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The Foundational Cohort to Earn the ACC

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Cathy Liska

As the journey to becoming a coach is explored, many are learning that the International Coaching Federation, ICF, is in the process of transitioning to new standards for coach training.  This is exciting!  The new standards include requirements for the coach training organizations and increase the minimum training hours for a program. Foundational Cohort

What does this mean for someone starting the coaching journey?  The a-la-carte approach will continue to be an option.  The more expedient and less expensive route will be the all-in-one cohort option.

  • For the a-la-carte approach to the ACC, the Certified Professional Coach, Certified Master Coach, and Mentor Coaching programs can be registered for independently to accommodate busy schedules.
  • For the all-in-one approach to earn the ACC this year, the Foundational Cohort includes all three of these programs at a discounted rate and as an added benefit it is one group moving through together.

The good news is that all of these programs are designed to meet ICF standards, are currently accredited as ACSTH or ACTP, and are pending the transition to Level 1 and 2 accreditation by ICF.

Learn more about becoming a coach at https://www.coachcert.com/resources/faqs/how-to-become-a-coach.html

For the a-la-carte approach, the next 30-hour Certified Professional Coach program starts July 12 – https://www.coachcert.com/training/certified-professional-coach/certification-program-schedule.html

For the all-in-one approach to earn the ACC credential, the next Foundational Cohort starts July 18 – https://www.coachcert.com/training/credentialing-cohorts/icf-credentialing-cohort-schedules.html

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Becoming a Coach

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Cathy Liska

What is the path to becoming a coach?  To state the obvious, as with any profession it starts with education — training. Interestingly enough, it is often asked whether other education or training suffices.  Think about it this way: if a medical doctor decides to be a dentist, since they are already a doctor do they require additional training?  If an accountant wants to be a financial planner, does that require different training?  The answer in both cases is yes.  The work is different and for that reason the training is different. Becoming a Coach

What training is right for becoming a coach?  The gold standard for this is training that is accredited by the International Coaching Federation, ICF.  The requirements for this dictate that, amongst other things, the training must develop the core competencies of a coach and teach the coaching Code of Ethics.

How much coaching-specific training is required?  The ICF requires 60 hours of training to join the organization as a coaching professional.  This is much like earning a two-year associates degree.  To earn the ACC credential the ICF requires, in addition to the 60 training hours, 10 hours of mentor coaching, 100 hours of experience coaching, passing an assessment of a recorded coaching session, and passing the Coach Knowledge Assessment exam.  To earn the PCC credential the training hours increase to 125, the coaching experience increases to 500 hours, and two recorded coaching sessions must pass assessment at the PCC level in addition to the exam.  The PCC credential is much like earning a master’s degree.  To earn the MCC credential the ICF requires that you first earn and hold the PCC for three years.  The MCC calls for 200 hours of training and 2500 hours of coaching experience in addition to two recordings at the MCC level.

What are the options for this path?  Training may be done in an a-la-carte approach with blocks of 30 hours or it may be completed in an all-in-one cohort that includes the training, mentor coaching, and assessing of your recording(s).

For the a-la-carte approach, the next 30-hour Certified Professional Coach program starts July 12 – https://www.coachcert.com/training/certified-professional-coach/certification-program-schedule.html

For the all-in-one to earn the ACC credential, the next cohort starts July 18 – https://www.coachcert.com/training/credentialing-cohorts/icf-credentialing-cohort-schedules.html

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The Impact of Coaching

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Cathy Liska

How have you seen leaders change through coaching?

To help you recognize how coaching can change leaders, we asked experienced coaches and business leaders this question for their best insights. From gaining empathy to becoming more approachable, there are several ways that coaching has helped professionals bring positive changes into their leadership roles.

