Referrals and Assistance
The most significant difference (at the .01 level) we found in comparing the responses of coaches from the USA with those from other countries concerns the willingness of coaches to refer a client to some noncoaching professional if they are experiencing difficulties in working with their client. As I have already noted, USA coaches are significantly more likely to refer than is the case with non-USA coaches. Having reported these results, and urged caution in giving them too much credence, I concluded that these could be “real” results, both because of the significance level and other findings from the analysis of scores for this question.
I offered several possible reasons why these differences might be “real”. First, I mentioned that a greater number of credible resources might be available in the USA. Second, I added in the finding that USA coaches indicated that they are more likely than non-USA coaches to refer a client to another coach when experiencing difficulties. While this difference only approaches near significance (p<.10), it is in alignment with the results regarding referrals to noncoaching professionals. Perhaps there is a broader hesitation of non-USA coaches to do any referring. I expanded my hypothesis, indicating that this difference, in turn, might be attributable (at least in part) to the more recent establishment of professional coaching in countries other than the United States (as well as and Canada and certain other European countries). Referrals can easily be interpreted as a failure and admission that other professionals can do a better job than we can do.
I offered a third possible reason, based on a pattern of differences related to the USA coaches (as compared to non-USA coaches) being a bit more action and results oriented and flexible in seeking to assist clients in finding solutions to their presenting problem(s). I suggested that this culturally based action orientation and pragmatism among USA coaches might be closely related to the second reason I offered. American pragmatism might be aided by a shared sense that professional coaching is established and here to stay: “there is no longer any reason to prove its worth. So, let’s not be afraid to refer!”
