As many struggle to regain purpose and identify career next steps as a result of the impact of the pandemic, ‘cowboy’ coaching is back big time and with a vengeance, it seems.
The number of complaints about online ‘coaches’ has been increasing, according to a lawyer, Lucy Wheeler, quoted in an article in the Guardian on 18 April. She said she’d been contacted last year by more than 20 people during one week in 2020 seeking to get out of a 12-month contract with one particular ‘business coach’.
The same article reports that conversations and complaints about poor quality courses sold via Instagram have increased significantly over the past 18 months, according to the CPD Standards Office, an accreditation service for training and learning.
The article quotes the CPD Standards Office’s co-founder, Amanda Rosewarne, expressing concern over the lack of social media regulation promoting online education or coaching: “Many Instagram courses, or ‘coach programmes’ are badly designed, overpriced and delivered by individuals who lack any authentic teaching or coaching experience,” she’s quoted as saying.
President of the UK International Coach Federation, Liz Rochester, is also quoted as saying “we exist to avoid these very things…there are charlatans taking advantage of the current situation…an entry level coach has to do 100 hours of actual coaching practice, plus 60 hours of training.”