Here are 10 ways coaching impacts leaders:

  • Leaders Gain Empathy from Coaching
  • Leaders Learn To be Persuasive Motivators
  • Coaching Makes Leaders Understand Their Leadership Style
  • Leaders Learn To Be Patient
  • Leaders Realize Challenging Authority is Not Disrespect
  • Leaders Learn To Build Effective Teams
  • Coaching Makes Leaders More Self-Aware
  • Leaders Communicate More Effectively With Their Team
  • Leaders Start Taking Obstacles as Opportunities
  • Leaders Become More Approachable

The Impact of Coaching

Leaders Gain Empathy from Coaching

The demands of a leadership role can make it pretty easy to lose sight of the demands faced by subordinates. Coaching can help leaders take a step back and take a more holistic view of their individual teammates. What makes their roles difficult? What challenges are they facing outside of work? Where is there friction within the team? When leaders learn to step away from the focus on the bottom line and learn to ask questions like these, they’ll get a fuller picture of what’s making their business tick — and they’ll be able to do more to set up their teams for success.

Leaders Learn to be Persuasive Motivators

Leaders can often learn to be more persuasive motivators through coaching. Some leaders can be harsh which is a turn off to the people they manage and can actually be counterproductive for encouraging the best work from team members. Leadership coaching can encourage more thoughtfulness and a strategic approach to dealing with team members even in high-pressure situations. Yelling and other displays of frustration can discredit a leader. Coaching can teach leaders to be calm and their calmness can inspire great results from their team members. A leader’s calm demeanor can often persuade their team in guaranteeing a good outcome and this development is achieved through effective coaching.

Coaching Makes Leaders Understand Their Leadership Style

Coaching makes you more aware of your leadership style. Leadership coaching teaches you to capitalize on your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses through effective delegation and collaboration. It opens your eyes to how your natural inclinations as a leader affect your team. You learn how to be authentic and adapt to your team’s needs.

Makes Leaders Learn To Be Patient

When the leaders are new, some don’t know how to bring patience into their life. They have no control over their actions and they expect a lot from their actions. But with coaching, I’ve seen leaders developing more patience and learning to be patient in regard to their actions. As a leader, keeping a cool mind is crucial to take important decisions as in business, every action you’re taking is very critical for a business. And when a leader has it, they take every action before thinking thoroughly about the situation and what could be the outcomes which can sometimes save the business.

Leaders Realize Challenging Authority is Not Disrespect

We always point out mistakes to ourselves, but pointing out a mistake to a person in authority is a surefire way to be noticed – whether the reception is good or bad depends solely on the receiver.

My key takeaway from my coaching is: I should never be offended if anyone corrects me or challenges my authority because this hinders progress and growth.

I’ve learned through coaching that many subordinates do not inform their leaders or higher-ups of mistakes or bad decisions because they’re afraid to be smart-shamed, and this leads to repression of what they have to say; which, in turn, leads to the higher-ups committing the same mistake over and over until someone notices, or they notice it themselves. These small things tend to blow up out of proportion and can even cost clients.

Leaders Learn to Build Effective Teams

Leaders who are coached on how to build effective teams are better able to create a shared vision, establish clear roles and responsibilities, delegate tasks effectively, and provide feedback that leads to positive results. They learn how to identify the strengths and weaknesses of team members and how to put together a group of people that complement each other’s skills. Team building is an essential skill for leaders because it allows them to get the most out of their employees and create a work environment that is conducive to success.

Coaching Makes Leaders More Self-Aware

One way leaders change through coaching is by becoming more self-aware. We become better able to understand and reflect on strengths and weaknesses and how we relate to others. Coaching helps us to develop a deeper understanding of our motivations and goals, and to clarify our own values and priorities.

A leadership coach acts as a participative audience, allowing us to get detailed insight into an outsider’s perspective of our approach. Self-awareness comes when we can see ourselves through the lens of the coach and realize that our unique struggles can be broken down into common and conquerable ones.

Leaders Communicate More Effectively with Their Team

I have seen leaders change through coaching in a number of ways. The most common way I see leaders change is through their ability to more effectively communicate with their team. Leaders who are coached learn to listen more, be more present, and ask more probing questions. This allows them to better understand the needs of their team and how to best motivate and inspire them. Additionally, leaders who are coached also tend to become more self-aware and are able to more effectively manage their emotions. This leads to them being more even-keeled, which fosters a calm and collected environment within their team.

