Sustaining the unsustainable: meaningful longevity and the doing of coaching

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to propose a reconceptualization of coaching as a more sustainable profession. This is not to merely claim that current coaching practice, complete with its anxiety and compulsive tendencies, is unproblematically unsustainable. Rather, it is to position coaching, inclusive of such inclinations, as viable and workable for those who do it. It is subsequently argued that change needs to occur at both individual and institutional levels. The former declares for greater critical consciousness, meaningful experiences, and occupational value for coaches, while the latter argues for a recognition that the perceived structures of coaching are socially configured considerations arising, in essence, from agential practice. In addressing the question of ‘how can coaching be considered sustainable?’ the paper thus argues for a change not in the nature of coaching itself, but through developing its ‘professional meaningfulness’ from within.