Fear and Professionalism in Coaching – You don’t need to know everything

There is a wonderful paradox in coaching regarding professional knowledge: professional coaches maintain that they don’t need a deep understanding of the clients topic or area that their clients work in; at the same time, coaches have a thirst for knowledge and continuously broaden their skills. Actually it’s not really a paradox: excellent listening, questioning and core coaching skills go a long way and are often all that’s needed; many coaches seem to love learning. However, within the emerging profession that is “coaching” there is often insecurity and a sense of “not being good enough”. With professional regulation being on the horizon, this often prompts people to “learn” more and more. Emerging professions, such as coaching, are no less important than established fields like law and medicine, but there are characteristics which define an established profession. These include: -A firm, clear knowledge basern-A guiding and regulating professional body (or bodies) -Clear professional standards and ethicsrn-Common languagern-Professional members exhibit a high level of autonomy to practice Whilst the profession of coaching negotiates it’s “teenage challenges”, individual professionals can feel the effect at a very personal level. Questions arise like: -Am I qualified enough? -Do I need to know about x,y and z? -Who should I gain accreditation with? -Am I like other coaches? -Am I talking the same language as other coaches? -Who should I turn to for guidance and advice? Some parts of this conundrum are out of individual practitioners’ hands – they can have little effect on the development of a regulating body and what is chosen to be included in the knowledge base or what language is developed to unite the profession. These things can often take decades. What they can influence is their response to this process and how it might influence them. Make CPD (Continuing Professional Development), choices based on a plan, rather than fearrnMany professionals choose to specialize and that is normal, but it is not necessary to hold qualifications in every area. Not every coach needs to go a course to learn about Neuroscience or CBT for example. A basic knowledge of associated areas is usually sufficient, unless specialization is the aim. Reflect on and embed the learning from each new learning opportunityrnGoing on less courses, but making sure that you reflect on the learning and ensuring it has impact on your practice, is more important than going on copious courses. Other learning such as reading articles and books, counts as CPD, and you can make this part of your professional development plan. See accreditation an opportunity to develop core coaching competenciesrnFocusing and developing individual core coaching competencies, will ultimately strengthen the core of the whole profession. It also makes practitioners acknowledge and strengthen their current practice rather than always seeking to expand and move on. Make supervision a route to developing the profession and guiding individual career developmentrnResistance to supervision and regulation is common in emergent professions. It feels a bit like a teenager being told what to do or an adult trying to make a suggestion. However, established professions see supervision differently. It not only helps build confidence in the professional, through the process, it helps develops common language and understanding. Supervision also assists the coach to embed prior learning into their practice. The coaching profession is currently rife with discussions about “what coaching is” and “what coaching isn't”, whether regulation is needed and what qualifies someone to call themselves a “coach”. There will be power struggles, heated discussions and many people will never agree. As individuals, professional coaches need to understand that this is natural and healthy in an emerging profession and whilst it carries on, they should not doubt their own competencies and skills.