The ICF recently blogged on the results of an Executive Coaching for Results study of nearly 1,000 internal coaches (who are employed by an organization), external coaches (who work within organizations as independent contractors), and organization practice managers (a.k.a. coaching practice managers). External coaches were by far the most represented in this study. This research was performed by CoachSource, LLC.
Results show growth in many areas of executive coaching, as predicted by with a recent Standford study that shows that virtually all executives want more coaching.
What is executive coaching?
- Executive coaching is a form of leadership coaching.
- Executive coaching is similar to life coaching, but for executives.
- Unlike life coaching, executive coaching often focuses on:
- handling conflict better.
- mentoring and developing talent.
- learning to share leadership and delegate.
- improve team-building skills.
The report points to likely trends for 2020-2022, at least according to the groups surveyed.
Here are the top trends expected to increase for executive coaching:
- Leadership development that includes additional coaching
- Leader-as-coach training
- Coaching for millennial leaders
- Increases in external executive coaching, but with fewer vendors
- More internal coaching
- More team and group coaching
- Increased preference for certified coaches vs. non-certified coaches
- More online coaching management systems
Scoring lower are the following: more coaching supervision (coach-the-coach), app-based coaching, commodification of coaching, coaching via artificial intelligence.
The future looks strong for executive coaches, especially those who who specialize in the top-trend areas and who are certified.
The fundamental skills of coaching are the same whether they are applied to life, business, or executive coaching. Start learning the skills and get your first certification, here:
NOTE: A previous version of this post identified the ICF as the original source of the research referenced above but the ICF's blog post on the topic was copyrighted by CoachSource, LLC, and they requested we credit them for it.
