Let’s be clear, the terms “Executive” and “Life” coaching can become laden with prejudice, amongst coaches as well as amongst their clients. In this posting I take a moment to identify some of the prejudices that exist and some of the reasons for their existence.

It’s easy to spot that the term “life coaching” has acquired negative connotations. In recent discussions, some of my coaching colleagues pointed to the fact that “life coaching” features in the media both in areas and in ways which define the way they are seen. Whilst Executive Coaching is the matter of discussion in the business press, Life Coaching features in women’s magazines and daytime TV so that coaching in turn becomes the object of any associations and even prejudices that go with their media host. In addition, the kind of “coaching” that is featured on TV is often several steps wide of any accepted definition of coaching. In the words of one colleague, this can give the impression that life coaches are “superficial and/or flaky”.

In the workplace, the term “executive coaching” can tend to benefit from positive associations. This can be a reflection of the way it is sold to potential coaching clients: as a sign of their importance and seniority. At one level this assertion is spot on: organisations tend to invest in people in senior posts where the return on investment in coaching can be significant across the organisation. At the same time, this assertion may reflect the need (as perceived by sponsors of coaching) to entice some of an organisation’s most wayward executives into the net of coaching in order to address areas in which some kind of adjustment is needed. It can be a paradox of coaching in organisations that whilst the people for whom coaching is made available are usually amongst the most talented in the organisation they may include both the highest performers and some whose performance is in some way problematic: the two are not mutually exclusive.

Amongst my colleagues in the coaching profession, some were honest enough to recognise that it’s easy to take shelter under the term “Executive Coach” and its associations. In situations in which they do not feel sure of themselves it can be used to try to project a certain image with potential clients and – yes – to justify the fees. I would add that I have seen some former Executives retire one day and adopt this label the next. Whilst this is far from universal I would counsel buyers to know what they want to buy and to lift up the label and look underneath before buying.

I wonder if the term “coaching” (and especially “life coaching”) suffers from prejudice because of a fear that is widely held and rarely acknowledged: the fear that one might be fundamentally flawed. Identified by Gay Hendricks in his book The Big Leap, this fear is familiar to many who have gone on to embrace their full potential and to achieve great success. For those who say no to coaching and other forms of learning, seeing coaching as something negative is a way to hold this fear at bay. For some of coaching’s most dedicated and most successful clients, facing this fear was a step they took before signing up to coaching.