  • Farhan Advani, BHPH

Leaders Start Taking Obstacles as Opportunities

With a coach putting the leader through challenges and hardships, the leader learns to be resilient. Leaders can adapt themselves better and grow in difficult situations. I have seen leaders have a confident approach to obstacles. They learn to be flexible and think out of the box which lets them rise through any difficulty. I have seen leaders who used to feel anxious over hurdles, learn to turn obstacles into opportunities for progress. Whether it is making a product strategy up based on the situation that leads to better outcomes or dealing with a team setback, leadership coaching molds them to accept setbacks with an open mind.

Leaders Become More Approachable

Approachability: It’s amazing to experience a leader’s transformation, and I’d say it’s more felt than seen. Being able to have more open conversations and ask questions without having to also think about disrupting their work brings more ease to interactions. Someone who’s been able to (with the help of a coach) see their laser-focused efforts as potentially closed or guarded from another perspective means they’re more mindful and intentional about being available. There’s more room for mutual feedback and growth, and asking for help doesn’t have to feel intrusive when I know they’re working on how to show up more visibly open and available.

  • Marilyn Zubak, Snif

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Success Stories from Coach Training and Coaching

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Cathy Liska

How have you benefited from coach training or coaching?

To help you see the benefits of coach training, we asked CEOs and business leaders this question for their first-hand experiences. From learning to wait for the best answer to becoming a better leader overall, there are several benefits gained from coach training and leadership coaching that may help you improve your personal and professional life.

Here are 10 success stories from coach training and coaching:

  • Learned To Wait for The Best Answer
  • Gained More Confidence and Better Decision-making Ability
  • Guided and Empowered To Make Career Change
  • Helped Improve Work and Life Satisfaction
  • Learned To Plan and Prioritize
  • Made Me Engage Better With Others
  • Able To Communicate Better
  • Learned To Exercise Patience
  • Became a Better Listener
  • Became a Better Leader Overall

Success Stories from Coach Training and Coaching

Learned To Wait for The Best Answer

I learned a very powerful lesson – the best answer is often not your first answer. When I was taking a coaching mastery class, our instructor had us do a coaching session with another student. We were to be the coach and the person being coached and in between each question asked and answered we waited 30 seconds. I was the one being coached and it was amazing to me that with each question I asked, if we had not been waiting for 30 seconds, my first answer was very flippant. Usually funny and meant to entertain but somewhere around the 20 second mark, the defenses would drop and another answer emerged. I learned a lot about my own ability to trust the process, trusting the coach and trusting myself with creating the best answer for myself. Sometimes we are rushed to be the experts or look like we always have the perfect answer – RIGHT NOW. But when we give ourselves the space and trust we need, we can create the best answer for ourselves.

Gained More Confidence and Better Decision-making Ability

Coaching has helped me become more confident in my decision-making ability and has given me the tools to handle difficult situations with grace and composure. I have become more aware of my own personal strengths and weaknesses, and how to use these to my advantage in order to achieve greater success in business and my personal life.

Guided and Empowered to Make Career Change

In my late 30’s, I hired a life coach to help me with my personal relationships. While she helped me with my relationships with my wife, daughter, and friends, her biggest impact was in my business.

Working with that coach helped me admit that I didn’t like practicing law. But more importantly, she helped me see that it wasn’t too late to make a change (even after 15 years of practice). She challenged me to imagine a business I actually liked running, and that set me down the path of forming my own online business selling legal templates. I now have a life and business I truly love. All thanks to working with a life coach.

  • Bobby Klinck, com

Helped Improve Work and Life Satisfaction

Leadership coaching helped me to step back and re-assess my work/life approach to improve my overall work and life satisfaction. Finding ways to improve my work/life balance and focus on my own satisfaction helped me to become a better leader and grow my business as well. These are the kind of areas that coaches can tap in to see the potential and push you towards it. I’m thrilled about the progress I made so far, and it made me much more satisfied with my work and life.

