Use Executive Coaching Training or Earn Career Coach Certification for Whole Person Coaching

In whole person coaching, the coach takes time with the client to fully explore what they want in all areas of their life. Even when the focus of the coaching is on business or career, this makes sense because all areas of their life come to work with them. After exploring goals in all areas of their life, future sessions are focused on the business or career. Then, when something from their life is impacting them, the client is comfortable discussing it because of the whole person coaching process.

In whole person coaching, the client has an initial 90 minute session. When you choose to enroll in executive coaching training or earn your career coach certification, you will ask the client about what they want personally, in relationships, career, financially, health, and lifestyle. The coach listens, probes, and clarifies. The experience is amazing for the client because they think about what they want in all areas, and they say it out loud which creates a new level of awareness and focus.

During this coaching session, when you choose to enroll in executive coaching training or earn your career coach certification, you are focused completely on the client. It is the coach’s responsibility to recognize the client’s personality in the moment so the coach can effectively adjust to the client. This is essential because we all have different sides of our personality at different times. The coach is also aware of client language patterns because questions are formulated based both on what the client says and how they say it.

After this full exploration, the next step in the coaching process is providing a tool so that the client maintains their focus and creates the habits they want to support the goals they choose.

Executive Coaching Training or Coaching Certification

In executive coaching training you will learn that the coaching process can be focused on a specific purpose or encompass the whole person, and ideally is balanced. Sometimes a coach talks with the client about the different processes and gives the client the option. Other times the coach explains the process they use and the client chooses whether this is the right approach for them. If the process is focused on a specific purpose, then the only thing addressed in the coaching conversations is that specific purpose.

According to Harvard Business Review, 76% of the times in executive coaching personal issues are addressed too. After executive coaching training, you can create a process that encompasses the whole person which starts with the acknowledgement that everything in an individual’s life is part of them and influences the other areas of their life. Based on that, the coach explores the big picture with the client asking about what they want in all areas of their life. Then coaching sessions address both personal goals and professional or specific purpose goals. The balance is to start with exploring the big picture and an overall focus, then move into a focus on a specific purpose. Occasionally personal things come up and because of the initial exploration of the big picture the client knows the coach is aware and can effectively support them in addressing challenges and planning.

Successful graduates of coaching certification understand that ultimately the coaching process is for the client so the over-all strategy for the relationship and the progression of individual coaching sessions are their choice. The coach simply provides perspective on the options and then the client chooses. The coach then partners with the client using the process that best serves the client.

Explaining Coaching: Considering Business Coaching Training or Coaching Certification?

It is important to truly understand what coaching is before committing to coaching certification. Consider this approach to explain coaching: Coaching is a strategic partnership in which the Coach empowers the Client to clarify goals, create action plans, move past obstacles, and achieve what the client chooses. The Coach serves the client with a focus on possibilities and follow-through.

Alternatively: Coaching is a partnership in which the Coach empowers the client to consider what the client does want in their life, move past their barriers, and create their own plan. Coaches serve the client by exploring possibilities, providing perspective, creating accountability, and enhancing follow-through.

Each coach explains coaching differently because in that way their approach comes through. Generally it is a variation or combination of the ICF definition and something like the above. Ultimately, it is about letting people know that the coach provides a process wherein the client taps their own expertise and formulates their own plan. This is the basis for all coaching and being mindful of this will enhance your business coaching training.

Coaching provides such amazing results because when someone explores their own possibilities, chooses their own goals, develops their own strategy, and defines their own action steps, then it truly is theirs and follow-through is increased exponentially.

What does a coach do? A coach serves the client by providing the space to think, explore, and talk. The coach helps the client by asking clarifying and probing questions. The coach expands the thinking of the client and challenges the thinking by asking powerful questions. Then the coach supports the client in defining their strategy and action steps. The coach is an accountability partner and encourages celebrating progress and success. The coach empowers the client to be their own best expert.

