HRM Coaching Blog

An article in the current issue of Coaching at Work magazine reports that a year on from the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, ageism appears to be alive and well within coaching.

As a coach in her thirties, with a team of coaches from a variety of backgrounds and ages (30s - 60s), ageism in coaching could be a cause for concern for me and for my team. The survey quoted in the article states that 65% felt that there were certain types of coaching to which older, more experienced coaches were more suited. For example 52% said that older coaches were better suited to Executive Coaching and 35% of organisations buying in executive coaches prefer them to be aged 45 and over.

What worries me is that selecting coaches purely based on the number of years on the clock may be misleading (not to mention potentially illegal).

I have personally coached plenty of people older than me. In fact I’m currently coaching a couple of clients who are almost double my age and we’re achieving some great results. None of which have anything to do with either of our ages. It’s about experience. I have much more experience than them in the field that we’re coaching in. That’s not me being big-headed or naive, it’s just a fact.

Of course I can understand things from the organisation’s perspective. If they are selecting a coach for someone, they need to make sure that they are credible and taken seriously by the coachee. Most people prefer to be coached by someone who they perceive as being their equal or at a higher level. I have yet to meet a senior executive who would be comfortable being coached by one of their junior managers!

But is it really about their age?

I have met plenty of coaches who, according to the survey would be within the age bracket for Executive Coaching but would be completely unsuitable for the job. They either have no commercial experience, no management experience, and sometimes very little work experience at all. Yes, they may be great coaches (using a non-directive model), but if organisations or coachees are looking for experience and for the coach to switch to mentoring when appropriate, they may not offer the best value.

Equally, I have met coaches who like myself have over 15 years experience in their field, have been managing and coaching teams since their early twenties, have led departments through restructure and down-sizing, had responsibility for several million pounds worth of expenditure and reported directly to the Chief Executive of a national organisation employing several thousand staff at the age of 26.

And of course there are some coaches who tick all the right boxes on age and experience, but have received little or no training in how to coach effectively and have been accused of pursuing their own agendas when working with clients.

Ultimately, finding a good coach is not about whether they have grey hair or not. It’s about finding the coach who is fit for purpose. In other words, can you answer yes to the following questions:

• Can they show evidence of coaching successfully in this field?
• Do they have commercial awareness and/or a sense of the ‘bigger picture’?
• Are they able to build a good working relationship with the coachee?
• Is there a good cultural fit with the organisation?
• Do they employ good processes and use tools that are fit for purpose?
• Are you confident that they will get the results that you’re looking for?
• Will they understand the short-hand/jargon used by the coachee or understand the organisational context in which the coachee operates?
• Do you trust them?

Perhaps this is one of the benefits of working with a team of coaches. Having a variety of people from different backgrounds in my own coaching team means that I can offer clients access to a pool of pre-screened coaches who I know well. I know their experience, the sectors that they have coached in before and their coaching style.

Age aside, it means that clients find the coach who’s right for them.

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