Yes, you can become a coach, but…
When you are in the coach training business for ten years, then it is safe to say that you have seen the full spectrum of personalities that want to, aspire to or demand to become coaches. The same goes for coaching instructors, but this is not our focus today. The mission of this “blog area” is to transfer knowledge. Hence our blog area being called a Wealth of Knowledge. We aim to deliver content that will teach. Unique content that will help you be unique, as well. Content that will open your mind.
Let’s pause here for a minute. If you felt sort of squeamish with the claim “content that will open your mind”, then keep reading. If you felt anger, then we might disappoint you by the end of this article. There is a reason we say so. After a decade in the coach training market, we have seen that those who get really upset to the point of anger when it comes to “becoming disciplined and developing an open mind” through any type of serious coaching course, those are the ones who might leave and choose another academy or school, or hide their emotions hoping to get a certificate and start a new career to make it big, or, surprise, surprise, make the biggest change. The latter are the ones we love the most.
Do not misunderstand me. Of course we love those who come with an open mind or with the awareness that only if they develop their competence to be non-judgemental to the point it benefits the profession of coaching and themselves can they complete any one of our courses. Note that we will talk about the need to actually BE judgemental during a coaching session in a future article.
So, yes, you can become a coach. If you want to have a piece of paper that says so. Anyone can do that. Anyone can see that piece of paper as the key to a brighter financial future. Or even a social future. As a coach you will get to meet people, have a reason to dabble with the social media, create video content, try to get on podcasts, the local newspaper or even on TV. All that sounds exciting. The glamour of being a coach rubs off on you and unless you know why you are training to become a coach, you are most likely to fall in the category of those who “demand to get that certificate”.
Whether it is training as an executive coach, or a life or health & wellness coach – all niches in between included- the needs are rather similar. Everyone comes to the Academy for their own reasons. As an institution that supports equality, diversity and inclusion, we are committed to giving everyone the opportunity to tell their story and apply for one of our courses. However, we are one of those schools that also practises the competencies that they teach. We use those competencies during the admission interview. It is inevitable for a coach who has developed the ability to establish great rapport and make the other open up fairly quickly to be able to see one’s true colours.
The question remains: will you trust us to teach you those same competencies and become a great coach with an open mind or will you feel anger for our coaching ability to discern who you are and what your needs may be even before you express them in your own words?
