Findings of CIPD’s Coaching at Work’s survey area are discussed. Results show that older coaches were thought to have more experience to bring to the job, though others say they have benefited from a younger coach.
Liz Hall
A year into the UK’s age discrimination legislation, Coaching at Work asked practitioners about age and the coaching profession – is it really just a number?
Is coaching one of the few professions in which grey hair is seen as an asset? A year on from the introduction of age discrimination legislation, there is still a school of thought that says, yes, the older the better, suggests research carried out by Coaching at Work.
Older coaches bring more business acumen to their practice, according to around two in five respondents (43 per cent) to our survey, which polled our readership and members of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) in the UK to mark the anniversary of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. Around two-thirds (65 per cent) felt there were certain types of coaching to which older, more experienced coaches were best suited: for example, executive coaching (52 per cent) and retirement coaching (20 per cent). Organisations buying in the services of executive coaches prefer them to be aged 45 and over, according to 35 per cent of respondents.
Some 14 per cent of respondents felt they had been discriminated against because of their age (8 per cent because they were too young, 6 per cent because they were too old). And 10 per cent admitted to discriminating against a coach because of their age (9 per cent – too young; 1 per cent too old).
Both ends of the scale
This multi-pronged research project was an investigation into discrimination against younger as well as older coaches, after Coaching at Work heard reports from younger coaches who felt they were seen as lacking credibility and were being passed over for older ones, particularly in executive coaching. Apart from the survey, the project included an online straw poll, which is ongoing; interviews with employers and coaching practitioners; and discussion threads on the Coaching at Work and CIPD online communities.One question the survey posed was whether coaches were more likely to reach their peak at a certain age. Although most respondents (75 per cent) felt age was not an issue, 16 per cent thought coaches aged between 35 and 50 were more likely to be at their peak. No respondents felt coaches would be at their peak between 20 and 35. Barbara Moyes, head of leadership and people capability at the Department of Health, thinks coaching is one of the few professions where it pays to be older. “This is partly simply because older people have had more time to be around, and so have had time to develop a range of perspectives on things more spectacles to put on, as it were,” she says.
Emotional intelligence
Moyes highlights the importance of emotional intelligence (EI) in coaching. “Unlike IQ, EI can increase as we get older, certainly until our late fifties and early sixties,” she says. “As EI is so central to being an effective coach, this gives older coaches another advantage – as long as they pay attention to developing their EI over the years.” Margaret Chapman, coaching psychologist, EI practitioner and researcher at Manchester Business School, agrees, citing work by Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman, positive psychology guru Martin Seligman and clinical psychologist Reuven BarOn. EI is what Goleman calls wisdom, and wisdom and knowledge is one of the clusters within Seligman’s “signature strengths”, which features extensively in positive psychology, points out Chapman. She also highlights work by BarOn in developing the EQ-i test of emotional intelligence.In a survey of around 4,000 people in 1997, BarOn found both age and sex differences in EI. There were significant differences on the EQ-i based on age, with older groups scoring higher – the highest scores being for those in their forties and fifties. “Unlike IQ, which is relatively stable from the age of 17, EI changes over the lifespan,” Chapman says. “Perhaps this is the reason why older professionals make better coaches that is, more highly developed levels of EI (at least as assessed by the BarOn EQ-i). The implication for younger coaches is that they need to develop their own EI.”Lloyd Denton, board director of executive coaching organisation Praesta International and managing partner of Mentor Leadership Development, agrees that there is a “perception in executive coaching that older people will bring more value to the equation”. But, he says, it has a lot to do with the person’s life journey, not simply their age. One respondent to the discussion thread on the CIPD website said: “It is about credible experience - it is very rare for a thirtysomething to have the experience of a 40-50 year-old it is not about age but attitude, experience and credibility.”
Are you experienced?
