We invite experts and researchers worldwide to apply their expertise to the subjects impacting business coaching, which integrates the work of many adjacent disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, behavioral science, ethnography, among others.
WABC applies the highest possible standards to business coaching. Extensive research on the topics currently shaping both coaching and business more broadly enhances our knowledge on subjects influencing business coaching standards, programs and practices.
As part of our goal to apply the highest standards, WABC constantly seeks robust research to enhance our evidence base on “what works” or “what is promising” in contemporary business coaching worldwide, while also considering the professional expertise/expert opinion of business coaching professionals.
We invite experts and researchers worldwide to apply their expertise to the subjects impacting business coaching, which integrates the work of many adjacent disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, behavioral science, ethnography, among others.
Organizations and businesses of all kinds have new challenges to face in our quickly changing global environments. Success today requires advancing on many fronts simultaneously, including facing new industry entrants and disruptors, adapting to customer demands, competing to attract and retain top talent, and establishing clarity of vision through tumultuous times. Leading organizations know business coaching is essential to support the alignment between organizational goals and the leaders, teams and individuals responsible for driving their success.
Organizations have new challenges to face in our quickly changing global environments. Success today requires advancing on many fronts simultaneously, including facing new industry entrants and disruptors, adapting to customer demands, competing to attract and retain top talent, and establishing clarity of vision through tumultuous times.
As these challenges grow increasingly intertwined, traditional siloed thinking lacks the relevance to operate effectively in this new context. It takes enduring commitment to continuously focus on the right business initiatives at the right time, find the precise balance of objectives, resources and timing, and build transparency and accountability at all levels of an organization to realize sustained success.
This shift requires new knowledge and skills. Developing a learning mindset, building resilience and adopting adaptability are key to driving growth, innovation and peak performance from leaders, teams and individuals alike. Achieving organizational goals requires alignment and accountability at every level of an organization.
As organizations rise to meet these demands and realize their strategic intents, business coaching can support the alignment between organizational goals and the leaders, teams and individuals responsible for driving their success.
Business coaching impacts individuals, teams and the organizations they work within. A business coach will leverage their expertise to build on the current state of both the organization and the individuals within it, to enhance performance and leadership potential. It is a role that is, by nature, supportive, disruptive and progressive.
Business coaching is distinct in that it addresses the needs of both the individual and the organization they work within. This distinction makes business coaching a unique discipline within the world of coaching more broadly. Business coaches can go by many names—including executive coach, organizational coach, leadership coach, or corporate coach—yet each one focuses on the shared business goals and objectives of both the client and the organization. This dual focus separates business coaching as a distinct practice from all other kinds of coaching.
Business coaches support organizational goals and objectives, at an individual or team level, by identifying opportunities and supporting clients in their actions to achieve results. The business coach’s role can take on many forms—it can be supportive, disruptive and progressive to encourage insights, development, change and growth.
Business coaching is industry agnostic, meaning the competencies of an effective business coach can be applied to any sectors or industries. Some business coaches may choose to specialize and offer their services in a particular industry. This is especially true with WABC business coaches, as they are required to have business and organizational experience before earning their WABC credentials.
Business coaches are strategic partners who build your business and operational success. Among the broad array of service offerings, business coaches may help:
Business coaching engagements can be initiated for many reasons—ultimately, the goal is to remove roadblocks or challenges or to stimulate new insights or pathways so a business, company or organization can achieve its full potential and sustain or grow its market position.
Business coaching helps leaders, individuals and teams respond more effectively to change and accept greater accountability. It is often used to help high-performers reach even greater success as they engage with new opportunities for growth, at both a professional and organizational level.
An internal manager is taking over a new team and wants to understand how to integrate into an existing dynamic and build trust.
A business coach can help facilitate a smooth transition and provide the leader with clarity on how to build a vision and engage their team effectively.
An organization is going through a business transformation related to their goals, processes or technologies.
A business coach can help manage change effectively by implementing strategies to support the transition and adoption of the new priorities.
A president or CEO is ready to step down and is looking to build a succession plan to ready the organization for a significant leadership change.
A business coach can help the leader transition their expertise and knowledge effectively, and build clarity of vision while navigating a complex leadership handover.
If a team isn’t working well together, performance challenges and missed targets are common symptoms of underlying tension and lack of trust.
Business coaches can work with both individuals and teams to improve their dynamic, build trust with one another and find new ways to collaborate to increase productivity.
