What is professional coaching?
20.09.2023
ALTHOUGH DEMOCRATIZED, PROFESSIONAL COACHING IS – STILL TODAY – THE VICTIM OF MANY PRECONCEIVED IDEAS. WHAT IT DEFINITELY IS NOT: TRAINING, CONSULTING, THERAPY. WHAT IT IS ABOVE ALL: A SUPPORT METHOD THAT ALLOWS AN EMPLOYEE OR A TEAM TO DEVELOP AND REACH OBJECTIVES IN ALIGNMENT WITH THOSE OF THE COMPANY. EXPLANATIONS.
To transform, boost innovation, but also retain their talents, and ultimately be more effective, companies develop support systems for their executives, their managers, and more broadly their teams. Support during a crisis, gaining perspective at a pivotal moment, posture development, improving communication, support during onboarding, consolidating leadership – situations requiring the use of a professional coach are varied and numerous. Thus, the coaching market is in full development, with an annual growth of about 10%. According to a study by OPIIEC, there are today 33,000 trained professional coaches. In such a context, it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
THE THREEFOLD CHARACTERISTIC OF PROFESSIONAL COACHING
First of all, some general information. Corporate coaching typically spans one year, with 8 to 10 sessions every 3 to 4 weeks (sometimes closer together when the context is particular: a change of position, an organizational crisis…). Indeed, to bring out new virtuous behaviors in the people being supported, the process must take place over time. Regarding the nature of exchanges between a professional coach and their coachee, it is important to specify (again and again) that these must remain confidential. In other words: the coach, who has an obligation of means towards their client company, is bound to silence regarding information exchanged during coaching sessions.
As for the coaching process, improvisation has no place! It must be structured and begin, notably, with a framing meeting – tri- or quadripartite – between the coach, the coachee, and their N+1 or HR director. This aims not only to establish a shared vision of the coachee’s situation but also to determine objectives and the criteria for evaluating their achievement. Coaching must finally conclude with a closing meeting whose objective is to draw up an assessment, with the same stakeholders.
CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING A PROFESSIONAL COACH
With the democratization of coaching over the past fifteen years, the arrival of digital platforms offering “volumetric coaching” and practices evidently very disparate, linked to the absence of regulation and simply to the fact that no diploma is required to practice, abuses are legion. When choosing a professional coach, there are several criteria on which it is essential to be particularly vigilant. Among them: the quality of training (62% are RNCP certified), seniority in the profession, number of supervision hours, number of hours practiced annually, quality of the operational career path in the first part of the career in high-stakes contexts, for example as a senior executive or manager, respect of a code of ethics…
For let us not forget, here is at stake the evolution, the progression of executives and managers… of men and women who must be supported in the highest quality manner. Practice, posture, ethics of the professional coach must therefore be impeccable!