af ICF President Pernille W. Lauritsen
How would you introduce yourself?
I’m an executive coach that has been working with senior leaders and organisations, training and supervisors coaches for twenty years. I have worked in clinical psychology and am a psychologist.
What do you think about the conflict there sometimes is between coaches and psykologists?
The honest truth is that in some ways they are losing territory. People are looking to coaches, because a lot of the people, who used to go to psychologists, only had problems with living. Coaching meets the peoples need for wanting to move forward with their lives.
If there had been no need I don’t think it would have grown so much.
There is still a friction between psychology and coaching, but a lot of therapists are adding coaching skills to their practise. For those who embrace it, it gives them a much broader range of clients, and some clients should be working with psychologists.
Do you think 6 months is enough training to become a coach?
I think that is a question or argument that comes up regularly. Trained enough to do what? If the people you are coaching don’t have a psychological problem, how much training do you need?
The basic coaching model is such, that if you stay within the basic coaching model, you cannot do much harm. Not as long as you are trained in the coach-specific requirements defined by the ICF.
The whole questions comes from the assumptions that emotions can only be handled by the world of psychologists (and actors) but the truths is that people have for a millennium been sitting down with their friends (and been healed) by positive human relationship.
If you really examine the question, I think it is Red Herring.
Of course some clients should be referred. But If coaches and psychologists can stop seeing each other as competitors, then a real positive dialogue could take place, so that coaches could refer and psychologists could recognize that you don’t need a PhD in psychology to know when to refer someone from coaching to a psychologist.
Why did you get interested in ICF to begin with?
I was one of the founding members. When we first did that, there wasn’t a former profession as coaches. Some had done coaching, but hadn’t gathered together. So there was an excitement. The early nineties. Laura Whitworth called for the first meeting (She passed away a year ago)
Then ICF formed to start a professional organization, and start to set up ethics and practises. Laura had been a CPA, Certified Public Accountant. She was familiar with professional associations that could represent coaching. And to have it be international. Some of the same discussions between coaches and psychologists started to emerge. We need to have our own ethics and practice, so we can regulate ourselves as an industry.
At that time the drive to regulate coaching, was coming from the psychologists. They were looking at having it to be licensed. They wanted coaches to have x number of years in school. There was a lot of bureaucracy. It could have closed down coaching down to anyone else but psychology, but fortunately it didn’t.
Why is it a good idea to have the ICF in Denmark?
Probably for the same reasons as in
What difference does it make to be a member?
I think as a new coach, because it creates a network of coaches you can exchange ideas with. We have community sites, so that you can create community rooms for all chapters. It is important to know other coaches, because not all clients are appropriate to all coaches. Coaches are really supportive with each other, and there is a high level of integrity.
The educational opportunity, in the Montreal Conference, we have worked hard to create an international Conference. Close to 100 speakers. As we grow internationally – in a few years, more and more people will be international.
What is the advantage for a Danish coach to be ICF member?
You will meet a lot of people, and networking. People are very generous with sharing knowledge and wisdom with other coaches. Lots of open forums with learning from each other. Also getting to know more about how to be certified and core competences. Wisdom circles about marketing. How to start your practise, PR, internet presence etc.
There are breakout sessions about how we incorporate mind, body and spirit. Coaching and organization. What is science teaching us about coaching, and where are coaches really making a difference in the world.
How would you describe coaching?
Coaching for me is all about shifting people’s perspectives. Creating possibilities that weren’t there before. That’s what we help clients with and that is what the conference does for coaches too. It has us think differently.
Inspires coaches to claim a bigger seat at the table.
Coaching is maturing. Now we have a much bigger and clearer identity, than in the beginning, and that allows us to speak with a stronger voice.
How is the development of the coaching market in the US?
It is still expanding. More people are opening up to using coaching. It has not reached a saturation point yet.
Is it a good idea for a country to regulate coaching in order to protect clients or coaches?
I would much rather see a professional organisation like ICF, that is self-regulating, regulating coaching. If it is doing what it is meant to, it will maintain a state of excellence in the field.
Another really important aspect is to having a strong national ICF organization, that helps you have a presence in the marketplace and educate consumers. It is not just about getting a credential. It is a lot more than that. It’s also about maintaining a high level of ethics and standards.