Supporting mental health is instrumental in retaining top performers and building an optimal, innovative work environment.
A business coach can improve employees’ understanding of how they contribute to an organization’s priorities, how to maintain an appropriate work/life balance, and how to be more authentic and open within the workplace.
The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) leads the business coaching industry in identifying the qualities, actions and skills you need to drive leading business outcomes and harness emerging opportunities.
As the industry leader since 1997, WABC has elevated business coaching practices worldwide and helped countless coaches, clients and companies successfully navigate complexity and achieve tangible business results.
Our global community spans more than 125 countries, and includes business coaches who work with entrepreneurs, managers, CEOs, presidents and professionals from all industries, all sectors, and all organizational sizes.
Enhance your customer service experience and build trust and loyalty with clients. Business coaching can help improve relationships and align individuals’ actions more closely with performance goals.
Drive performance with your team by strengthening internal engagement to drive greater innovation and more insightful decision-making. Improve the confidence, emotional intelligence and communication skills to motivate team members towards better performance.
Improve your organization’s ability to more effectively deliver on your mission to the communities you serve. Boost creativity, innovation and accountability for your programs, and more clearly articulate the need in ways that resonate with the public.
Increase the efficacy of your program delivery by thinking more strategically and spotting opportunities that drive greater results. Build support more effectively, both within your organization and with external partners and stakeholders.
Gather the right information from clients by asking more insightful questions and tailoring your approach more effectively. Guide your clients towards clarity by offering clear, strategic intent.
Build trusted partnerships founded on advice, authenticity and a sense of being in your client’s corner. Enhance your strategic deliverables with solutions that address clients’ challenges realistically and effectively.
Strengthen the ability to identify client needs and get to the root cause of operational challenges more effectively. Gain a wider strategic view on how technology infrastructure supports business and operational strategy.
Build organizational roadmaps that take into account the diverse requirements across departments. Equip teams with the relationship-building skills and empathy needed to drive stakeholder satisfaction.
Increase employee focus by fostering a positive working environment through setting clear expectations of organizational priorities and safety. Align business objectives and team priorities more closely by equipping leaders with the skills to manage their teams more effectively.
Improve your customer service experience with increased loyalty and customer satisfaction. Build a supportive and respectful culture that takes into account the importance of a team member’s overall wellbeing, including their mental health.
Business coaching offers many ways to achieve your business objectives and build a business coaching culture within your organization. Take the next step towards achieving sustainable performance improvement with WABC.
Search the WABC Business Coach Locator to find your qualified coaching partner in accelerating your professional or organizational achievement.
Are you a champion of business coaching within your organization and want to introduce WABC to your employer to see what’s possible?
Whether your organization has a business coaching program or is interested in building one, WABC accredits in-house programs to ensure that your employees are trained to coach using the latest research-informed best practice and global standards.
Many organizations see the value in using business coaching to unlock the potential within their organization, but don’t know where to start.
WABC offers a range of consulting and business services to identify opportunities and improve business coaching within organizations.
Whether you are a business coach, leader-as-coach, client, training provider or member of the public, WABC enhances coaching confidence by delivering relevant, robust and reliable academic and professional principles and standards. Our best-in-class benchmarks reward excellence and build discipline in the business coaching industry and its subspecialties towards research and sound practice.
The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) drives business coaching excellence as the global leader in robust, evidence-based practices. We support leaders, coaches, clients and companies with the knowledge, skills and resources to successfully navigate complexity and improve individual and operational performance alike. Our global community elevates all types of organizations, industries, and sectors using business coaching to achieve their strategic organizational and business objectives.
WABC is a self-regulating body that behaves as though it is regulated. We set professional standards, a code of ethics and integrity, definitions and competencies that our organization, representatives, members and providers are committed to upholding.
A consistent global standard for business coaching as a distinct discipline is critical to the evolution of our profession and industry.
As the first organization to create evidence-based business coaching standards, we strive to build public trust in WABC business coaches as a reliable and ethical community, committed to upholding rigorous standards and acting in our clients’ best interests.
Our purpose is the ambition underpinning why we exist. As the core philosophy to who we are and why our work matters, our purpose is the foundation that grounds and guides the broader impact we strive to achieve.
WABC understands that to lead is not simply to act, but that the intention of our actions matters most. Leaders must be accountable to those we serve, and our values, ethics and integrity must align with the impact we want to create—for people, for the planet and for the common good.
