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June 2001
International Coaching Reports
(Continued)
Irene
Antipa,
reporting
from France |
France
Le Coaching ?
An American thing...mais...ca marche
story by Irene
Antipa
The French use coaches to accompany them through the major transitions required of them by the prevalent uncertainty of the current work environment, helping
them better adapt to the continuous changes taking place.
The changes are many but those with a major impact on our life here are globalization, with its increased
competitiveness and technology, which have totally changed the way we
work. Putting a premium on speed and restructuring, which is
now reaching its peak in Europe. In the country of "Liberté,
Egalité, Fraternité", it is a strong belief that those who can make it should also provide for those less skilled. The government is playing a difficult game of leading changes expected by the market economy while making sure that no one gets left behind. This translates into business being in continuous restructuring while the government is making efforts at job creation which do not necessarily go in the direction the market; the result is added strain on the employees.
Being a " cadre " (manager) is no longer the stable work life where playing by the
rules--top university, followed by work in a reputable company--insured good rewards. Today, one's job can be in jeopardy or completely changed overnight. To the cadres used to a stable career path this itself is
destabilizing. The growing competition for opportunities is another factor. An absolute necessity in today's changing world is risk taking to which the French are traditionally quite averse.
Coaches describe their role as primarily to teach people to say no to their bosses once in a while, to be less fearful of life's challenges and to encourage them to gradually take on more risks. Coaching is primarily used in the corporate setting to improve individual performance, or coaching teams to work better together to achieve their objectives. Another area is "person-centered" coaching - working with individuals to help them with their own transitions in their professional or personal life.
Coaching started timidly about 8 years ago. It was viewed as an import from the Anglo-Saxon world
and has grown faster in the last three years in response to the need felt in the workplace. The first users were top executives and it has cascaded down to managers who are now the main group looking for new ways to manage their environment.
The life coach, to whom Americans now turn frequently, has not yet spread here, although there are more and more requests from private individuals realizing that they can get results faster when working with a professional. The French prefer face to face coaching as the rapport you have with the person is best built when face to face. They prefer it to coaching by phone or e-coaching which
is not so popular with the French.
It is only in the last two years that media has started a wider coverage of the field, in part, as an effort made by the coaching community to define and professionalize what they do, and in part in response to the growing demand. Now there are about 300 coaches in France, recognized formally, not to mention those that use coaching in their work but do not see themselves primarily as coaches.
As I specialize in cross-cultural contexts my work is with clients in periods of transition where, many times, their success is being judged by criteria of a culture different from theirs. Americans are telling me that in the US they enjoyed the freedom to try things out, and in the process they gained a lot. They feel restricted in France by the rules implied in the culture "you are expected to do things in a certain way" and this has an effect on their readiness to take risks. The French are telling me how much they like the fact that Americans are always ready to try new things with less fear of consequences and that is what they would like to develop. Ideally, starting from different premises they meet on the same starting line, finding the courage to pursue their goals and make their choices real.
.copyright 2001, coachville.com
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Sören Holm,
reporting
from Sweden |
Sweden
Coaching in
Sweden.
story by Sören
Holm
Coaching as a profession and a well known, accepted alternative for personal
and professional growth is rapidly reaching critical mass in Sweden. As in
many other places, coaching and coaching-like activities have been around
for many years, but in the last 4-5 years it has really congealed into a
presence in the marketplace and minds of Swedes. Initiatives have come
partly from the popularity of several international books on coaching, such
as by John Whitmore, Laura Berman Fortgang and Laura Whitworth/Henry
Kimsey-House/Phil Sandahl. The first crop of Coach University students have
also played a visible role, promoting coaching in the media and to business
and organizations.
Today coaching is "in" in Sweden. With a boom in the economy along with
greater demands in the workplace and greater expectations of having a
fulfilling personal life we are seeing much interest in coaching in the
marketplace. Both for coaching as a leadership style to be applied by
managers in the workplace for increased performance. And for coaching as a
support system for personal and professional growth. Coaching is often seen
as an attractive alternative to more traditional means of support, such as
therapy, psychology, consulting and mentoring. Coaching has become a
"buzzword" to describe something interesting, almost a trend. Lots of former
consultants are calling themselves coaches, magazines have recurring
articles about coaching and more and more people are considering finding a
personal coach for themselves. We are also seeing an growing interest from
various coaching schools in offering training in Sweden. All of this makes
it an exciting time to be at the forefront of coaching here.
Coaching in Sweden tends to be more face-to-face and less phone-based,
though many Swedes are happy to meet with their coach by phone. Perhaps many
Swedes prefer face- to-face interaction because coaching is a new service and
they are unsure about about it, perhaps Swedes are simply less
"phone-savy" than in the US. Coaches are being used in all the ways coaching is used all
over the world. For purely personal development (relationships, happiness,
life-design, etc) and for purely business use (career development,
leadership skills, personal efficiency, etc), but mostly for a mixture of
the two. Some people here pay for coaching out of their own pocket, but the
majority of coaching is paid for by the employer.
It is always hard to tell how many coaches there are. In the Stockholm area
is an active network of 19 coaches, but there are probably 10 times that
many in the region. In the rest of Sweden about 10 coaches are organized in
the Nordic Coach Federation (www.nordiccoaches.org), but again, many
more have yet to make contact. The Nordic Coach Federation was established
about a year and a half ago to support the coaches in the five Nordic
countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland) and is still very
much in it's infancy.
I have had a wonderful mix of clients since I began coaching in 1998. Some
are managers of mid-size companies, some are project leaders, some work in
the non-profit sector. All are leaders in some respect and all want to grow
and extend themselves.
copyright 2001, coachville.com
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