Learned To Plan and Prioritize

Better time management. With today’s plethora of distractions, wasting time on the wrong things is almost inevitable without a plan or a coach to help navigate our to-do list mind fields. The notion that each day’s three most important tasks must be completed before tackling any other work has been a game changer for us. Knowing a coach is there to keep us accountable for completing the important tasks is a massive benefit as well and helps propel us further than we could go on our own.

Made Me Engage Better with Others

I once had a colleague who was interviewing for a promotion. Management asked him how he would rate his performance in his current role. He rated himself a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Not surprisingly, he was not selected for the role. His high rating of himself signaled to the interviewers that he may not be receptive to coaching and feedback.

I’ve found that my openness to coaching has served me well in two ways. I generally assume my coach is bringing valuable insights, so I take the feedback to heart. My client interactions have become more productive and in turn, my clients are more engaged. Even when I find my supervisor’s feedback to contrast with my own style or technique, I’m receptive without challenging him or her. I not only make sure I’m receptive to my supervisor’s coaching, but I actively seek out coaching from successful colleagues. It takes a degree of humility to recognize that there is always room for improvement. If growth means success, then coaching brings success.

Able To Communicate Better

Effective communication can make a team and a loyal customer base. Coaching led me to have better communication skills with my team and the clients. I learned to listen better to my team and use appropriate body language. Even my skills in responding to emails and talking to clients have improved. Through coach training, I learned how to keep a positive attitude toward people which led to getting positive responses from them. My verbal and written communication skills have improved considerably due to coaching. I have learned how to prioritize communication and constantly work on communicating with the people around me.

Learned To Exercise Patience

Patience is something I learned from visiting with a career coach. When I was younger, I was so anxious to get out and achieve, that I would rush through my work and inevitably make mistakes. Today, I know to give myself a break and not push myself too hard to the point where I will begin to burn out.

Became a Better Listener

I learned how to listen to my team. I didn’t know how to actually listen to my team effectively. Before coach training, I thought I knew how to handle a team, hear employee feedback and make changes where necessary, but I didn’t realize I wasn’t actively listening to what my team had to say. Through coaching, I learned how to really pay attention to what my team was telling me, ask the right follow-up questions and take immediate action to make those changes. I think we all take listening for granted, but active listening is an entirely new skill I learned through coach training and has made all the difference in how I work with my team or how our company operates.

Became a Better Leader Overall

I have learned how to be a more effective leader, how to better motivate and inspire my team, and how to create a more positive and productive work environment. The thing about leadership coaching is that not only do you receive actionable feedback on your own approach, but you also get to see in real-time what kind of approach inspires others to improve. Leadership coaches aren’t just mentors, they’re role models, allowing you to experience good leadership techniques from a new, refreshing viewpoint: as a follower. This is why I feel like coaching is a good idea even for established leaders and managers because, after years, it’s easy to fall out of touch when you only ever see leadership from one perspective.

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

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HR Management – Benefits of Engaging Strategic Planning in Your Organization, Part 2

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Cathy Liska

www.contentcampfire.com

As we stated in our previous post, most organizations recognize the significance of strategic planning and invest quite a bit of time and funds into developing their strategic plan. Let’s continue the discussion where we left off. HR Management- Benefits of Engaging Strategic Planning in Your Organization, Part 2

Higher profitability and market share

A strategic plan gives a company valuable insight into market trends, consumer segments, and product and service offerings. This insight has a significant affect on success. As a result, a company has a well-targeted and strategized approach to increasing profits and market shares.

Enhanced employee-employer communication

Communication is a crucial part of strategic planning success. Effective communication between managers and employees helps them become more creative and innovative. Open avenues between all parties mean everyone is working towards the same goals. Hence, it promotes further growth of the company.

Tips to Establish an HR Strategic Plan

Below are some simple steps to effectively implement a strategic planning process in your organization:

Formulate a plan of action

Keep the organization’s long-term goals in mind when planning. Performing a SWOT analysis is a considerable part of formulating a strategy. After all, it’s helpful to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the organization to understand its current situation and ways to improve. From there you can plan actions.

Implement the strategy

After you’ve formulated the strategy, it’s time to implement it effectively. Project managers and team leaders play a huge role in this step. According to Project Manager Job Descriptions – The Ultimate Guide, these roles must be able to understand and implement internal protocols. The success of any strategy relies on how well upper management communicates it to their employees.