At WABC, we are committed to unifying business leadership by establishing the highest global standards for business coaches and business coaching training providers available today.
Our purpose is brought to life through our values, which guide how we remain actively committed and accountable to our clients, to one another and to ourselves.
We adapt to key stakeholder and market demands by developing great business coaching services and products. We stay on the leading edge by continually seeking feedback and improving practical value to business coaches, clients, members, providers and other key stakeholders.
We lead the business coaching market with new services and products by actively experimenting and researching new approaches. We continually set bold, new goals that are both strategic and evolutionary to nurture renewal, innovation and high quality.
We celebrate the diverse skills, talents, experiences and cultures of our global community, including business coaches, clients, members, program providers, committees, partners, alliances, executives, advisers and support team. We nurture, develop and grow socially responsible leaders at every level of our association to help realize our purpose in action.
We believe that our business coaching community can achieve anything with the right support behind them. We challenge ourselves to deliver service that is:
We believe that business is a potent force for solving social problems, and that leading with intention demands broad and deep corporate integrity. We strive to conduct our business in ethically, socially and environmentally responsible ways.
Our achievements are only possible when we commit to see them through together. We are loyal partners who commit with respect and gratitude. We stay true to our purpose and values, and do what is right to uphold these values as we navigate both adversity and success.
At WABC, our mission and vision focus our core philosophies of purpose and values into what we aim to achieve, for the business coaches we serve and the distinct industry we represent.
Our mission is to develop, advance and promote the business coaching profession worldwide.
We are committed to enhancing business coaching as a distinct discipline and building awareness, credibility and trust in business coaches everywhere.
We envision a world with a business coach working within every organization, business and government worldwide.
We believe business coaching makes for better leadership, strategic thinking and organizational management. Our goal is to raise the profile of business coaching to become standard best practice for high-performing businesses and organizations.
At WABC, we believe that business is a potent force for solving social problems, and we are committed to building public trust and credibility in business coaching as a global industry.
Business coaches often work with those in a position of leadership, who can greatly influence the business decisions and culture of the organizations they represent. Especially when facing complex dilemmas, business coaches must have the courage to challenge their clients’ perspective and guide them towards ethical choices. Business coaches also need to know when they themselves may be encountering ethical dilemmas and how to reconcile competing interests and agendas.
The unique nature of our role makes it clear that each of us needs to possess a strong ethical orientation as we carry out this important work. It is for this very reason that WABC invested in developing a Code that could match to the challenges we, and our clients, can sometimes face.
The current WABC Code of Business Coaching Ethics and Integrity embodies the highest ethical standards and includes our Principles and our Safe Harbor Conciliation and Adjudication Process. It’s one of the most advanced and comprehensive codes of its kind in the world today, and is one of the key differences that set WABC business coaches apart from other kinds of coaches.
Our Code is reviewed regularly to be relevant to the latest in best practice. It serves to guide not only our day-to-day business interactions and decision making, but also provides direction during uncertain times to help us think deeply about how to conduct all our coaching across business contexts and cultures.
WABC is committed to unifying continued excellence—of bringing business coaches, members, providers, and partners together to share expertise and support colleagues, clients and organizations across the world.
We work alongside businesses and organizations both big and small, and WABC business coaches are united by the principles, philosophies and ideas that give us a common foundation and elevate our practice
Our members represent everything from Fortune 100s to not-for-profits, entrepreneurs and enterprises, start-ups and small businesses. WABC business coaches drive transformations, both big and small, in organizations across sectors, industries and business size, and can support the success of your business too.
Our WABC Accredited program providers voluntarily hold themselves up for ongoing scrutiny against the highest business coaching standards in the world. Fewer than 1% of the world’s business coaching programs have met our standard of accreditation.
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At the heart of WABC is a team of passionate individuals who commit their breadth and depth of their experience and expertise to supporting this vibrant association. We are also supported by committees, task forces and other working groups as needed to further our organizational goals and objectives.
“At WABC, we lead the best by committing to be the best—the best in high standards, quality service, and evidence-based thinking.”
Wendy Johnson is guided by an ethics-based ambitious vision: to have a business coach working within every organization, business and government worldwide.
Leading WABC is the ideal way for Johnson to leverage her passion and precision for the benefit of business coaches worldwide. Since 2002, WABC has become the leading global voice for business coaches, their training providers and their clients.
