A new survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) claims that cowboy operators are giving coaching services a bad name.

The guide, Coaching and buying coaching services, says that some operators have little experience, lack training and don’t hold the appropriate knowledge to provide professional coaching services.

The author admits that a lack of agreed standards, ethics and qualifications in the coaching industry are partly to blame for ‘cowboy’ operators infiltrating the market.

CIPD’s Jessica Jarvis said: “Our 2004 training and development survey found coaching is the fastest growing training practice. It can be an effective way of promoting real learning, rather than tick-box training. But if it is not managed properly it can be a waste of money.

The research suggests that the notion of coaching as only appropriate at senior level is a myth. Instead, it says it is being widely adopted for staff at all levels.

Speaking to HRZone, Dianne Bown-Wilson of M3 Consultancy said: "A huge number of people are jumping on the coaching bandwagon with very little training (if any) and scant knowledge about what coaching is, or what it can do.

“To them it's just a 'get rich quick' scheme - and it's usually most attractive to those who have never been very successful at anything else. Unfortunately their lack of skill becomes apparent to their clients or employers pretty quickly once they have to produce results, so their cavalier approach is causing a huge amount of damage.

“Coaching will be hard to regulate, but regulation cannot come quickly enough for those who are properly trained and experienced and know the real benefits that coaching can bring."

Natasha Palmer, of The Coaching Foundation believes that the problem lies in the misuse of the term ‘coaching’. In her book co-jointly authored with Dianne Bown-Wilson she says: “Currently ‘coaching’ is a word that’s being misused left, right and centre. You’ve got management consultants that are using it because it’s a buzzword at the moment. But they’re not coaches and they’re not coaching. And there are people out there in the workplace also misusing it. They’re advising, they’re mentoring, they are not coaching.”

The CIPD are holding a conference looking at coaching to examine the issues raised by the guide. The conference takes place on 22 and 23 September at Chelsea Village, London.