Skills Taught in ICF-approved Coach Training

Three of the skills taught in ICF-approved coach training include listening, asking questions, and providing support.  These skills certainly are applicable in coaching and they are applicable in all professions.  Leaders and families alike benefit from the learning in coach training.

1. Listen
How often have you observed a conversation and realized the other person is distracted? Listening is a top deficiency in the workplace and often in relationships too.  Because listening is the first step in communication, developing listening skills creates opportunities.

What happens without listening skills?  Miscommunication, conflict, missed deadlines.
What happens with listening skills?  Understanding, productivity, creative thinking.

Listen intentionally – focus physically and mentally on the speaker, anticipate rephrasing everything they say, and work to understand both their feelings and what they aren’t saying.

2. Ask
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to come up with a solution only to discover no one is listening to your ideas?  Is their follow-through likely when the idea is someone else’s?  Telling is easy; asking is effective.

What happens without asking? Intimidation, resentment, shut-down.
What happens with asking? Engagement, commitment, motivation.

Ask to empower and to get results.  Ask others their thoughts and ideas, and how to make it happen so that they develop the action plan and timeline to follow.

3. Support
Is support doing it for them or giving the answers?  No.  Support is encouragement, empowerment, and backing someone up whether or not you agree.  To earn the support of others, a leader starts by giving support.  A Coach is a partner and by definition of the relationship, supports the client.

What happens without support? Minimal effort, disinterest, mistakes.
What happens with support? Loyalty, enthusiasm, trust.

Give support because it works for everyone and creates positive outcomes.

These skills are part of the process when you become a business coach, complete life coaching certification, executive coach certification, or career coach certification.  These skills also add value in any profession and in any life.

Coaching Certification to Coaching Niche

After completing your ICF-approved coach training, to become a business coach, complete life coaching certification, executive coach certification, or career coach certification requires focus on your part and visible branding of that focus for prospective clients.  This week the blog posts focus on providing a step-by-step process for you to create your focus and begin branding your coaching services.

In addition to stating you have coaching certification, the essentials for your branding include the name, niche, and mission statement written for your ideal client.  Often new coaches start with naming their business.  If you are unsure, instead start by describing your ideal client so that your name, niche, and mission are chosen or written with them in mind.

To define your ideal client, think about the reasons you decided to complete executive coach certification, life coaching certification, or career coaching certification.  Take a blank piece of paper, and write answers to these questions: What triggered the idea?  What motivated you to want to coach?  Who did you think about coaching?  Who do you want to coach now?  Who do you want to coach in the future?  Who else? 

Next review what you wrote and start listing commonalities such as profession, age, gender, culture, their interests, socio economic status, and reasons they want a coach.

Once you have identified and described your ideal coaching client, write your mission statement defining your purpose, create a name that works for you target client, and define your niche areas based on providing value for your ideal client.

Coaching Certification is the First Step

When someone is interested in being a coach, what holds them back?  Because the coaching industry is uncontrolled, technically nothing is holding anyone back from calling themselves a coach.  Print a business card and start building a business.  Is that the smartest way to start?  The first barrier to a coaching business is credibility and quality of service.

For those who value learning, the process often begins with exploring different coaching certification options.  A quick search on the internet shows hundreds of programs that require anything from a few hours online to several years in school.  Some ICF-approved coach training programs are a few thousand dollars and others are over ten thousand.  Which coach training is the right one to become a business coach, complete life coaching certification, executive coach certification, or career coach certification?  The barrier to a coaching business may become one of time and money.

Because coaching is growing and so many are offering services, how does one coach become known in their market?  Coaching certification, experience, business savvy, and marketing abilities are what it takes to move past barriers and develop a thriving coaching business.

What holds coaches back from building a thriving coaching business?  Time and money for ICF-approved coach training, plus business knowledge, coaching skills, and the confidence to pull it all together.

Coaching Certification for the Language of Success

ICF-approved coach training to become a business coach, complete life coaching certification, executive coach certification, or career coach certification includes creating awareness of language, meaning, and the resulting behavior.  One of the most powerful skills developed in quality coaching certification is recognizing limiting language and using proactive language.

Each person is their own best expert so the job of a coach is to ask questions so the client explores possibilities and make choices.  During coaching, people often discover they are holding themselves back.
Consider a few examples:
When someone says ‘I’ll try,” how likely is their success?  The word ‘try’ actually tells their brain not to worry, that they don’t really have to do it.
Instead, saying “I will” or “I choose to” or “I want to” supports follow-through.
When someone says, “He makes me mad,” they are giving control of their own feelings to someone else.
Instead, saying “I am mad when this happens” means retaining ownership of feelings and affording the opportunity for a real conversation.
When someone says, “they will never understand,” the absolute statement blocks the possibility of understanding.
Instead, saying “I want to be understood – how will I make that happen?” creates a focus on the possibility and the action steps.

Coaching is a partnership focused on the success of the client, and a powerful tool for a coach to use in supporting their clients success is to recognize limiting language, ask questions to open the thinking, and model effective language.  Learning the information, practicing it, and applying it effectively takes time and is worth every bit of it!

For now, let’s start with a challenge:  This week, really listen to what people say and how they say it.  Ask yourself if it seems positive or negative.  Ask yourself is the conversation is stuck on the problem or exploring solutions.  Ask yourself what the likely outcome is based on what you hear.  Then, evaluate how the way it was said influenced your perceptions and the results.

What are your observations?