| Abstract: | The article gives an inside story of and specific toolkit for introducing competencies for coaching. The instance described involved about 30 UK practitioners within a large provider. Benefits and drawbacks of having competencies for coaching are addressed and illustrated. Benefits include the value of explicitness, the potential for better matching, and also using the introduction of competencies as a process for lessening structural divisions between internally competing teams and coteries of coaches. Particular attention is paid to the significance of the process of introduction mirroring in its style the type of culture being introduced. In this instance the process was participative, involving a process of gaining assent and a mirroring competency system involving self-assessment, which linked in to CPD. Collusion as a possible outcome is acknowledged while being placed in a broader, as yet unaddressed context. The competency system specifics are fully laid out. Emphasis is given to the framework as a system of practical meaning (praxis) and the epistemological implications of this. The non-sectarian, integrationist path chosen is described, as is the consequent theoretical price paid: syncretism not synthesis. Finally, factors relating to gaining assent from non-coaching stakeholders from within the coaching provider are identified. |