Assess the system

The final step is to monitor and evaluate progress in line with the achievement of strategic objectives. Keep in mind that success today won’t guarantee success tomorrow. With that in mind, actively assessing the performance of strategies and continuously making improvements is the key to true success.

Partner

Each step of the way use a coaching approach to partner with people on your team so they are fully engaged and motivated to support the effort.

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HR Management: Benefits of Engaging Strategic Planning in Your Organization, Part 1

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Cathy Liska

www.contentcampfire.com

Most organizations recognize the significance of strategic planning and invest quite a bit of time and funds into developing their strategic plan. 89% of organizations only review it once a year, so most of the time it is sitting on the shelf or in a forgotten file. This is because many organizations fail to commit fully and seriously dive into the strategic planning process. They fail to involve employees and communication on it is limited. You may be wondering if it’s worth it, and yes, it is! There are plenty of benefits that strategic planning can bring to your organization. Still not entirely convinced? Sit tight, read on, and discover more about the world of strategic planning. HR Management- Benefits of Engaging Strategic Planning in Your Organization, Part 1

What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is the process of creating specific business strategies, implementing them, and evaluating their results against the company’s long-term goals. This planning highlights the integration of different departments like accounting, finance, marketing, and human resources to accomplish a company’s strategic objectives.

Benefits of HR Strategic Planning

The Human Resource department’s alignment with a company’s overall business strategy is critical. It helps the company anticipate and respond to customers and maintain an advantage over competitors. Overall, it promotes a successful implementation of an organization’s business strategies. Other benefits of strategic planning are:

A more proactive organization

Strategic planning helps organizations prepare for the future, making them proactive rather than simply reacting to arising situations. The process helps them to anticipate unfavorable scenarios so they can take steps to avoid them. From a big-picture perspective, this prepares a company to stay on top and keep up with constantly changing market trends.

Better sense of direction

Another benefit of strategic planning is helping companies define their direction. This objective is accomplished by establishing realistic and clear goals and objectives. Then, a company can be sure its goals are fully aligned with the organization’s overarching vision and mission. With a defined direction also comes boundaries that make for efficient decision-making.

The conversation continues!

More in our next blog where you can read the conclusion of “HR Management: Benefits of Engaging Strategic Planning in Your Organization”.  Until then, you can read more about the Center for Coaching Certification at https://www.CoachCert.com

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11 Benefits of Coaching Skills for All Professionals

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Cathy Liska

How do coaching skills serve professionals in other fields?

To help you see how coaching skills serve professionals in other fields, we asked business leaders and people managers this question for their best insights. From developing the ability to deal with crunch situations to learning to support colleagues and teams, there are several qualities of coaching skills that translate well and benefit professionals working in other professional fields. 11 Benefits of Coaching Skills for All Professionals

Here are 11 benefits of coaching skills for all professional fields:

  • Develop Ability to Deal with Crunch Situations
  • Achieve Work-Life Integration
  • Broadens Perspectives
  • Develop Persistence
  • Cultivate Managerial Abilities
  • Learn to Empathize
  • Build Professional Networks
  • Know How to Ask the Right Questions
  • Uncover Challenging Experiences
  • Identify and Remove Blind Spots
  • Learn to Support Colleagues and Teams

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Develop Ability to Deal with Crunch Situations

Every coach who has been up against a tough opponent and led his team out of crunch situations knows that every bit of knowledge, experience, instinct, and foresight comes into play during these times. And at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, these plays and circumstances are no different from some of the situations that play out in boardrooms and workplaces around the world. This is why professionals in every field, irrespective of the industry they work in or the position they hold, can highly benefit from some experience with coaching skills or at least some insight into how it all goes down when everything seems to be going against the team but the option to give up is not even a consideration.

Achieve Work-Life Integration

People who receive coaching take the time to identify their own priorities and seek to make them a bigger part of their lives. That, I believe, empowers individuals to achieve a better work-life balance. These people have higher levels of job and life happiness. This can be related to better self-care as well as greater alignment with their goals.

