For most people, they join coaching courses because of these main reasons
(a) To learn coaching skills
(b) To be part of a support network
(c) To get coaching/business opportunities
(d) To get certification so they can “officially” call themselves a coach – hence entering the field proper
(e) To establish credibility among clients, potential clients, and others in the industry.
(b) To be part of a support network
(c) To get coaching/business opportunities
(d) To get certification so they can “officially” call themselves a coach – hence entering the field proper
(e) To establish credibility among clients, potential clients, and others in the industry.
If you want to sign up for a coaching course for reasons (a), (b) and possibly (c), then yes, a coaching course would be good for you. But if you’re joining a coaching course for the other reasons and not primarily for (a), then perhaps you should reconsider.
Firstly, you don’t need to take a coaching course before you can “officially” call yourself a coach. A coach refers to anyone who’s teaching someone something. As long as there’s something which you have expertise in, something which you can teach others, then you can already be a coach.
Secondly, attending a coaching course isn’t necessary if your intention is to establish credibility. I mean it helps, but it’s not the only way to do so.
The reason why coaching qualifications help establish credibility is because a qualification is typically linked with having expertise. However, there are many (other) things that indicate one’s expertise – for example: one’s real life achievements in the area he/she is coaching, his/her track record, the quality of advice he/she dispenses, testimonials of people who have been coached by him/her, number of people seeking coaching from him/her, results of clients under his/her wing, etc.
For example, let’s say you want to learn about how to build a successful blog. Would you seek coaching from (a) someone who has no blogging certification but is running a highly successful blog with millions of visitors or (b) someone who has a certification from completing a blogging course, but runs a generic blog which no one has ever heard of?
I don’t know about the people out there, but I would personally pick (a). That’s because it’s more important to me that the person has personally achieved the very things he/she is trying to coach others on – which directly signifies knowledge and skill in the area, as well as insight on barriers one may face, and how to overcome them.
For those who are interested to be coaches, my recommendation is to focus on the things that *do* play a role in being a great coach. This would include
- Skill and knowledge level in the area you want to be coaching others on
- Soft skills like active listening, analytical ability and empathy, and
- Your consciousness level
These three things are part of what makes a great coach. In the event where a coaching course would help you to be better in these areas, sign up for them. In the event it doesn’t, then don’t.
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