At an age of profound changes, coaching has become an important feature of the world of work. The growth of the practice has also expanded to many other areas of life. Coaches today are facing increased competition from AI, a general decline in mental health, as well as a messy market. Furthermore, its key promise of change seems paradoxical now that the inability to change puts life on the planet at stake. How can coaches communicate their brand and offer in a way that spotlights their unique value on the market, while delivering for people and planet?

The word coaching comes from horse-carriages and has been borrowed to emphasize “moving people” to where they want to be. While many currents exist, the Human Potential Movement had a great impact on the world of coaching as we know it. The International Coaching Federation for instance uses a lot of its language (“empowering people”, “exploring human potential”). In a way, the founding myth of coaching could be described as “change is made by humans.” If enough individuals changed, we could have a collective effect.  

As Aristoteles however wisely said, “the sum is greater than its parts.” Modern evidence increasingly questions the often individual focus and artificial environment of coaching, emphasizing the role of our cultural, natural, and social environment that creates the conditions for us to evolve. If the context of the coaching relationship is underrepresented, it may be unsurprising to see that issues like the climate and biodiversity crises are often marginal topics both on the coaching market and in coaching conversations – although they are existential for our lives. Therefore, we may ask how conscious the coaching industry actually is? Why does the death of the planet leave us coaches cold?

A changing coaching context

Today’s world of coaching is facing existential questions both with regards to the role of coaching in the world and with respect to existential questions of clients. Now that in the Western world more than half of the population suffers from chronic diseases and/or mental health problems, the theoretical separation of coaching from trauma work becomes increasingly blurry. Furthermore, the increasing disconnection from nature, community life, and the feeling of having a meaningful life goes essentially beyond 1-1 relationships. Therefore, a more systemic lens seems more appropriate to deal with the complexity of the issues.

Coaching at the threshold

If our lives are tightly embedded into the natural, social, and cultural systems that make our lives possible, how can coaching better reflect that understanding?
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