Broaden Perspectives

One of the biggest advantages of coaching professionals within the workplace is the opportunity for an exchange of ideas and perspectives. Mentoring is the perfect opportunity to collaborate and share thoughts on topics related to your role and the industry you work in. The person doing the coaching stands to benefit just as much as the person they’re coaching and can even give them an idea of how to more effectively act as a mentor in the future.

Develop Persistence

Persistence is a key coaching quality that can be applied not only to different job fields, but to overall life. Everyone can benefit from working hard towards a particular goal, whether it be a professional or personal one. An adept coach is focused on completing a project and encourages others without getting discouraged. Coaches see obstacles not as challenges, but as ways to improve. Having persistence will motivate others to keep pressing forward despite potential difficulties.

  • Jonathan Zacharias, GR0

Cultivate Managerial Abilities

When I counsel candidates with coaching skills, I encourage them to take a long-term view of their career. You may be applying for a non-managerial position, but companies tend to promote from within and want to see managerial potential. Great coaches make great managers. They identify potential in their subordinates and know how to help mold them into the best versions of their professional selves. Strong anecdotes and previous experience in using coaching for good can really make a candidate stand out and win a new job.

Learn to Empathize

Coaching skills are essential for professionals in all fields because they enable them to build relationships of trust with their clients or customers. Coaching skills help professionals to empathize with their clients, which allows them to understand their clients’ needs and desires. Professionals who can empathize with their clients are better able to provide them with what they need, which leads to happier customers and more successful businesses.

Build Professional Networks

Professionals with coaching skills tend to have more extensive networks. Your ability to educate colleagues and leaders within your field of expertise aids in building strong, trusting professional relationships. As you grow in your career, a strong book of contacts can act as a lifeline for new opportunities. After all, many co-founders meet each other by working side by side.

Know How to Ask the Right Questions

Most people are focused on having the right ANSWERS. But, if you are answering the wrong question, the “right” answer does no good. A coach is trained to ask powerful, insightful questions. A great coach is an effective decision-framer. This is a very useful skill in almost any field. Asking yourself, your team, and/or your colleagues a relevant and useful question is an advantage.

Uncover Challenging Experiences

Professionals often assume that they have to share many extraordinary stories with clients when they start their own business, however, in fact, what seems insignificant to us in other fields can be incredibly influential to use already acquired professional skills. Being able to uncover challenging experiences in the professional expertise and the things that went both wrong and right will give a baseline and opportunity in the other fields as an example if the problem occurs.

Identify and Remove Blind Spots

Professional and life coaches help their clients set and achieve goals. The best coaches can also help their clients break through limiting mindsets and inner blocks that hold them back.  If the coach is truly honest and transparent, they should also point out a client’s “blind spots,” areas that a client needs to work on of which they are likely not aware.

Finally, a good coach will hold their clients accountable to the goals and action plans that the client lays out. Personal accountability is important because most people are challenged in keeping commitments to themselves. Coaching can help any type of professional be a better leader, improve their skills and reach new personal and professional heights.

Learn to Support Colleagues and Teams

So much of coaching is about encouraging your team, pointing out what they’re doing well, and working on what to improve next time. No matter what profession you’re in, you’ll always be asked to strategize, problem-solve and work with a team effectively. If you’ve got coaching skills, then you’ve got everything you need to successfully lead a team, join a team or create a team in the professional world.

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12 Tips for Finding a Coach

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Cathy Liska

What is one tip for finding and hiring a coach?

To help you discover the best coach for you, we asked CEOs and business leaders this question for their best advice. From starting with your goals to doing thorough background checks, there are several ideas that may help you find and hire a coach that fits your needs and enhances you as an individual.

