Academic Guidelines Distribution Project

The number and scope of programs of organizational and executive coaching has dramatically increased over the past 15 years. An unknown number of private and professional consulting companies offer proprietary or standardized workshops, classes, and coaching services. A growing number of academic institutions in the United States and Canada offer or have plans to offer "coaching programs" packaged or delivered as educational workshops; graduate courses; post-baccalaureate and/or graduate certificates; degree programs or graduate concentrations within degree programs; and as direct coaching service to enhance personal and professional development for students, faculty, and members of the academic administration. Academic coaching programs are located in many areas within a university including within schools or departments of psychology, business, education, public policy, and human resources. A single institution may have multiple yet autonomous coaching programs or offerings. This results in separate and often inconsistent policies and standards by those who establish and deliver the programs, confusion or miscommunication by those who buy the programs, and little interaction between program managers within a single institution, as well as between institutions.