At a time when you could get training to ride a bicycle and even had to have a license to own a dog running a business was seen as a natural talent you either had or didn’t have. Now, in the footsteps of other countries, such as Australia and the US in particular, coaching is fast becoming part and parcel of everyday business life in the UK.

“Business coaching has grown massively over the last 10 years because people have woken up to the fact that having a great idea and the core skills to operate in a chosen field are not always enough to bring success on their own,” said Gordon Mowat CA, Chief Executive of Aspire Management Services, one of Scotland’s leading home-grown network of experienced businessmen providing consulting and coaching support for other executives.

“The macho posturing of businessmen trying to live up to the image that they were born with some innate ability rather than admit they need help is, thankfully, by and large a thing of the past.

“A good business coach has the experience and knowledge not only to develop an enterprise and make it more effective, but also the people skills to get that know-how across so that others absorb it, make changes and bolster their own business brain at the same time.”

Three years ago the International Coach Federation (ICF) commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers’ International Survey Unit (ISU) to undertake the global assessment of the business coaching industry.

Then, it was calculated, there were at least 50,000 coaches worldwide working in an industry generating some £1.2billion a year.

While the USA accounted for approximately 60 per cent of this revenue, Europe, including the UK, was responsible for about 22 per cent.

Since then the industry has grown by an estimated 35 per cent per year.

Universities and colleges across the UK now offer a range of MAs and BAs in Executive and Business Coaching of some kind and, with over 300,000 students studying in the field of Business and Administration, thousands more are expected to graduate this summer with a qualification in telling executives how to run their own businesses.

“In theory having all these qualified coaches running around should be making things easier for business people,” said Mr. Mowat.

“Unfortunately, not all business coaching courses train people up to the same level.”

It’s a problem that has been identified by both academics and the industry itself. The same survey undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers which estimated the size of the global coaching industry also found that 65.5 per cent of business coaches think they should be regulated.

“There are an awful lot of people trying to brand themselves as business coaches or executive coaches but very few of them have ever taken any serious professional development in coaching.” said Dr Stephen Gibb, Director of the Centre for Executive Education at Strathclyde Business School.

“The industry is aware of that and professional bodies have developed standards like the European, Mentoring and Coaching Council (ECCM), while universities have developed EMCC accredited programmes so businesses can look for signs that people have taken their professional development seriously before choosing who to work with Strathclyde Business School has been running a Post Graduate in Executive Coaching for the last four years which is accredited.

“We are the only provider in Scotland to offer an award bearing course that is accredited by the ECCM although there are more providers in England,” said Dr Gibb.

“Courses which don’t have EMCC accreditation have thousands of people coming out with qualifications but award bearing courses on our level only produce about 230 people a year.” The Strathclyde course is usually undertaken by mature students, ranging in age from their mid 30s to their 50s, who have to have a wealth of business experience in the first place just to get on the course but this isn’t the case across the board.

“The really effective business coaches need to have walked the walk and talked the talk,” said Mr. Mowat, who is a Chartered Accountant and qualified business coach with a track record of having worked at a senior level in a number of companies for over twenty years, and now as a results-driven owner of three companies, non-executive chairman of several others, and a director of two others.

“How can you have empathy with a company director whose firm is going through a tough time if you have never had to face similar problems yourself?

“My business experience ranges from managing companies with turnover ranging from £50k to £30M, from 1 to 1,000 staff.

“I was made redundant twice in my early career and am all too aware of the impact this can have. It was one of the reasons I set up Aspire as we believe business owners need access to high quality support.

”Ironically, while the rest of the economy struggles with an global economic downturn the services of good, experienced coaching firms has never been more in demand.

“Importantly, It can be lonely at the top. Whether you are an executive director of a multi national dealing with restructuring and changing market trends, or a sole trader coping with managing cash flow. Everybody needs a shoulder to lean on from time to time.” said Mr. Mowat.

“Pure coaching is about providing step by step instructions for people to grow their business but it’s also about developing their managerial skills and business know-how.

“By asking the right questions Aspire Management Services and other similarly experienced coaches can lead a client to come up with a solution: it’s not just about telling them the answer.

”Simply telling people an answer doesn’t encourage independent thinking. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him how fish and he will never be hungry again.”