LV job coaches seek system of credibility

Getting ahead professionally in Las Vegas, one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, can be confusing and intimidating.

There are about two dozen career coaches who can show you how to get ahead, but choosing the right one can be difficult.

Established coaches say they wish there was some system to designate, license or regulate them to establish their credentials and protect customers.

"It's now moving into the mainstream where it has credibility," said Betty Mahalik, a Las Vegas coach. "It's no longer looked at as New Age or 'guru-ism.' It's now more of a legitimate business phenomenon."

And most coaches want to ensure the credibility of the profession remains intact as more people get involved in the industry.

"There's always a concern about credibility, because everybody says they can do something, especially in this town," said Michelle Thomas, a Las Vegas chiropractor who uses personal coaching.

"There can be people dabbling in it that really aren't committed," said coach Nancy Sprague. "I don't want a whole bunch of regulations, but we want the consumers to be able to judge."

Sprague is not alone.

"In some ways I would love to see it," said Ellen Laura, another coach. "Anybody can say they are one. They can be bankrupt, 100 pounds overweight and be a coach."

There are some forms of credentialing for the would-be coach shopper.

For example, Houston-based Coach University, one of several personal coaching education organizations, offers self-guided training and certification over the Internet. The program combines more than 200 hours of course work and 1,000 hours of actual coaching, leading to a certified coach designation.

Las Vegas-based personal coach Philip Cohen said finding out these affiliations is important for clients. A prospective client should consider whether the coach has no training at all, some training or an extensive study of the field.

"Most coaches I know would rather not have licensing, but some kind of designation," Cohen said.

Cohen said clients should be wary of coaches who do not have coaches themselves.

"Someone who says 'you need a coach but I don't,' there's something wrong with that," Cohen said. "We all have limiting behaviors."

Subhead: Coaching swelled in the 1990s

Personal coaching is nothing new. It is a trend that has swelled in the 1990s as professionals seek to balance careers and personal lives.

Long used by high-level executives, personal coaching is now a tool just as likely to be used by the small business owner, the doctor or sales person to further careers or improve the quality of their personal lives.

The reasons people seek coaching vary -- to make more money, to better relate to employees, staff or peers, to organize physically and mentally. Some coaches serve as sounding boards to business people's new ideas.

Thomas says chiropractic school taught her everything she needed to know about treating patients.

What that education didn't include was business aspects or how to administrate and run a staff.

"In my business, I'm trained in all aspects of treating people, but not in business aspects," Thomas said.

Coaches themselves recommend clients try several options before deciding on a coach. Thomas agreed that finding the right fit involves testing several coach candidates.

"Some of them were talking about a bunch of business lingo," Thomas said. "We spent more time defining terms than coaching."

Subhead: Coaching niches

Clients' needs vary and the profession is starting to venture into niche areas of coaching.

Some focus on CEOs, others on small business owners and some on women, for example. Some coaches concentrate solely on image, others on business, relationships and quality of life.

"I work with professionals, more often women than men," said Maria Bailey.

While some coaches address quality of life issues, motivation or serve as sounding boards, Bailey uses her background working for a modeling agency to focus on image and behavior. She doesn't consider herself a coach, but, rather, an image consultant.

The tool of her trade is the video camera. With that clients can identify mannerisms that may be hindering their professional progress. For example, one client habitually nodded her head during conversations. For most, that's a minor, quirky characteristic. For some on the corporate ladder such mannerisms can be an obstacle.

"That eroded her credibility," Bailey said.

People find they can change such behaviors. Bailey prefers to stay in that realm, leaving motivation and idea-hashing to other consultants.

For most personal coaches, the telephone is their version of the psychologist's couch.

Mahalik consults with her clients by phone. Using something of a Socratic method, she questions clients on issues and helps them find their own answers to charting their life's course. But coaches are quick to point out they aren't psychological professionals.

"I'm not doing therapy," Mahalik said.

Subhead: Coaches aren't therapists

Cohen draws the distinction between coach and therapist by pointing out that therapists deal with a person's history -- events in their lives that made them the person they are today. Coaches, conversely, deal with the future -- what a person wants to be regardless of who they are today.

He draws a further distinction between a coach and a consultant. Consultants are paid to have answers. Coaches ask the right questions, he noted.

However, some clients view it as a form of new psychology.

"It doesn't mean you're sick," said Donna Smith, who is coached by Mahalik. "It just means mom, dad and the priest down the street just aren't the counselors they used to be. Your coach ends up being your personal partner."

archive