Inger Lise J. Svaleng & Anthony M. Grant

Purpose: In 2007 the Norwegian attempt by Standards Norway to develop common standards for coaching collapsed in disarray. The purpose of this article is to explore the Norwegian attempt in order to see what lessons can be learnt that may assist in the further maturation of the coaching industry.

Methods & Results: In this paper we use Dean’s (1995) ACCESS criteria for professionalisation and industry maturation (autonomy, commitment, collegiality, extensive education, service orientation, and special skills and knowledge) as a lens though which to view the Norwegian experience and the challenges of developing common standards in a fragmented coaching industry. We discuss the Norwegian experience, and detail how the subsequent failure of the Norwegian coaching industry to come to a joint agreement left the door open for a single faction of the coaching industry to develop a recognised nationalised standard that gave National Standards status to their own NLP-based coach-related commercial offerings.

Conclusions: It is concluded that, from a global perspective, the Norwegian experience of industry fragmentation is an exception rather than the rule. Worldwide there is an increasing emphasise on evidencebased approaches to coaching and increasing cooperation between different coaching and coaching psychology bodies, with such endeavours typically explicitly aimed at fostering the mature development of the broader coaching industry. The paper provides recommendations for future constructive discussion between industry stakeholders who seek to establish coaching as an evidence-based and legitimate practice that provides best care for clients.

Keywords: Professional standards; coaching industry; evidence-based coaching.

Full article: Volume 6, Issue 1 pages 5 - 15