Here are 12 tips for finding a coach:

  • Start With Your Goals
  • Get Referrals and Recommendations
  • Consult The Local Business Incubator Program
  • Hire Someone with a Progressive Mindset
  • Avoid Empty Promises from Potential Coach
  • Find One Who Can Teach You To Be Independent
  • Interview Your Prospective Coach
  • Make The Most from Free Chemistry Calls
  • Check Their Track Record
  • Make Sure Your Coach is ICF Certified
  • Try Out a Few and Choose One
  • Do Thorough Background Checks

12 Tips for Finding a Coach

Start With Your Goals

Searching for a coach begins with deciding what you are hoping to accomplish. Then you can google coaches in that arena. Do your research. Check them out on LinkedIn, see what they are talking about online, and schedule a discovery call with them. It’s important to pay attention to how you feel while you are engaging with them. If it feels like an uncomfortable conversation, it’s probably not the right fit.

Diane Helbig, Helbig Enterprises

Get Referrals and Recommendations

When looking for a coach, your best bet is to get some referrals and recommendations. The best coaches will have a buzz about them, and their fans will only be too happy to recommend them. Ask around, talk to people, and gauge their thoughts about who would be best. This will enable you to make the right decision about finding and hiring the best coach for your goals.

Debra Hildebrand, Hildebrand Solutions, LLC

Consult The Local Business Incubator Program

We looked to the local business incubator to find a coach. Coaches through incubator programs are licensed, vetted, and have created their businesses. They are donating part of their time to the program, so you don’t incur a cost, or at least not the full cost. These business coaches can guide you from the start of your idea, through business plans, financing, and marketing. They will sit with you to create a profitability chart to see how much business you need versus expenses to make your profit goals.

Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure

Hire Someone With Progressive Mindset

An exceptional coach helps your company thrive by offering new ideas to the table. A coach who possesses non-traditional ideologies allows you to discover things that can unlock the true potential of your business. When you hire a coach with a progressive mindset, you must be willing to let go of your outdated practices. You have to be open to endless possibilities which give way to innovations and breakthroughs. Allow them to express themselves. Listen to them and do whatever they say. The main reason why you need a coach in the first place is to look for someone who can guide you to your destination.

Jake Smith, Absolute Reg

Avoid Those Who Promise Rapid Results

When seeking a coach, do extensive research and avoid those who promise rapid results. Promises of overnight success is one quality of a poor coach. No one can guarantee results that quickly. Remember that the client is responsible for her own results, and that everyone makes progress at their own rate; it is not a one-size-fits all approach.

Jorge Vivar, Mode

Find One Who Can Teach You to Be Independent

You want to find a coach who will teach you how to thrive long after they are gone. You may wish the coach to simply do the work, but that is not a good use of their time or yours. If you let your coach do the work when they leave, you will be no better off. A great coach should build on your strengths and continue to give support, but you need to do the work. They will push you, but they should not do the work for you. The goal is for you to achieve independence by the time they leave.

Ouriel Lemmel, WinIt

Interview Your Prospective Coach

If you’ve found a good coach, it pays to be certain of their credentials before moving forward with the partnership. To learn about who they are and what they do, it’s best to conduct an interview. This illuminates potential synergies and helps you get to know them better as an individual. This makes it easier to build a personal connection and allows you to introduce yourself before committing to a long-term coaching relationship.
Understand that a coach’s expertise is a direct reflection of what they’re able to teach you. For this reason, it’s necessary to ask about their experience, qualifications, and coach-specific training during the interview. By asking the right questions, you’ll be able to determine whether the coach can offer the right level of guidance and teach you what you want to learn. With this information, you can make a confident decision about whether to hire them.

Devin Schumacher, SERP

Make The Most From Free Chemistry Calls

Once you’ve searched Google and asked around to make a shortlist of potential coaches you could work with, check to see if they offer free chemistry calls or free taster sessions. Schedule one in with each coach to see how speaking with them feels, intuitively. Feeling like you can create a safe and trusting relationship is one of the most important parts of working with a coach, because you need to feel free to explore, express, share and communicate from your truest self. Feeling like you should act a certain way or hold back on things is a no go. This is also a great opportunity to ask questions about how the coach works, what kind of training they’ve got, what kind of challenges they’ve worked with people on before. Having a chance to ask questions and feel into the dynamic is a great way to find and hire a coach who is really well suited to you.

