Report Nine: Summary of the Eight Phase One Reports
This lengthy summary report incorporates findings and discussion from all eight of the previous reports, as well as outlining the plans for three additional phases of this Development of Coaches project. We end this summary report by asking what might will be lost if the “pioneering spirit” which has been so prevalent among the founders of the professional coaching field is no longer present in this field? We also posed a more immediate question: is the push in these reports for a “culture of evidence” likely to hammer a nail in the coffin of this pioneering culture?
On the other hand, might our advocacy of a global dialogue serve as a counter-balancing plea. To quote from the final sentences in this final report:
If enacted this dialogue could help to keep the pioneering spirit alive. With the increasingly cosmopolitan makeup of the town and the digital expansion of boundaries in the field of coaching, we are likely to find some fresh air (perhaps a minor hurricane) blowing through the [professional coaching] town. The source of this fresh air will be the diverse perspectives offered by new international arrivals to the town and from communication between the coaching town and other nearby towns that are being established . . .This gentle (or not-so-gentle) breeze will convey new ideas, provoke dialogue, and point to a bit of town-rebuilding.
We hope that you will take time to read some if not all of these documents and that you will be provoked by the findings obtained and observations made to participate in a future global dialogue and perhaps even join us for the next phases of this project.
William Bergquist
Bill Carrier
Co-Editors
