Coach Pervin Shaikh believes it’s time for the coaching industry to be regulated, as per her article “Opinion: A new dawn for coaching?” In her opinion, not only would this prevent unqualified coaches from offering coaching services, it would also make it easier for clients to sort the qualified from the unqualified.
I’m curious – if regulation were to occur, who would be the head regulator? Would it be at the
international, national, regional or municipal level? Who would deal with offending coaches? And how? Would they be fined? How would all the internet marketing professionals, for instance, who offer ‘coaching programs’ be dealt with? It could be a logistical nightmare!
The coaching industry is not alone. Regulation is also an issue in personal training, for example. Certifications are offered but the industry itself is not regulated (from what I can surmise). While there are regulatory bodies for massage in many US states and Canadian provinces, I highly doubt that all the people offering massage services via print ads are certified. Yet these same ads appear week after week.
It’s easy to say that the coaching industry needs to be regulated. The reality is it’s much more complex than we may think.
Until then, the onus is on the client to ask questions to find out if the professional they wish to hire has adequate training.
I wonder if this is just a way to turn coaching into another business like therapy. If it were to be regulated then there would have to be accredited schools and degrees and the like. I think coaching stemmed from an idea that was counter to the therapy business, that people could learn from other people who’d had success and thought they had a lot to teach. Regulating it will lead away from this original ideal.
There are accredited coach training programs. The question would become who would regulate it? I’m sure there is money to be made in regulating any industry so all levels of government would likely want a piece as would the governing coaching association(s).