As web videoconferencing is becoming an increasingly common method for delivering personal and group career guidance and information the CDI has published a position paper.
This paper considers how Practitioners should review their practice to ensure safe and ethical approaches are adopted.
In this 4 minute read, Simon Coops, Managing Director of Acuity Coaching explores what can we learn from the different approaches to coaching taken around the world.
Having a helicopter view of the global coaching market gives us a vantage point into coaching trends in different parts of the world. Differences in coaching delivery in different countries is in the way that programmes are put together, the preferred length of sessions and whether delivery is face-to-face or virtual.
There is definite consistency on one point, however, and that is that nowadays global organisations can access high calibre local coaching regardless of the location. From Anchorage to Wellington and every major business centre in between, effective coaches can be found, which is good news for large organisations striving to deliver solutions globally.
Regarding preferred modes of delivery, Acuity Coaching’s research shows a 100% preference amongst coachees for face-to-face over telephone coaching sessions, where they are given a genuine choice. Cost pressures on budgets mean that this isn’t always an option made available to them, however for senior executives, the benefits of in person coaching and our ability to provide local coaches in any part of the world means that demand for in person interaction remains strong.
In the US, where executive coaching has been prolific for many years, coaches spend a large proportion of their time telephone coaching. The 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study showed that only 44% of programme delivery is made in person in North America, compared to all other regions, where face-to-face contact is mainly used by over 80% of coaches.
Only 44% of programme delivery is made in person in North America.
One reason for this is that clients’ coach networks are often incomplete and they offer the work to coaches they know rather than try to find local coaches. There is a significant proportion of coaching happening in China delivered by phone or Skype from North America for this reason.
This is a shame as local coaches can offer more help with the cultural issues behind the need for coaching. In London and other highly developed coaching markets more coaching is delivered in-person, partly because of the ease of travel, with many other countries favouring a combination of the two delivery methods.
Due to the adaptability of coaching to meet individual requirements, general expectations vary from country to country.
In Scandinavia for instance, coaches prefer longer sessions, whereas in North and South America, shorter sessions are favoured. In North America in particular coaches prefer to offer programmes that are defined by the number of hours.
Unfortunately, if you use the wrong supplier they can over-estimate the hours required to achieve the desired results which can lead to excessive costs.
On the issue of global charges, the cost of coaching is relatively consistent around the world and doesn’t vary according to the cost of living in each country as much as might be expected. An interesting comparison would be to draw a parallel with luxury goods, where prices are aligned closely on a global basis. Good coaches are often working with multinationals and are therefore used to receiving rates paid in countries such as the USA or the UK.
It is arguable that coaches themselves are often driving the cultural differences, not the coachees, potentially for commercial reasons.
Obviously, a person with a commercial view will favour one two hour session over two hour long sessions, not least because of the time they need to allocate in their diary over two sessions and the fact that they may have to build in travelling time. These intensive shorter sessions are considered to work best for those in a fast-moving, time pressured environment.
Standards and credibility within the industry are progressive. Some countries have taken steps to improve standards of coaching available locally. Singapore for example has endeavoured to make sure that they have a high calibre coaching market by intervening over a decade ago and encouraging coaches to be trained for local markets.
I’ve seen a lot of changes in the market since 2007 and the stages of development of coaching in emerging countries has been fascinating to observe.
In countries such as India it used to be hard to find coaches. In the early days, training providers would wade in focusing on revenue and output, without being selective. This made the quality of locally trained coaches variable, as the industry was singularly driven by people looking to make money from selling coaching skills training.
It takes about five to ten years for a coaching market to be well developed and now you can find excellent coaches working across India and indeed our network now provides coaching resources in seven locations across the country.
Alignment between the coach’s expertise and the objectives to be achieved is vital.
As ever, being selective is the key to successful coaching interventions, where steps have been taken to carefully match coachee requirements with the skillset and experience of a coach in their vicinity. Alignment between the coach’s expertise and the objectives to be achieved is vital.
There is no one size fits all solution to coaching in different parts of the world because at every level it is important to work with the individual and not adhere to a uniform template of what is expected as typical coaching delivery in each particular region.
Looking ahead to future trends, coaching is increasingly being driven to more junior levels, so different types of ‘virtual’ delivery using cost-effective technology will be utilised. Coaching clinics are also growing in popularity, where a coach spends a day on site and coaches multiple people.
