Short coaching history - from the beginnings until today
In one of my previous articles, in a few sentences I already summarized what the concept of 'coaching' covers and which areas I focus on as a coach. Now time has come for a short historical overview, so today I would like to show you how coaching emerged and has developed through the years and where this professional area is heading to.
The concept 'coach' is originated from the world of sports, from the late 1880's, with the original meaning of the word being a person who trains a sportsman. In the other areas of life it started to spread around 40 years ago.
After the Great Economic Depression of the 1930's and World War II, the economy of the United States started to flourish again the the '50's and '60's. This period provided the opportunity for people to be able to concentrate on their potential personal development and find new ways, beyond their everyday needs. In the '60's the human potential movement was launched in California, which was striving to open new chances of development for the citizens of the USA. As a result of the mixture of more scientifical and cultural areas (among the main spearheads we can find Carl Rogers and Adam Maslow psychologists, Joan Baez singer and songwriter, George Leonard writer and numerous taoist and hinduist experts) everyday people wanted to get to know how to live their lives to the fullest.
In the 1970's charismatic trainers stepped into the spotlight, who summarized the points of view of a number of scientifical branches, started courses and trainings in the topic of self awareness. The big breakthrough happened in 1974, when in his book 'The Inner Game of Tennis' Timothy Gallwey tennis coach pointed out that besides the controlling of some variables of critical significance, every individual is able to achieve the most outstanding performance possible, this way transferring the concept of 'coaching' from sports to other areas of life. The literal meaning of the word coaching is training, with the coach being the trainer.
The concept of coaching first appeared in business life in the 1980's. In the '80's the number of coaches increased all around the world, in the beginning of the '90's the first coaching schools were founded. John Whitmore was the first expert who named coaching an individual discipline in 1992. In 19995 the International Coach Federation (ICF) was established, which laid down uniform standards for the representatives of the profession all around the world. In the 2000s coaches were already considered as internationally accepted experts, more and more companies started to employ them full time, to support the work of not only managing directors, but also that of the middle management.
Today there are countries in the world, in which there is such a big demand for coaches that it hugely exceeds the real supply. This tendency is expected to intensify in the near future. In our world becoming more and more complicated we have to face numerous decision situations day by day, so for whom would the support of a business coach, life coach, career coach or wellness coach not come in handy?
What kind of coach do YOU wish to
work with? If you feel like you would
need exactly my support, please do not hesitate to contact me on +36302781905
or via e-mail: info@karolyvizdakcoach.hu.
Károly Vizdák
business and life coach
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