Unlike most coaching surveys, the two surveys conducted in 2009 and 2015 were directed toward those who are actually doing the coaching, rather than the users of coaching services. Furthermore, these surveys were completed by a relatively wide-ranging groups of coaches — coming from several different countries and from several different coaching schools and perspectives, as well as ranging widely in age and years of experience in providing coaching services.
While the respondents to these surveys might have not been fully representative of those working in the field, both surveys do hold one very important advantage. Many surveys of practitioners in the field of professional coaching are funded and sponsored by organizations with a particular stake in the outcomes or have been conducted by faculty in high prestige, research-oriented universities (who tend to seek responses from others of similar status). By contrast, these two surveys are being conducted by sponsors (the Library of Professional Coaching and ITLCInsights) who have no specific stake in the outcomes, and are being distributed to practitioners at many levels of practice and status. These surveys are truly ‘”neutral” and “democratizing.”
We are providing you with all eight of the reports that have been published over the past several years in the Library of Professional Coaching. We also include the very important (though admittedly lengthy) ninth report that provides a summary and broad interpretation of results obtained in this first phase of the Development of Coaches project. You will find that the results obtained are often a bit surprising or at least intriguing. They lead us to question some of the widely held assumptions about the world of professional coaching. Issues are identified and analyzed concerning such matters as coaching certification, cross-cultural perspectives on professional coaching, and ways in which coaching challenges are addressed.
There are even some glimpses into the potential future direction of the field. Most importantly, the themes identified in these reports—and particularly the ninth report—are intended to be provocative rather than definitive. We hope that constructive dialogue might ensue among those representing different sectors of the professional coaching community. We hope that the findings and interpretations we offer will lead to members of this community joining us in planning for and mounting the next phases of this important research project. Now, on to the brief description of and links to each of the nine reports.
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