Demand for coaching in person at a senior level, however, will remain strong, therefore the ability to access a pool of high quality local coaches ‘on the ground’ will always be a requirement for large global organisations, not least because the strength of coaching lies in the personalisation of solutions for each individual.
A message and call to action from the Jan Ellis, CEO of the CDI.
In the last 12 months, there has been considerable talk about skills shortages in the career development sector.
This has ranged from conversations about the lack of qualified careers advisers looking to work in adult guidance and on NCS contracts in England, to a shortage of qualified and registered careers advisers to work in schools and colleges.
We also know from conversations with colleagues in SDS (Scotland) and Careers Wales, attracting careers advisers to train and stay in the sector is an 
increasing priority.
In England, where the current emphasis is on achieving the Gatsby benchmarks in schools and colleges, the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is looking to invest £2.5M in ‘personal careers guidance’ projects. While this is excellent news for the sector, the CDI would like to see a significant percentage of this investment directed towards the initial training of careers advisers in the form of bursaries, as one way to address the current skills shortage.
We know that our lobbying of DfE, the CEC and government bodies in Wales and Scotland will be much more effective if we are able to provide hard evidence of skills shortages. With this aim in mind we have created a short Survey Monkey; Read more
The CDI has announced the launch of the revised and updated Framework for careers, employability and enterprise education (March 2018).
The framework can be downloaded from their website.
This new web page also provides PDF and Word versions of all the supporting documents mentioned in the framework.
The Career Development Institute welcomes the recently published statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff, which we believe represents a major step forward from previous versions; setting out clear expectations for good careers education and guidance.
However, in welcoming the guidance, we suggest four further measures which we believe are needed to facilitate the implementation of the expectations into practice. Further information is contained in the following press release
CDI Press release Statutory Guidance 2018
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The CDI YouTube channel is the place where all their webinars are stored.
So if you have missed a webinar or want to go back over a point you missed or just browse the playlist, then click on the following link https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBUXK40Rz1BpQ-7pH-KjUuoIs2OxeCjh5
The Career Development Institute welcomes the Government’s new careers strategy but is disappointed about the lack of support for impartial careers guidance. The strategy includes several measures to improve the careers support for young people in schools and colleges, but it falls short of the ambitions set out by the former Minister responsible for careers, Robert Halfon, to bring greater coherence across the age range and to provide lifelong careers support.
The CDI welcomes the expectations that all schools and colleges should:
During the past two years the CDI have made a number of recommendations to the DfE and are pleased that some of these have been picked up in the strategy. The Careers & Enterprise Company is to be given a broader remit, to provide support to schools across all eight benchmarks, not just the two that focus on engaging with employers. £5M is to be invested in 20 ‘careers hubs’ to extend the good practice developed through the Gatsby pilot in the North East LEP to other areas of the country, £4M is to be made available to fund training for careers leaders in schools and colleges and a further £2M will be spent on projects to test best practice in primary schools and in work with young people with special educational needs and disabilities. And, not before time, a new National Careers Service website will be developed next year. Read more
The CDI Annual Conference 2017 attracted a range of highly knowledgeable keynote speakers to bring delegates an innovative and informative programme.
The presentations for each are available to download on the CDI Website
The Career Development Institute welcomes the Government’s new careers strategy but is disappointed about the lack of support for impartial careers guidance
Two years ago the then Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, acknowledged that the school-based approach to careers guidance was not working effectively for all young people and announced that the Government would be publishing a strategy for improving careers guidance in schools. In January of this year the Government re-stated its intention to publish a comprehensive careers strategy later in the year. The Minister now responsible for careers, Anne Milton, launched the long awaited strategy today at the CDI’s annual conference in Solihull.
The CDI is pleased to see that the strategy picks up several of the points that we have been recommending. It sets out a ‘platform for change’ that should lead to significant improvements in careers education and guidance in schools. The strategy endorses fully the eight benchmarks of good practice developed by the Gatsby Foundation and provides funding to extend the current successful pilot in the North East to twenty more areas of the country. This should help us move towards the CDI’s goal of funded support across the whole of England.
The CDI Board is seeking to enhance and strengthen its expertise by formally appointing up to TWO individuals as Directors.
Candidates with some or all of the following areas of expertise – financial acumen and experience; adult guidance; career coaching and consultancy/private sector knowledge, will be particularly welcomed.
Applicants can access further information on the role of a CDI Director and an application form by clicking on the following links:
The closing date for receipt of application forms: 16.00 on Friday 10th November 2017
To Find Out More Visit: www.thecdi.net
