The Guru: Former members of Sally Anderson's community say it felt like a cult

Thursday, 26 April 2018

Self-improvement guru Sally Anderson says she wants to help people, but some believe she does more harm than good. In the final part of a four-part series, Tony Wall and Steve Kilgallon speak to a former follower who says it felt like a cult.

Maree Tassell describes herself as a 'self improvement junkie', having done Landmark Education, Tony Robbins and NLP training over the past 15 years.

But she's never met anyone like Sally Anderson.

'I believe she's a narcissist. She believes she's going to be on Oprah and change the world.

'I've seen her break down and cry and say 'New Zealand hasn't recognised me yet'.'

Tassell, who has a real estate company in Rotorua, had seen Anderson on 60 Minutes and was moved by her story.

She paid $3000 for one of her three-day retreats and found it excellent, so decided to pay $35,000 to do her immersion coach's training.

That was in 2015 — the training now costs up to $50,000.

'I was at a vulnerable stage of my life, I'd been through a marriage break up and lost all my money and I was under the illusion … that if you do all this you're going to attract a lot of coaching clients and make a lot of money.'

Tassell says that didn't happen. 'I never got one person.'

Anderson says it's a coach's responsibility to generate their own clients, with support from the Evolved peer community structure.

Tassell says she was kicked out of the Evolved community because she hadn't been posting regularly on the closed Facebook group and had questioned the need for it.

She says she was told she wasn't contributing.

'I believe it's a cult … there's this insidious pressure to behave in certain ways. I got kicked out because I wouldn't toe the line.

'What sort of business has people go in, pay [up to] $50,000 and get flicked off at any moment … just because you go against the status quo?'

Anderson won't comment on Tassell or other coaches who've left out of respect for their privacy, but hints that they aren't telling the full story. 'Maree … is fully aware of why she left the community.'

She rejects the cult comparison, saying her education is 'no more of a cult than attending university, membership of a professional body or affiliation with a charitable organisation'.

People choose to be in the Evolved community, she says, and it's the community which sets the standards.

Tassell says while there are good parts of Evolved's education, it's not unique.

'A lot of these ideas that are being touted as her totally original ideas are not, she's just put a spin on them.'

Anderson says 'all knowledge has a legacy from some other place' but claims Evolved is the first in the world to specialise in sustainable transformation.

'Our work has developed over many years … and will continue to evolve with new ideas and concepts as we learn more and delve deeper into the understanding of leadership.'

Tassell says she has concerns about an event that happens on day two of the three-day retreat.

'You have to go through a process where you have to tell everybody …your deepest darkest secrets.

'So people are going 'I've committed adultery' and 'I've done this and that'.

'She writes them all up on this [board] then turns it over, now everyone has to tell you what's great about you and you have to write a new positive belief about yourself.

'I think what's dangerous is that that should be private between a person and their therapist, and there's no follow up. People have divulged things and have been left feeling very vulnerable.'

Several people we spoke to claim that Anderson uses the information in these sessions against people, to make more money out of them.

'Once she's got that dirt on you, she can use it to manipulate the situation,' one former Evolved coach says.

'She sucks you in to her training programme — she says 'you're in your default most of the time … you need help'.'

Anderson denies those claims, and suggests they are being put forward by her competitors.

'I live true to my values and integrity,' she says. 'Whatever processes we use, they are effective, produce results and each participant has the choice to participate or not.'

Tassell says there was always pressure on the certified Evolved coaches to sign up more people for the various programmes.

'It was 'how many people have you invited to the event next month?' You were expected to push people, then up-sell to the three-day and immersion coaching.'

Anderson says coaches are paid referral commissions of up to $1000 and the more people who sign up, the more work there is for them.

'So it's in their self interest to share the education with the world.'

All sorts of professional people have gone through the training, from lawyers to psychologists, many looking for another 'tool' for their professional development.

Many have one thing in common.

'Sally tends to find people who are in a low place or confused about things,' says Phil Holland, a former member of the Evolved management team.

'She uses the line a lot 'you're gonna be your word' if you say you're gonna do this you're gonna be your word around this, and she'll keep hammering people until they break.'

He remembers at one three-day retreat, a woman said she loved the education and expressed interest in being a coach.

The coach training had already started, but 'the next day Sally sends her an invoice for 45 grand and says 'you're your word, pay up'.'

He agrees with those who feel the organisation is cultish.

'Sally even jokes about it being a cult. Her mindset is, 'if I'm brainwashing people to do positive things in their life, that's a good cult to be in'.'

