Rey offers detailed description of each disturbing trend in this essay, as well as in many others that he published in Peer Bulletin. It is worth noting that Rey’s LPC essay concerning the end of coaching is among the most frequently accessed of the 1,000 plus entries in this library. It is also worth reviewing these trends, for they still are impacting the field of coaching in a negative manner. Near the end of this critical essay, Rey returns (as a Generativity Three guardian) to origins of the field. He worries about what has happened to its founding principles and visions:
What Thomas Leonard and other coaching pioneers started as an innovative and unique practice is exemplified by the majority of coaches today who have studied, trained, and continue to educate themselves. These coaches also honour the ideas and principles that Thomas created by recognizing the need to distinguish what they provide in order to attract clients and earn a decent living. Their progress, however, has slowed because the coaching industry is so overloaded with multiple certification schemes (at least 65 now available); is rife with the misuse of accreditation principles and practices; is beset by the unwillingness of coaching associations to cooperate with each other; and is suffering from the proliferation of highly disparate coach training schemes. The unfortunate result is that the general public has become even more confused and baffled by the coaching industry.
Following is the final paragraph of Rey Carr’s essay:
The trends identified in this article are all well-meaning, reasonable and make sense for individual practitioners to engage in order to survive in a highly competitive market. But seen in a ‘big picture perspective’ they appear to form an unintentional whole that is larger than the sum of its parts. Rather than increasing the public’s connection and celebration of coaching and coaches as a way to achieve greater life happiness as well as business and career success, the trends identified here may signal a bleak future for coaching.
Like Lee Salmon, Rey Carr believes that the way in which professional coaching can find its vital future is through commitment to a Greater Good in our VUCA-Plus world. Coaching is not only about the financial “bottom-line” of a corporation being served by a professional coach. It is also about the moral (and even spiritual) bottom-line of environmental protection, social justice, and equity. It is about the ultimate bottom line of Sustainability—the continuing viability of organizations in which we work and the physical world in which we live. This is the enduring perspective of Rey Carr. He is moving into and motivated by Generativity Four.
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