The future of Coaching: 5 trends to keep in mind

Just a decade ago, coaching began to emerge exceedingly ceasing to be a concept heard practically only in the field of large companies to be used in many more areas and situations.

This takeoff of coaching was baptized by many as "a passing fad"; a clearly erroneous expression seeing how coaching is still being talked about today and how its upward evolution has been in recent years.

• Related article: "What is Coaching and what is it for?"

Trends that indicate the future of Coaching

With the certainty that coaching has already reached cruising speed and that it is clear that it has come to stay, it is time to stop and reflect on what its reality will be in this next decade. Taking a look at studies on the current situation of coaching at a global level, such as the one published annually by ICF since 2007, we can begin to glimpse some trends in the coaching market, five of which we highlight below.

1. Exponential increase in interest in coaching

As we said at the beginning of the article, at the beginning of the second decade of this century the interest in coaching began to grow exponentially and has maintained to date: from 2015 to 2019, the number of people who were trained in coaching grew by 33%, according to data from the ICF Global Study on Coaching 2020.

Predictably, this interest will continue to grow in the coming years, and this is due to 2 main reasons.

Coaching has more and more scientific support and, therefore, more credibility. Universities as prestigious as Harvard, with its creation of the Institute of Coaching, provide quantifiable and measurable data on the achievements that are achieved with coaching processes, thus increasing confidence in a discipline that was not even considered as such by Many.

Coaching is no longer only applied in companies. Executive coaching, while still the most common, is no longer exclusive. Life coaching has emerged with force and is showing that coaching processes can be applied in a multitude of spheres to help people in different life circumstances. Coaching will increasingly be seen as a tool that anyone can use in the event of blockages of various kinds.

2. Rise of specialization

The trend that we are going to talk about now is closely related to the previous one. Because the usefulness of coaching in many areas will become increasingly clear, specialization will grow in parallel.

People who are trained in coaching will also specialize in very specific niches in order to offer higher quality services. The more knowledge you have about a certain area, the better connection and understanding you can have with the coachee.

Thus, for example, in the field of life coaching that covers such a wide field, we can find more specific coaching focused on achieving good eating habits, changing jobs, accompanying certain diseases, and a long etc.

• You may be interested in: "The figure of the coach as an agent of change in the 21st century"

3. Women will gain ground

In its beginnings, being so linked to the elites of the business world and these, in turn, be a field practically exclusively for men, coaching was almost only exercised by gender male.

Although the evolution is slow, the trend is upward in terms of the number of women who are professionalizing in coaching and that it is exercising as such. In our school, in fact, it is something that we have been observing for years since currently 80% of our total students are already female.

4. Technology as an ally

The development of technology is unstoppable and coaching will use it to enhance. Just 5 years ago, even though there was already the possibility of videoconferencing meetings with platforms such as Zoom or WhatsApp, almost 100% were committed to face-to-face coaching sessions.

However, the Coronavirus pandemic has forced the coaching processes to be online and it has been proven that the reluctance regarding them was not true. Despite the screen, the connection between the coachee and the coach is maintained and delivery is increased and relaxation of the client by being able to perform the sessions from the comfort of the place chosen by him same.

But not only will the online coaching processes grow. Also, training courses for coaches will increasingly use streaming, which will, in turn, an opening to the international market of coaching schools, since anyone from anywhere in the world can study coaching in the center of their choice.

Similarly, the connection offered by the Internet will increase the number of webinars, congresses and masterclasses on coaching to further disseminate the precepts and methodologies of the discipline.

Y We cannot talk about technology and not think about the influence that social networks will also have in the evolution of coaching in general, and in the development of the career of coaches in particular. They will find in them the perfect way not only to offer their services or interact with potential leads, but especially to differentiate themselves from other coaches.

5. Greater need for professionalization

Finally, one of the trends in coaching in the coming years will be that more and more professionalization will be required from the people who dedicate themselves to it. Namely, When hiring the services of a coach, it will be a decisive factor that they have specific certifications.

This trend is already beginning to be noticed and, according to data from the ICF study, in 2019 85% of the coaches who worked as such already had a professional certification; and 74% of the percentage of former coaches held that certification issued by a professional coaching organization.

In conclusion, far from being dead coaching is more alive than ever and the trends we have described here show that it will remain so for a long time to come.

Remember that the need to have a specific certification to be hired as a coach will grow. If it is the profession you want to dedicate yourself to, remember that at D'Arte Human & Business School we train and help you to become a highly qualified coach. You can see all the information about our educational offer at D'Arte's profile.