Marion Gillie, a contributor to Coaching at Work’s discussion thread, is at the “more experienced” end of the spectrum. She says she has never knowingly experienced discrimination on the grounds of age, but she works in a couple of organisations where people achieve positions of enormous responsibility in their late twenties and that in some cases, she and her colleagues are aware of the age gap of 25-plus years between them and their clients. “This has prompted me at times to think back to occasions when I have been on the receiving end of development by ‘seasoned’ professionals, and I remember seeing many of them as ‘wise old birds’ (bringing with it both a healthy desire to emulate them and at times a less than healthy child-to-parent dependency). I also recall on one occasion thinking: ‘How can this person possibly understand my world?’” Samantha King, talent manager, Russia and Central Asia, at BP, says: “In many societies, an older coach may automatically bring with them a strong image of provider of wisdom and advice, which, ironically, may get in the way of good coaching. The perception that they have deeply rooted experience and connections may unintentionally make the client feel less experienced or confident, with an expectation to listen to and accept the view of the ‘village elder’ (given or not). Even with highly skilled coaches, the possibility of feeling judged may restrict your ability to learn. “I feel the value of younger coaches is vastly underestimated,” King adds. “Some of the best personal coaching I have received is from younger people. They have been hugely challenging, surprising, lacking in history, and have created unbounded, fresh insights and curious questions.” BP has put at least 700 mentors through its “Mutual mentoring” programmes, which paired participants of different ages and sexes and from different areas of the business. This, King says, “created an open and inclusive culture, with respectful challenge and a greater appreciation of diverse thinking”. In hindsight, Gillie says what it came down to was “the integrity, maturity, self-awareness and emotional intelligence of the individual. Did they relate to me as an equal, or were they hooked into some kind of ‘nurturing parent’ material of their own? It’s a lesson to us all to keep up with our own development,” she says. At the other end of the spectrum, Gillie recently asked one HR director client if age came into choosing coaches to work in their business (a young, dynamic workforce). His answer was that as long as coaches were honest about their coaching credentials and upfront about the fact that they were still building experience, then he wouldn’t discount them on age. “But he is a very self-aware and enlightened client,” Gillie says.
Reverse ageism
Emily Cosgrove, who is 34, has seven years’ experience of training mentors and coaches in the education sector, and is halfway through her advanced diploma with the Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring (OSCM). She is the youngest in her cohort and says she felt she was one of the youngest at the recent OSCM conference in June. According to a global survey of 5,400 coaches in 74 countries carried out earlier this year by the International Coach Federation with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the average UK coach is female and aged between 46 and 55. Both Cosgrove and Liza Hughes, who is 37, are looking at ways of battling reverse ageism and introducing new technology into coaching.“There is a need to keep up with the latest in technology,” says Hughes, founder of coaching consultancy whynot? Coaching. She is considering trialling conversations with clients on MSN Messenger. Cosgrove says some clients would benefit from receiving texts to help keep them on track with their goals. “Coaching is about serious issues but it doesn’t have to be humourless, and maybe as young coaches we can bring in some funkiness,” she says.Some of Hughes’s clients are young people in relatively senior positions: “I am thinking about how to engage them,” she says. “It’s all about learning styles. Some clients might prefer to download podcasts than read books.” Cosgrove set up her first business when she was 23 and believes what is important is people’s conviction and belief in themselves. She has chosen over the years to have support from counsellors and therapists. “I think it’s about how much work you have done on yourself,” she says.
The right fit
In the end, the main thing appears to be about getting the right fit: “What works for me is getting the right cultural match. Age is irrelevant,” Hughes says. David Megginson, professor at the Coaching and Mentoring Research Unit at Sheffield Hallam University, says: “I think the debate on ageism in coaching takes place within the wider context of whether a coach needs experience of the challenges that their client is facing. It is this claim that gives the 50-plus executive coach their claim to competitive advantage. “I suppose there is also the point that, broadly speaking, those who are older will have moved on further – but perhaps I am being part of the problem here, not contributing to a solution.”Occupational psychologist and coach Lynne Spencer adds: “I think employers want to be convinced of the experience and credentials of the coach. More important than age are the skills and training of the coach, and compatibility with the client. Age does not really matter as long as these are met.” She says there “may be a temptation for older coaches to rest on their laurels and it needs to be part of their continuing professional development (CPD) that they reflect on their own performance, get supervision and keep updated”.Cosgrove says that cultural fit is more important than age. Some organisations, such as the Ikeas, Virgins and Googles of this world, are perhaps more likely to plump for providers with an innovative approach, and it is arguable that these might be younger.She adds that as a younger coach, it is perhaps even more important to be transparent about training, experience, CPD and style. “I think we need to be explicit about who we are, what we are offering, our experience and our style,” she says.
Eighty people responded to our survey, which was carried out in July. Fifty-nine per cent were female, 45 per cent were aged 35-50 and 50 per cent were aged 50-65. Seventy per cent described themselves as an independent coach, 26 per cent as a coach working within an organisation, and the remainder as a mentor. See also Legal eagle
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Published:
7 September 2007
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