A fourth possible reason is also culturally based. Non-USA coaches report that they are more likely to “consult relevant articles or books” than is the case with USA coaches. Could there be a greater tendency for non-USA coaches to turn to external authorities for assistance than is the case with USA coaches. We might find that USA coaches are more “self-reliant.” In other words, it might be more a matter of the resource to which a coach will turn—their own experience and wisdom or that offered by someone else. Either option requires some slow thinking (Kahneman, 2011) on the part of the coach. Are USA coaches ready and willing to slow down and reflect—that might be the key question to ask.
There is yet one other possible cultural factor. Societal norms might determine the actions being taken. I suggested that human failings might be stigmatized, and therefore must be kept out of public view. In some cultures, not only is professional coaching (and many other human services) not fully accepted, but any “exposure” of a client receiving these services is unwelcomed. This push toward secrecy might even apply to asking another professional to do work with a difficult coaching client. We hide our problems, even if this means not receiving proper care. This challenge of stigma and failure to receive help might be greater in other countries, but it certainly is also found in the USA.
How Coaches Handle Their Difficulties
The relative abundance of significant or near significant results obtained from looking at differences between USA and non-USA coaches stands in contrast to results obtained from our analyses of results from comparisons between other populations of coaches. For instance, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between personal coaches and organizational coaches in their responses to difficult coaching situations. They seem to handle these difficulties in a similar manner. Our analysis of ICG certified and non-ICF certified coaches similarly yielded very few differences (only a difference regarding the greater tendency for ICF certified coaches to terminate the coaching engagement).
I indicated in the essay regarding personal and organizational coaches that we “have to look elsewhere for potential differences in the way difficult situations are handled.” I wondered at the time if “perhaps there are deeply-ingrained tendencies for all coaches (or maybe most people in contemporary societies) to face difficulties in a similar manner.” Results from the present analysis of differences between USA and non-USA coaches suggest that people (or at least coaches) might not all face difficulties in a similar manner. Future studies are warranted that address this potential difference in a more detailed manner (including a potential examination of differences among the non-USA societies that I grouped together in this initial study).
