Before you register for a coach training program, please make sure that you do your due diligence. Just because a school has a prestigious name or has graduated tens of thousands of graduates does not mean that it will provide you with what you need to succeed. Following are six secrets that most coach training programs don’t want you to know.
DIRTY SECRET ONE: They confuse training hours with getting results for clients.
Successful coaches learn how to get great results for clients. They understand the problems that leaders and managers face, and have practical, efficient methodologies to provide value. Unfortunately, most coach training programs don’t have a results focus. Instead, they provide a set number of training hours and send you on your way, the same way that driver’s education courses provide the state-required number of hours. Or they teach you the latest pseudo-scientific fad, as if that’s what executives and leaders crave. Coaching success is about knowing how to get results, not hours, not fads. Some coaches have had thousands of hours of training and coaching experience, and are still mediocre at best. At the Center for Executive Coaching, we are laser-focused on showing you how to deliver value and get results for clients. We also give you the training hours, but only with the intent of showing you how to help your clients succeed, so that you get rave reviews and loyal clients.
DIRTY SECRET TWO: All you get is ICF core competencies, which is necessary but not sufficient for success.
ICF core competencies are a great foundation. However, learning or even mastering those competencies is not nearly enough to become a successful coach. At the Center for Executive Coaching, when we discuss ICF and BCC core competencies we ask our members/students what is missing. It doesn’t take long to come up with a list of competencies required to establish a successful practice, think long-term about client success and relationships, use assessments (believe it or not, the ICF does not include assessments in their core competencies, and yet every successful coach I know has at least one assessment instrument), and manage a coaching business. For internal coaches, the ICF does not discuss how to build a successful internal coaching practice, including how to build credibility with internal constituents and clients.
DIRTY SECRET THREE: They assume all coaching is the same, when that is not true.
One of the largest coach training companies claims that “coaching is coaching.” Even though they teach what is called life coaching, they claim that their training applies to corporate coaching. It doesn’t. I know because I get calls from their graduates every day asking me to train them in how to coach corporate clients so that they can go beyond life coaching. Other programs say that they focus on executive and leadership coaching, but provide nothing more than a “coach light” approach. If you want to coach business owners, leaders, managers, and up-and-coming talent, you need an in-depth toolkit and set of methodologies. The Center for Executive Coaching gives you that.
DIRTY SECRET FOUR: They tell you it is easy to get hired as a corporate coach, without helping you with business development.
You won’t get clients by reaching out to your contacts and asking them about their coaching needs or by flaunting your recent coaching certificate. There is an art and a science to attracting top paying clients, or to attracting clients internally if you happen to be an internal coach. The Center for Executive Coaching provides you with the most robust business development guidance and support of any program in the market. I guarantee it. I work personally with our members to help you craft your unique and compelling positioning, messaging, and action plan to get known in the market and attract clients.
DIRTY SECRET FIVE: Other programs cut you loose after you are done with the program, so that you don’t get support when you really need it.
At the Center for Executive Coaching, you are a member for life. Graduates of our program contact us years after they have graduated to bounce ideas around, talk about a sticky client situation, get a pep talk when needed, and get insights about new business development ideas. We never cut you off. You are always a member and always encouraged to reach out anytime with questions or for support – at no cost. If you don’t believe me, check out our over 170 recommendations on our website at http://centerforexecutivecoaching.com/testimonials.cfm or my LinkedIn profile.
DIRTY SECRET SIX: The caliber of teachers is questionable.
A colleague of mine, an HR executive, recently interviewed a coach who teaches at a famous university coach training program and said, “I would never hire her. She was so arrogant and her coaching was a waste of time. I can’t believe she is a coach, let alone a coach trainer.” In other cases, what you get are coaches who don’t have much of a practice, and make a sizeable portion of their income teaching. Be careful. At the Center for Executive Coaching, I teach most classes personally. When other faculty members teach, they not only have coaching credentials, but also have a successful practice and significant experience getting results for clients.
The Center for Executive Coaching is a boutique executive, leadership, and business coach training organization that attracts great people who are passionate about coaching leaders, executives, managers, and up-and-coming talent with methods and processes that work. If this describes you, please visit our website at http://centerforexecutivecoaching.com to learn more and, if you like, schedule a call with me to discuss fit.