Coaching: The Original Green Profession?
In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, 2008, I want to propose a provocative proposition: coaching is the original green profession.
Think about it. Over the past decade or two, more (most?) coaches have worked with clients who are geographically disbursed. For the most part, we don’t have to travel to clients’ offices or homes, and they don’t have to drive or fly to us. We communicate mainly through telephone conversations and e-mail. With group coaching, we can get on a bridge line or webinar.
As an occupational group, weren’t we the first major tele-commuters? We continue to reduce congestion on the roads. And, Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, could easily have been describing coaching as he wrote about outsourced work.
Okay, here’s another thought to ponder: providing assessments to clients is a green service.
Here is an example from my own personal experience. Many years ago, in the early 90s, when I still lived in Canada, I worked for an organization where each new client received an assessment. The person would be given an assessment form and s/he would mark choices by filling in the boxes with a pencil. We’d gather all the assessments for that day/week and ship them to California via FedEx. Then we’d wait for another week and the assessments would be shipped back to us.
Instant results? No!
Frustrating waiting for the results to be returned? Absolutely?
A green way to provide assessments to people? Are you kidding me?
Fast forward a few years. Most assessments are now done online. We can simply send an e-mail to our client(s) with a link to a webpage where they complete the assessment and we receive immediate notification of their results. If we want to maintain a paperfree green zone, we can send our clients another e-mail with a multi-page PDF of their assessment results. Fast and clean. No fossil fuels are required and no trees have to be cut down.
Of course, this is a simplistic example because somewhere there are fuel/printing costs, just not to the extent as in previous decades.
So, what do you think, is coaching the original green profession? What are other examples of how we provide a green gift of coaching to the world?
Greenly yours,
Sylva (Syl) Leduc, MEd, MPEC
Executive Coach & Leadership Strategist
An ICF PRISM Award Winner for Coaching Excellence
www.SageLeadershipStrategies.com
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Comment by Lable on 20 April 2008:
Hi Sylva,
You raise some great points. To be sure that we remain in integrity, though, I would have to ask whether those green steps were taken with intentionality or not. Did Coaching go to virtual-relationships and online assessments because they were green, or for other reasons?
I know it may seem quibbling to ask that question, but I think it goes to something essential. It begs the question of whether Coaching needs to develop a clear intention in terms of greening the planet, in particular, and of social responsibility in general?
This was a hot topic at the recently completed CAM (Conversation Among Masters). Is Coaching so focused on the clients’ individual agendas for personal improvement that we lose sight of the larger agenda of social responsibility and what is (perhaps) our obligation to help our clients raise their consciousness of how to be a more responsible member of society?
Certainly food for thought.
Happy Earth Day!
Lable
Comment by Sylva Leduc on 21 April 2008:
Lable, thank you so much for your thoughts about intentionality. Yes, in the beginning, the greening of coaching may not have been intentional - more of a serendipitous benefit. And I fully agree that it’s time we become intentional and let the world know that coaching is a green way for people to learn and develop.
My coaching business was designed to be as green as possible: through intention not through accident. As an employee in both small and large organizations I coached hundreds of people in person for more than a decade. When I started coaching (in these orgs) we almost always saw people in person and most of the time they traveled to see us. The costs for real estate and travel time (fuel) were huge. I’m embarased to say that at one point when I lived in Victoria I would take the helijet to Vancouver to see clients. Talk about wasteful.
In 2000, when I set up my own coaching company I knew I didn’t want to replicate the process of maintaining physical files or a physical office. So I found a way to capture information without killing trees by using software programs. Then, as the founder/owner of Client Compass software, I’d emphasize to coaches the importance of designing a paper-free zone. Not everyone agrees because they prefer hand written notes. However, having been a corporate cog, I could see the long term consequences: filing cabinets overflowing with client files.
I’ve been an environmentalist for most of my life and have even been teased many times for being a Northwest tree hugger, especially when I would cajole co-workers to put paper in the recycling box instead of throwing it in the garbage. When I first moved to Arizona I was sadly surprised by the laissez-faire attitudes about the environment, including recycling and water wastage. While I’m not saying I’m totally green, I try to be intentional.
Based upon your insightful comments, Lable, I’m now wondering how many other coaches designed their companies to be green?
Anyone want to weigh in about what you do to be green or how you educate others that coaching can make an environmental difference?
Cheers,
Sylva
Comment by Lable on 22 April 2008:
Wow, Sylva! Yours is a terrific story, and I hope it’s told many times. I can’t say I’m anywhere near that green, but your story will make me mindful in the future, and helps create the intentionality in me for looking for ways to green my life.
One of the take-aways for me in reading how you approached your practice is the need for me to stop allowing myself excuses. Yes, I grew up in the generation that is more comfortable with paper, but so what? Where is it written that I’m not supposed to be a little unconmfortable in helping the ecosystem to survive. I admire, and am inspired by, how you courageously faced the need to change your practices.
I really need to look at all the excuses I use in my life. Your post has helped me realize that the Planet will not accept a note from my mother.
Thank you so much!
Lable
Comment by Elizabeth Crouch on 24 April 2008:
And speaking of green, to help us all celebrate Earth Day every day, the International Coach Federation has a ‘going green’ feature in the spotlight right on their front page.
ICF is offering a powerpoint presentation on how to be ‘greener’ now!
http://www.coachfederation.org/ICF/Earth+Day.htm
http://www.coachfederation.org/NR/rdonlyres/B1363182-86A8-4561-A79D-1E2874D94AD7/7988/GreenChapters.pps
What will you do today to become more eco-friendly, to ensure that coaching remains a green profession?
Comment by Sylva Leduc on 24 April 2008:
Elizabeth, this is excellent information! Thanks for sharing.
Glad to see the ICF is encouraging more teleconference-based meetings. I know that several chapters are doing that. It’s great to be able to “attend” a virtual meeting and hear a speaker in another locale.
Their 11 ways to go green is just what we need. The only thing I didn’t see them address directly is how to create a green office.
Since we’ve already started this discussion, what ARE the top 10 - 20 ways to have a green coaching business?
Sylva