The selection of Tim Walz as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate in the 2024 American presidential elections has put the spotlight on Coaches. Alright! If you want me to be pedantic, Tim Walz was a defensive coordinator, he coached running backs at Mankato West High School. He also coached the basketball team, and track and field sportspersons.
School and university coaches in America are deified to the extent that there are many Hollywood movies about them. Denzil Washington’s ‘Remember the Titans’ comes to mind immediately.
What is it about school and university coaching that creates these icons? It is not their on-field strategies that make coaches who they are. Much has to do with their off-field ministrations that give coaches their iconic status. In their attempts to create a winning team, coaches often become part of a player’s off-field life. They encourage players to study to ensure they are not taken off the team because of low grades. They act as counsellors helping players navigate social and familial minefields. All-in-all what these school and university coaches teach their players stand them in good stead through life.
The influences shaping humankind have evolved. In the early days, it was the ‘might is right’ stratagem that was accepted and followed. Over time philosophies and religious diktats guided individuals and societies. Ideas from philosophies and religions created morals and ethics which either became statutory codes of conduct or were naturally accepted.
Though these have been sufficient for most individuals to live their life, it was believed that potentially there are individuals who needed extra guidance. Like sports coaches, these experts, could provide tools so that their clients would come out as winners, how-so-ever winning was defined. Probably, the term Coach and the concept of Coaching has been taken off sports field.
An online search of ‘what is life coaching?’ comes up with coaching websites that use various terms to indicate what Life Coaches do for their clients. The terms include ‘purpose’, ‘clarity’, ‘skill sets’, ‘personal’, ‘relationship’, ‘day-to-day lives’, ‘achieve’, ‘goals’, ‘progress in lives’, ‘greater fulfilment’, ‘navigate difficult periods’ and so on. What immediately comes to mind is that Coaching is future and success oriented. The Coach works with the client to find ways within the clients grasp to achieve what the client desires.
There are a number of training programmes for Coaching. The go-to courses are offered by International Coaching Federation (ICF) and National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching (NBHWC). There are 3 levels of ICF certification each requiring greater levels of learning, client coaching experience, and mentoring with a master coach. The basic, Associated Certified Coach requires, 60 hours of the former and 100 hours of the later. As one advances, these hours increase. Psychotherapists undergo years of study, and are trained to delve into a clients psyche to flesh out issues and help the client resolve them.
Coaching has become a buzzword with professionals and the corporate world. Everybody from a CEO to someone down-the-ladder not performing well can be coached for success. The C-suites are coached to understand their strengths, weaknesses, improve Emotional Intelligence, the impact they have on staff, and gain skills to become impactful leaders. Per the ICF the coaching engagement with a CEO is around 9 months.
Managers are coached to enable them to manage people and teams better, improve team performance and cohesion.
A 2011 article in the Journal of Clinical Psychology titled ‘Utilization of Personal Therapy by Psychotherapists: A Practice-Friendly Review and a New Study’ stated ‘Findings showed that 87% of the overall sample embarked on personal therapy at least once: 94% of analytic/ psychodynamic therapists, 91% of humanistic therapists, 73% of cognitive-behavioral therapists, 82% of the novice therapists to 89% of senior therapists.’ There are two reasons why these professionals themselves undergo therapy ‘to enhance their professional development and relational capacities, and to increase the personal development, capacities, and well-being of the therapist’. In other words, for professional growth and for personal well-being.
For the touted impact Coaches have on the lives of those being coached, Coaches at the end of the day are humans. In all probability, they have the same fears, blockages, aspirations like the people who come to them.
Coaches have the option of obtaining various advanced certifications to enhance their professional capabilities, and therefore careers. But do they go to other Coaches when they are unsure of their ‘purpose’, or desire ‘clarity’, or want to ‘progress in their life’? How do they cope with the range of emotions that they go through in a day as they interact with different clients, these are over and above the emotions in their personal lives.
They have their share of dilemmas and challenges. Just like everybody else they go through ups and downs in their professional and personal life. How do they handle these? Are the religious, social and familial morals and tenets sufficient tools to guide them through the ups and downs of life?
Does the process of life coaching - which helps a person traverse from where they are to where they want to be - help a Life Coach too?
That coaching has become an important feature in corporate and individual life is undeniable. Per ICF, today coaching is an $4.56 billion industry. Between 2019 and 2022 the number of Life Coaches grew by 54%.
A key facet of Coaching is that the client needs to be authentic as does the Coach. For the Coach and client authenticity is important to build and communicate trust and respect. A look-see on YouTube and LinkedIn throws up videos of many Life Coaches and Self-Help gurus, the similarities between the two are hard to ignore. They give the aura, and speak the vocabulary, of being successful and in control. It will be indeed unfortunate if Life Coaches use a mask professionally while they suggest something else to their clients. Probably this is an unfortunate and unseen by-product of a profession touted to provide individuals with tools that deliver a successful future.
(Samir Nazareth is an
author and writes on
socio-economic and
environmental issues)