How To Choose A Coaching Training?

Coaching is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. It is estimated to be worth several billion dollars a year. Many people are attracted to coaching, especially those who want to work for themselves, escape the rat race, and capitalise on their career success. The industry is formalising, standards have been defined, and competition among coaches has intensified. Given the opportunities and challenges, one of the most critical decisions for aspiring (and experienced coaches wishing to enhance their skills) is to get the right coaching training qualifications and certifications to set them up for success.

So, how do you select the right coaching training? We’ve prepared five essential considerations if you are a “freshman” deciding to enter the industry.

 

Key Summary of 5 Considerations

1. Depth Of The Coaching Training: How does the programme’s content fit your needs? Consider starting with a general fundamental programme with lots of practice and feedback opportunities.
2. Coaching Training Facilitator: What is the background of your facilitator, and what do you need from your facilitator? A good facilitator will bring theory to life, provide practical examples and infuse theories with real-world wisdom. It saves you many hours of “figuring it out by yourself”.
3. Training Delivery mode: Virtual and in-person training have their pros and cons; which is your preferred learning mode? From our experience, the ideal level of engagement and learning is often better in face-to-face settings.
4. Financial Investment: What is your budget, and how do you define as “worth the investment”? Considering the value for money instead of cost alone is perhaps more realistic.
5. International credential and accreditation: Which credential or accreditation are you looking for?

 

1. Depth Of The Coaching Training: Laying A Solid Foundation

As you embark on your journey, you will want to define your coaching focus and brand. What do you want to be famous for? Various coaching programmes are tailored to different audiences’ needs, but they are hard to choose if you don’t know what they are. In the initial stages of your career, you will benefit from solid foundational training. Consider starting with a general fundamental programme that will expose you to a range of coaching philosophies and approaches to find your preferred one. For most people, their basic training will be a formative experience and also the last training they will attend for a while. So, make every minute count.

Experienced coaches will tell you that true coaching skills are harder to learn than you think. Real coaching requires us to tame our natural desire to speak, control and advise. Those are some of the most challenging things to unlearn. An effective programme should offer more than mere coaching knowledge and techniques. Your learning will be maximised by an optimal balance of theories, feedback, experiential activities, observational learning, buddy coaching and experience sharing by experts.

No matter which programme you choose, you will want to select the most intensive programme you can find. Coaching mastery requires lots of deliberate practice, and practising specific skills while receiving informed feedback. You will want to spend as much time as you can practising while being observed by peers and skilled facilitators.

 

2. Coaching Training Facilitator

A good trainer/facilitator may be more important than all the other elements of a training programme combined. It is usually the facilitator, not the content that will make your coaching training transformative. A good facilitator will bring theory to life, provide practical examples and infuse textbook theories with real-world wisdom. Feedback from a master coach is priceless and can be worth many hours of “figuring it out by yourself”. At a minimum, a programme should be presented by a professionally trained facilitator with advanced international coaching credentials. This is not a differentiator, but an essential entry requirement for a reputable coaching programme. You don’t want to be trained by someone who is still mastering their coaching fundamentals.

Beyond the basics, having extensive experience in their expertise, having attended advanced coaching training, and having behavioural or psychological credentials will be the trainer attributes worth paying a premium for. You will also want to learn from an experienced coach who truly lives the coaching values. This will be reflected in their training and the example they set – something that will shape your coaching practice for years to come. Unfortunately, not all great coaches are great teachers. And some training institutions act more like a production line or boot camp than an incubation space for growth.

At a minimum, you should read reviews and check in with previous participants to learn more about the trainers and their approach. Best practice will be to speak to the trainer or attend a briefing session by the trainer to get an idea of their personality, approach and chemistry with your own needs. Reputable coaching providers often invite or even require a personal conversation with participants before signing them up. This is a sign that they are serious about their work and about serving your needs. When you interact with the trainer/facilitator, see if they make you feel at ease, show respect, listen well and make you feel heard.

 

3. Training Delivery Mode

A crucial question for aspiring coaches is whether to attend coaching training in person or a virtual training programme. There are no absolute right and wrong choices; the final decision will come down to your learning needs, budget and schedule.

The value of virtual training resides in the fact that it provides you with accessibility to different training programs and coaches anywhere in the world. In addition to often being budget-friendly, consider the class size. Whatever the delivery mode, class size should be optimal to allow quality interaction with your trainer and fellow classmates to avoid one-way lectures or limited opportunities to ask questions and co-create meaning from the content. This is even more important in virtual programmes.

When you consider the characteristics of a good training programme discussed above, you may realise it may also be possible in virtual settings, but it is scarce and difficult. Most people master coaching skills better in direct personal interactions. In most virtual programmes, they let you practice your coaching skills in virtual breakout rooms with different partners – which is good. However, it may limit your interaction with the trainer. From our experience, the ideal level of engagement and learning is often more natural and spontaneous in face-to-face settings.

 

4. Financial Investment

Financial investment is often the most immediate thing coaches think about when they embark on their coaching journey. Since coaching training is not cheap, you will want to get the best value for your money, but that is easier said than done. Coaching training can become a bottomless pit requiring several years of practice to even recover your basic investment. Worse yet, despite your investment, you may not reach the required level of impact you need to build your coaching brand.

Considering the value for money instead of cost alone is perhaps more realistic. Two things are essential, what’s included in the training cost and how quickly you can practise as a coach. Some programmes are more expensive, but they provide all accreditation requirements in one package that will save you additional money, time and frustration later. You may also consider included benefits or resources. Will the programme give you access to learning resources beyond the programme? Will you be able to join coaching activities organised by the training provider? Are there any discounts after the training? And will you become part of a larger coaching community once you graduate from the programme? Being part of such a learning/coaching community is a vastly underestimated resource for most new and experienced coaches. Lastly, the quality of the trainer surfaces again. A virtual programme presented in small groups by a master trainer may sometimes be worth more than in-person training in large groups with little personal supervision and feedback.

When you consider how quickly you will be able to start your coaching practice and charge money for your work, consider the quality of the training, the quality of the trainer (you’ll want the best one you can afford), the amount of in-person time spent with the trainer and peers, supervised practice opportunities and remedial support. We’ve said it before that coaching is harder than you think and if you struggle, additional mentoring or supervision may cost you more than the initial training programme. In this case, you may want to enquire more about the programme’s design, for example, the amount of “supervised” practice opportunities, student-to-facilitator ratios, personal feedback from the trainer and the amount of direct in-person content as opposed to self-study, pre-work or pre-reading. These are all crucial specifics that you have to consider when making your investment.

 

5. International credential and accreditation

Unlike other professions (doctors, lawyers, psychologists – and the like), which are often regulated by national institutions, the coaching industry follows an international governing approach. The International Coaching Federation (ICF), European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), and International Certified Career Coach (ICCC) are three of the better-known international coaching bodies that govern the golden standard of coaching practice. Getting a credential or being accredited may not be necessary to become a great coach. Still, it may open some doors for you as it helps you gain credibility and gives your clients confidence to hire you as a coach. Regardless of which credential or accreditation you look for, align your training competencies and qualifications with the certifying requirements. Some coaching programmes allow accreditations with several coaching bodies in a single package. They may come at a higher price point but will make your skills more mobile.

 

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With all these five considerations in mind, hopefully you would have a good idea of how to start searching for your coaching training provider. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@hccglobal.net. If you are interested to find out the coaching trainings we offer, click these links below to learn more:

For aspiring coaches: Transformational Coach Training (ICF ACTP ACC/PCC)

For experienced coaches: Advanced Coaching Training – Emotional & Mental Agility (ICF CCE)