Professional coaching is revolutionizing: opportunities or risks?

Over the past ten years, the professional coaching market has been booming. From around 4000 in 2012 (according to PWC), the number of professional coaches has more than tripled to reach 15,000 in 2022 (OPIIEC study). The reasons for this increase are clearly identified. On the one hand, the demand from companies in terms of talent support, in a post-Covid context, is constantly growing. On the other hand, new coaching methods, and in particular digital platforms, are accelerating the dissemination of coaching at all levels of organizations.

Good news for this market you could say! Especially since other players and tools such as Artificial Intelligence are coming onto the market as promises of ever more exponential growth...

However, in the midst of this global digital and technological revolution, isn't it time to take a step back? Let's take advantage of this article to put into perspective the current changes in the professional coaching sector and their promises for the future with the reality of this profession, which involves: training, requirement, listening to the customer and measuring results.

OPIIEC 2022 study on the professional coaching and supervision market: edifying results

A very large number of certified coaches, only half of whom actually work in this profession

According to the study, today, the French market has more than 33,000 certified professional coaches, of which less than half (15,000) are active in coaching. For 50% of them, it is not their main activity.

Professional coaches who are mostly inexperienced

The OPIIEC study also tells us that of all professional coaches working in France, 50% have less than 5 years of experience and 70% have less than 10 years of experience. Moreover, only 25% of them practice more than 200 hours per year. This means that 75% of French professional coaches practice less than 4 hours of coaching sessions per week...

A high proportion of professional coaches in France are not supervised

One of the surprising points made public by this study is the high proportion of unsupervised coaches. According to the OPIIEC, 40% of coaches are not supervised. As a reminder, supervision consists of the support of a coach by a supervisor (himself a coach) to reflect together on what the coach brings back from his interactions with his clients. The objective is to make the coach progress in his practice and therefore his clients.

We are aware that achieving a high level of experience and performance requires time and a lot of practice. Through this article, we want to make potential customers aware of the great diversity of coach profiles that exist on the market and the need to surround themselves with qualified professionals to accelerate the development of their Talents, managers and leaders. At Talentis, we are extremely rigorous in the selection of coaches to guarantee the best possible support to our customers:

• A recognized certification
• Minimum 1000 hours of coaching
• At least 10 years of experience as a manager and/or manager in large groups
• Regular supervision...

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What are the major trends in professional coaching in 2023?

Professional coaching continues and accelerates its disruption:

• Digital coaching platforms allow large-scale deployment to offer professional coaching to a maximum of employees anywhere anytime on an international scope.
• An ever more detailed analysis of the data collected during coaching sessions for more and more accurate monitoring of results and coaching campaigns.
• Enhanced professional coaching - combined with numerous contents, educational sheets, tests, exercises
• Accelerated use of technological tools: Artificial Intelligence - Virtual Reality, Big Data, Machine Learning, etc...

More and more demanding clients in a coaching world that is changing

Companies want to offer professional coaching to their Talents and not online training.

There are countless coaching platforms that are launched on the market every year. With a wide choice of coaches, a multitude of functionalities and for some, the promise of revolutionary AI and data analysis, it becomes difficult for an uninformed client to choose a platform adapted to their needs and really offering professional coaching.

The fact is that today, because of its recognized effectiveness, professional coaching is almost unanimously acclaimed by large groups. Consequently, a large number of DRH clients have developed a high demand for the coaching offers offered on the market.

At Talentis, we see that our HR customers make the difference between real professional coaching offers and online training offers.

Indeed, through the use of coaching, they expect from their Talents, and from the selected coaches, real in-depth work and not the establishment of an infantilizing system that simply “pushes” standardized content for “magical” progress.

The digitalization of coaching enabled by platforms brings many advantages such as greater speed in the launch of coaching programs or even flexibility for the coachee in choosing his coach and the date of his sessions. The analysis of the data collected also allows companies to measure the effectiveness of coaching programs over the long term.

However, digitalization must remain at the service of coaching and not be used as a window dressing to compensate for a possible lack of experience on the part of the coaching team concerned, for example.

Coachees looking for authentic dialogues with their coach

Olivia Lalou, Executive Coach at Talentis:”The Talents we support share with us the fact that they expect from their coach a real time of dialogue, nourished by authentic feedback intended to help them progress.“.

The quality of the human relationship and the expertise of professional coaches is therefore a requirement that is very widely shared among coaching end customers. At least as far as those we support at Talentis are concerned.

” The risk in a 5-star evaluation society, continues Olivia Lalou, is to fall into a form of seduction where the coach will seek at all costs to obtain the maximum score. In my coaching practice, I make sure to maintain a co-responsible relationship where the professional development of my client remains my sole objective. ”

Between Artificial Intelligence (ChatGPT, Bots...), Data and Virtual Reality, what is left of coaching considered “traditional”? Should we be worried about these changes or do they open up perspectives for greater effectiveness of professional coaching?

We are seeing strong growth in the provision of combined Data/AI services to HR directors to monitor the evolution of coaching within their organization.

What exactly does that consist of? These are ever more sophisticated reports that will provide HR directors with detailed information on:

• The psychological health status of employees
• The nature of the coaching themes worked on
• Recommendations for coaching or training offers to promote within the company

Belinda MJ Brown, Executive Coach at Talentis:”There is a noble side of AI that allows coaches in particular to obtain quality information on the populations supported.“

However, the advantages of this technology should not make us forget some limitations.

For example, there could be a great temptation, in order to democratize coaching to the extreme, to offer certain populations coaching in the form of AI and for others, considered more strategic, classical professional coaching. For some, a real human being, for others, a machine...

The other risk we perceive is the violation of the confidentiality of the sessions. To enrich their AI, some solutions could use the recording of coaching sessions. This poses a serious ethical problem because professional coaching must imperatively guarantee total confidentiality of exchanges between the coach and his client. At Talentis we say yes to digitalization for a smoother coaching experience but no to the collection of data for questionable purposes of use.

The current challenges facing the coaching market are identical to those faced by a multitude of other sectors: what to think of the digitalization of tools and services as much as possible? While the advantages are numerous, they should not overshadow the human question, which remains essential. Even more so when it comes to professional coaching, where the human relationship is a fundamental aspect for a guarantee of quality. In an increasingly digitized world, technology must remain at the service of humans and not the other way around. That is why at Talentis we attach great importance to the professionalism and experience of professional coaches who join our community.

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