Coaching Certification or Life Coach Training for a Forward Focus

Coaching is about a client’s goals.  In coaching sessions, clients explore what they want to accomplish and plan how to make it happen.  This is different from mental health in that the coach does not spend time working with the client to resolve past issues.  It is different from consulting because the coach is not analyzing the client and then providing a recommended plan of action.  Coaching Certification and Life Coach Training teach listening to the client, asking questions, and empowering the client to explore possibilities and process options.

When a client begins thinking about their goals, it often starts with identifying what they do not like in their current situation.  The focus of the thinking is on the problem.  A coach works with the client to focus on solutions and on what they want to achieve in the future.

A client might define a goal in terms of what they do not want.  For example, a client might not want to be stressed.  If the goal is to “not be stressed” then the focus is on the stress.  The coach asks the client, “When you are not stressed, what are you?”  The client might say they are relaxed or calm; when the client describes what they will be, the coach says, “So the goal is to be calm.”  The focus is now forward on what the client does want.

The nuances of the words influence how the mind hears, processes, decides, and acts.  Through Coaching Certification and Life Coach Training, a coach is trained to work with the client to create the forward focus so that the client achieves more easily.

Business Coaching Certification and Executive Coaching Certification for Success

An excellent starting point for developing success is to understand three principals taught in Business Coaching Certification and Executive Coaching Certification and begin practicing the approach that creates success.

1. Speak in Specific and Accurate terms – Statements that delete, distort, or generalize limit understanding and positive, proactive planning.

Without a clear understanding of the circumstances, clear thinking and decision-making are less likely.  Consider this example: A client states that they can’t do it.  This deletes information – the reason; distorts – does not look at how it could be done; generalizes – ‘can’t’ is a broad statement. 

A coach asks: What is preventing you?  What are the possibilities for making it work?  How will you move past the barriers to make it happen?

2. Keep it Positive – The path of least resistance is often negative and human beings have a tendency toward it. 

Think about the difference between these: debt-free versus financially free; no stress versus relaxed; not work so many hours versus balanced schedule. 

A coach asks: If you are debt-free, what does that mean?  If you are not stressed, what are you?  If you are not working too much, what is your schedule?

3. Talk about what you Do Want – When people communicate, only seven percent of the words are heard and understood, and negative statements reinforce the negative.

Read this out loud to yourself: The horse did not jump the fence and run over three children.  Now, what did your brain process?  Most people think ‘a horse jumping over a fence and running over three children.’  The human brain often fails to process in the negative, so the ‘did not’ or ‘don’t’ gets lost.  “Don’t forget” often = forget. 

The coach asks: “If you don’t forget, what are you doing?”  “Remembering.”  When the client says they do not want to be overweight or that they want to lose weight, the coach asks, “what is your ideal weight or size?”  The goal is what they do want.

How will you use this information?

Business Coaching Training and Career Coach Certification for the Language of Success

Because each person is their own best expert, the role of a coach is to ask questions that open the door for an individual to explore their own possibilities and make their own choices. 

People often hold themselves back unconsciously.  This means that coaches with business coaching training or career coach certification are equipped to uniquely support successful outcomes.
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.  Their brain says, “Ok, you are the boss so I won’t…”
• When someone says, “He makes me mad,” they are giving control of their own feelings to someone else.
• When someone says, “they will never understand,” the absolute statement does not even allow for the possibility of understanding.

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! 

The three principals coach training encompasses:

• clarity of meaning
• positive and proactive focus
• intentionally thinking and speaking in terms of the desired result

Sit back and 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.

3 Pillars from Coach Training for Leaders and Coaches

Coach training creates successful leaders.  The role of a leader has changed, and now leadership skills are more aligned than ever with coaching skills.  Three of the skills are pillars of both roles; consider the application and implication of each.

1. Listen
How often have you observed a conversation and thought to yourself, “they really don’t get what is being said?”  Communication is a top deficiency in the workplace and because listening is the first communication skill, those that develop listening skills create more 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, summarize what 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 to others situations?  Is the follow-through as assured if 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 – ask others their thoughts and ideas, and how to make it happen so that they develop the action plan and timeline and they own the follow-through.

3. Support
What is support?  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.

Support because people matter – show you care to earn the privilege of leading or coaching.