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Why is coaching a dangerous illusion?

The type of personal development practiced by coaches consists in applying conditioning methods originally developed to enhance athletic performance in order to improve one's social success.

In the world of sports, coaching aims to optimize motivation during training through conditioning and to limit the effects of stress on the day of the competition. This form of conditioning is productive in sports because a sport is a game, with simple rules and a structured, predictable development. In contrast, in the real world, conditioning has a major drawback: it leads to an inability to effectively cope with new situations. To put it more simply, conditioning is a form of individual robotization.

These methods work well in terms of social success and are therefore widely used in the workplace because they encourage individuals to engage unreservedly in forming alliances. The practical aspect leads to the abandonment of sincerity in favor of simply adopting attitudes that conform to the social expectations of the desired environment. In this sense, the use of coaching in the workplace can be seen as a kind of Faustian bargain.

Therefore, turning to personal development through coaching corresponds to giving up the goal of succeeding in life in favor of merely succeeding within life.

Moreover, personal development promotes the myth of an all-powerful individual who just needs to free himself from the constraints he imposes on himself and choose freely what to do with his life. It is often taught by individuals who are privileged by fortune, who do not even realize that their personal experience is not generalizable.In this sense, coaching and personal development amount to a renunciation of political struggle, within a neo-patriarchal worldview in which justified criticism has no place, and the rhetoric of obedience has simply been replaced by that of adaptation.

Lastly, it ignores the fundamental effect of the infernal triangle of cognitive dissonance presented in the question 'What is cognitive dissonance?'.

Go deeper

Begin with the question 'If they want to succeed, people just have to work hard. We live in a democracy!' which clarifies the limits of our ability to act.Refer to the question 'How to live a successful life?'Watch the documentary The Happiness Industry by Claire Alet and Jean-Christophe Ribot, broadcast by Arte, and likely available on YouTube.Complement with the question 'Ending the abusive use of psychotropic drugs and psychotherapy'.Finally, end with the question 'Why is politics important?'.