Meanwhile, money is pouring into the organisation — 21 people signed up for the latest immersion intake which started in February, although several have left and there are signs that all is not well financially.

'I was on the advisory board for a while and never saw one lot of financials,' says Holland. 

'With that amount of money going through there I always ask the question, where's it gone?'

Anderson says Evolved Leadership is in a sound position and as a private company has no obligation to share those details publicly.

Business coach Andrew Hollis, who has known Anderson since 2003, was personally coached by her, and offered an executive role in her organisation, believes some of the people she's training as coaches simply aren't capable.

'They were there specifically to [facilitate] more people spending money,' he says.

'She takes an inordinately high amount of money off people for very little return in a way that strikes me as a snake oil salesman kind of process.'

Hollis claims that, unlike other franchises he's been associated with, there's a distinct lack of follow-up support once the training is complete.

Anderson says on the contrary, the level of support Evolved provides is extensive in comparison to other coaching organisations.

Graduates of the programme receive unlimited access to coaching support for the life of their certification, she says.

They attend four-monthly 'up-levelling' workshops for additional training, are 'buddied up' with a peer under a clear accountability structure, there are regular support calls for the entire group and leadership retreats, she says.

She says making money is fundamental to any business and everyone who goes through her training gets value from it.

'I find it incredible that Andrew Hollis, who has had no involvement with the business in any official capacity, feels qualified to pass judgement.' 

Hollis remains concerned that Anderson's methods are giving the coaching industry a bad name.

'Coaching is considered awesome in the sports industry, everybody of a high calibre uses a coach and it should be the same in life and business. Having people like Sally muddying the waters — it's just not helpful.'

Linley Rose, the director of professional standards for the Australasia branch of the International Coach Federation, says it's concerning that so many people have had bad experiences of Anderson and Evolved.

'One of the issues is that coaching is an unregulated industry. If she was a member of the ICF and she was running an approved course, then you'd have some recourse through our complaints procedure.'

Anderson says she is not a member of the ICF but Evolved applies ethics and standards used within the world of coaching. 'We are pioneering new paradigms.'

Rose also questions the cost of Evolved's coach training.

'Fifty thousand dollars is much more than any other coach training I've heard about in the Australasia market.

'Generally what we're talking about is an initial investment of somewhere between three and six thousand and then to get more training…you probably commit that sort of money again, but that's over a period of years.'

Rose says some self improvement organisations are 'cult like' and if people are coming out of programmes feeling they've been broken down, that's concerning.

The term 'coach' is used loosely, she says. 

'Coaching people is to help them reach their potential and it's such a collaborative process, it's a partnership between the coach and the client and it's driven by what the client wants - not what the coach wants for them.'

She says there's a growing expectation that a coach has a supervisor as part of their professional development and to keep an eye on their practice.

'In the UK, to get assignments with many government departments and corporates you need to not only provide details of your professional indemnity insurance but the name of your supervisor.'

Rose says people who undertake coach training should ask themselves several questions.

'What's their end-game, what are they going to do with it?

'Is it approved training, what sort of methodologies do they use?

'Who do you know who's done the training? Do they want to become a professional coach or do you want some skills to integrate into what you're doing?

'All this might inform whether you choose an approved or non approved school.'

She advises people to read the ICF's tip-sheet when choosing a life coach.

Lynne Holdem, a spokesperson for the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists, questions whether untrained self improvement coaches such as Anderson can properly assess someone's psychological needs.

'If you get someone who's quite fragile and you put them through a process where they stand up in front of a group and become very vulnerable…that may be very good for someone who has quite a strong ego and is generally quite a stable person … but quite dangerous for someone who has a very fragile ego or trauma in their past.'

Psychotherapy is attuned to the individual, Holdem says, whereas methods that are tailored to be 'mass produced' are not.

'It's a bit like going into a cult, it looks really idealised on the surface - it looks like a warm and friendly place…but sometimes the people in leadership positions don't have a good understanding of themselves so they are triggered by what people bring to them and that can be disastrous for the person seeking help.'

Holdem says anybody being advised to come off anti-depressants — as Anderson encourages people to do — should consult their GP or psychiatrist.

'You can have a quite vulnerable person who's been put on anti-depressants for good reason and they could really come unstuck.'

Tassell claims that Anderson's methods are all about breaking people down in order to build them up.

'Leaders are people who want to create leaders and make others great, not by trying to rip the s… out of them,' she says.

'I'm embarrassed that I got sucked in — I spent a lot of money. But there are people out there that are much more vulnerable than I was.'