are increasingly aware of the need for professional qualifications as a base line for choosing coaches.  As with most qualifications it shows that the coach is taking their profession seriously, has acquired the core skills and met a standard set by the credentialing organisation. It does not, in its own right, make a great coach.
• Coaching is moving beyond the 'external coach' model. Group coaching, team coaching, internal coaching and the manager as coach all contribute to an integration of coaching practices into organisational life and coaching cultures.
• Technology platforms are springing up like mushrooms.  Different platforms are offering different solutions and approaches but they assist in coaching management, administration, analytics and delivery. They also reduce the cost of coaching.  Some are focused on cost and volume while some are focused on quality.

With these changes coaching will no longer be the preserve of the executive suite; coaching will be provided to professionals at all levels in the organisation and may even become a 'benefit' not dissimilar to gym membership or services provided by employee assistance programmes. So what are the next for the coaching industry?

• There will be 'commoditisation'. Coaching platforms will offer coaching as a commodity and will take advantage of the coaches coming onto the market and looking for experience. This will go hand in hand with some the technology platforms which aim to 'democratise' coaching.
• To avoid commoditisation there is a parallel move to 'specialisation' of coaching. Coaches will specialise in a very wide range of areas e.g industry sector, diversity and inclusion, resilience, performance, teams, group coaching, mindfulness, well being and coaching model such as gestalt, NLP etc.
• There will be increasing 'stratification' of coaching. At the most senior levels, a little like search firms in the recruitment industry, there will be elite coaching practices working with Board and C Level Executives. They will continue with the current model, current prices, as much as they can.
• The move to 'online' will be a permanent feature and part of the mix. Face to face meetings (individual, team or group) will not be the default model. This seems obvious now but six months ago - some people swore that coaching just has to be face-to-face to be effective but increasingly coaching will be primarily be a mix of web conferencing (zoom, teams etc), phone and face to face meetings.
• Coaching will be better managed, measured and controlled through the use of technology. Gone will be the days when an HR Director will find out about a coaching assignment in Hong Kong or Zurich because the finance team forwards on an invoice! When asked to provide a report on coaching activity, the quality of coaching and the return on investment, the HR Director will be to download reports on activity and quality of coaching.

All of this will require organisations who wish to use coaches to have a clear strategy and professional approach to managing coaching for where coaching adds value to the organisation (internal and external), clear approaches to coach assessment and identification and how to manage coaching effectively.