Under Johnson’s leadership, WABC has:
As a global thought leader in business coaching, Johnson continuously contributes to our community through a wide range of activities including coaching, mentoring, supervising, speaking, writing and reviewing of business coaching books and articles.
Johnson’s background is diverse, with expertise in business coaching, human dynamics, behavioral science and criminal justice. Before building her successful business coaching practice, Johnson ExeC Group, she served as a high-profile investigator, a law enforcement officer and a mental health therapist. These positions deepened Johnson’s commitment to public service, social responsibility and ethical behavior, traits that have defined her work at WABC.
Johnson holds several academic degrees including an MA in Counseling Psychology from the Adler School of Professional Psychology, as well as certifications in mediation, negotiation, conflict analysis, management, interrogation and investigation and business coaching.
“WABC’s steadfast commitment to business coaches, corporate ethics, integrity and evidence-based standards/practices is exactly what organizations worldwide need today.”
Doug Abrahamson brings broad and deep strategic management skills gleaned over decades of experience across multiple organizations and fields of practice.
For over 25 years, Doug has passionately championed the need to improve strategic management and planning skills within the field of public safety and security in Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Simultaneously, he has conducted research, authored numerous articles and book chapters, and presented on the need for evidence-based policy and practice, stakeholder engagement, good governance and business coaching within both the public and private sectors.
Doug’s work has given him an opportunity to collaborate with organizations such as Charles Sturt University (AU), the Justice Institute of British Columbia (CA), Rabdan Academy (AE), Saskatchewan Global Transportation Hub Authority (CA), Police Executive Research Forum (US) and the Victoria Police Department (CA).
Doug has an MBA from Royal Roads University (RRU) and a Doctorate of Public Policy from Charles Sturt University (CSU). He maintains his academic standing through his continued role as adjunct faculty with CSU, Honorary Research Associate with the Justice Institute of British Columbia, journal and book/chapter authorship and role as independent peer reviewer for three international academic journals.
“Excellence in business coaching is essential in today’s rapidly evolving landscape. WABC’s best-in-class professional standards ensure that businesses and leaders receive coaching that is rigorous, evidence-based, ethical and transformative.“
Caroline Assalian is an internationally respected performance expert whose career spans elite sport, corporate leadership, executive coaching and leadership development training. As the Founder of KasKor Business Coaching, she leverages her expertise in high-performance leadership to empower leaders and organizations to achieve enduring success by focusing on the human side of performance.
For over 25 years, Caroline held senior executive roles in complex, high-stakes environments, transforming organizations and leading high-performing teams in globally competitive settings. Her relentless pursuit of excellence, paired with an unwavering commitment to people and performance, has established her as a trusted advisor to leaders navigating change, complexity and breaking barriers to success.
Caroline is a WABC Certified Master Business Coach® who believes every leader benefits from working with a business coach equipped with training and expertise tailored to the complexities of business leadership.
“WABC’s content is developed from a deep understanding of the business coaching domain, the evolving needs of members, and its deep commitment to standards. WABC is positioned to be the go-to source for business coaches around the world.”
Michele Ann Jenkins has been working in web content management since people first realized web content should be managed. She got her start programming medical vocabulary management tools, then joined the San Francisco dotcom frenzy to work on Open Source web content management systems for the burgeoning online publication industry.
With 20 years of web development experience and a strong background in information science, Michele quickly analyzes client and user needs to translate them into actionable strategies that drive user engagement. Focusing in information architecture (IA), usability and content strategy, she finds creative ways to apply IA best practice and builds frameworks that are useful, solid and beautiful.
After many years of travel and working for UN organizations in Europe, she settled down in Montreal, Quebec to focus on information architecture and taxonomy.
Michele has a BA and an MLIS from McGill University, where she has taught courses in Online Community Development and Knowledge Taxonomies.
Steve Lanning and Hal Wright of the United States founded the National Association of Business Coaches (NABC) in 1997. NABC experienced steady growth within the first five years while the business coaching industry became one of the fastest growing professions in North America. NABC was positioned as “the association of choice” for business-focused coaches and the international business market.
To further global growth, NABC sought out a visionary leader to elevate the organization into a prestigious international association. Wendy Johnson of Canada shared the same vision—of an organization who could elevate excellence in business coaching, and unify business leadership throughout the world.
On May 31, 2002, Wendy Johnson transformed NABC into a new privately held federal corporation in Canada, and became WABC Coaches Inc.
WABC Coaches Inc. conducts business as the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC), and serves and develops business coaching markets around the world.