Hannah Ray, TAKE Coaching Amsterdam

Check Their Track Record

A worthy coach has tangible outcomes of success, beyond a coaching certificate. If not, they are a cheerleader. There’s nothing wrong with positivity and more support. However, if you’re expecting results, make sure they have walked a walk you value, opposed to just giving you affirmations you can find on social media. In other words, if you’re buying a house, trust the agent who has multiple flips, and be weary of the first timers or agents who don’t seem to be in control of their own real estate.

Juan Kingsbury, Career Blindspot

Make Sure Your Coach is ICF Certified

Make sure your coach is ICF certified. There are many types of coaches–life, fitness, or sports–but what unites them all is that the best have ICF credentials. The International Coaching Federation is the main accreditation body for coaching as well as training programs, so it’s a great starting point for identifying the best coaches out there.

John Jacob, Hoist

Try Out a Few and Choose One

No matter how amazing anyone sounds in writing, they won’t help you achieve your goals if you don’t connect with them on a personal level. Before hiring a coach, hold try-out sessions with different professionals to see the style and attitude that you enjoy. When you’ve connected with several people, you have room for comparison, and you can choose what feels best for you.

Georgi Todorov, ThriveMyWay

Do Thorough Background Checks

The first step towards finding and hiring a coach is to do your homework properly to confirm the individual’s credibility. You also need to ensure that the person you’re hiring as a coach should be an expert in their field so the interview questions need to be framed in a way to get all the necessary information about the applicant. If it’s possible, do check their testimonials and verify their qualifications while doing the background checks. Doing a thorough background check is key to hiring any coach.

Madhurima Halder, Recruit CRM

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Collaboration for ADHD Parent Coaching

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Cathy Liska

ADHD is a fact of life for approximately 5% of the world’s population.  It presents unique challenges for navigating school, careers, and life in general.  Addressing the challenges is a challenge!  Often parents receive differing advice and are unsure how to best support their children.

The Center for Coaching Certification is pleased to collaborate PTS Coaching where the ADHD Parent Coach program is offered by Cindy Goldrich, Ed. M., ADHD-CCSP.

Collaboration for ADHD Parent Coaching

Collaboration for ADHD Parent Coaching

For those interested in both ADHD Coaching and the ICF path, completing the Certified Professional Coach offered by the Center for Coaching Certification and the ADHD Parent Coach Academy program offered by PTS Coaching means they are eligible to apply for ICF membership and will have the training hours required towards the ACC designation on the portfolio path.  As an added bonus for therapists, SLP’s, and educators seeking Continuing Ed Credits, the Center for Coaching Certification training programs are accredited by IACET to offer CEUs.

The ADHD Parent Coach program teaches the science and latest research on ADHD.  The program is an opportunity to understand common challenges and pitfalls as well as effective strategies for parenting an ADHD child.

The Certified Professional Coach program provides a solid foundation in coaching competencies and ethics as well as a considered approach that best serves clients.

An ADHD Parent Coach partners with parents to establish productive boundaries, improve communication, recognize how to support instead of enabling, plus understand triggers and create strategies to respond.

Visit https://www.coachcert.com/training/adhd-coach/add-coach-program-overview.html to learn more.

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The Progression to Engaging a Coach

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Cathy Liska

There is a time and a place for training, mentoring, consulting, and coaching.  Each serves an important person.  The order in which each best serves a client is important.

Training involves assessing needs based on objectives of an organization or profession.  Next learning objectives are established, and content is developed.  The training is the delivery of the content.  It often includes learning activities and assessing or testing the learning.  The trainer is the expert. The Progression to Engaging a Coach

Mentoring is the passing of wisdom and experience from the mentor to the mentee.  It also often involves advice and helping with connections.  The mentor is the expert.

A consultant is gages to assess and analyze the status quo and then give advice on what to do or change.  A consultant commonly provides a report and plan of action.  The consultant is the expert.

Coaching is, according to the International Coaching Federation, “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”  The client is the expert.

The descriptions of each make it clear that they are listed in order.  Start with training, move to mentoring, then consulting.  Coaching is last because it is advanced development for advanced results.

 

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