Study: Coaching Industry Faces Challenges

Lexington, Ky. — Feb. 14

Professional coaches from around the world said untrained individuals calling themselves coaches and "marketplace confusion" about the benefits of coaching are the two biggest challenges facing the coaching industry, according to a recent study by the International Coach Federation (ICF).

The 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study found that more than 43 percent of respondents viewed untrained individuals who called themselves coaches as the biggest obstacle facing professional coaching over the next year. The continued use of the terms "coach" and "coaching" by untrained professionals is also seen as a significant threat facing the viability and credibility of the global coaching profession, the study said.

Results also showed that 30 percent of coaches identified "marketplace confusion about the benefits of coaching" as another of the profession's largest challenges. There is ambiguity regarding the ROI calculation of coaching, as well as how the services provided by coaches differ significantly from other professions such as mentoring or consulting.

Additional challenges for the profession identified by coaches include: market saturation, under-pricing of coaching services and over-regulation of the industry.

More than 12,000 coaches representing 117 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America participated in the study, which was commissioned by ICF and conducted independently by the International Survey Unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2011.

Source: International Coach Federation