by Beth Kennett
I regularly hear questions about coach training–Why are so many people becoming coaches? Why is coach training popping up in so many places? What makes your coach training any different from anybody else’s? What is the big deal with becoming a coach? Isn’t the market already saturated with coaches? Why do we need more coaches? These are excellent questions!
The short response: Coaching skills are beneficial for everyone!
The longer response is: Using coaching skills in everyday life, enhances one’s life and every interaction. Using coaching skills helps an individual to lean more fully into who they really are, allowing one to interact and respond from a place of authenticity. Using coaching skills creates the opportunity for healthier collaboration between individuals and establishes a more level field from which to begin that collaboration. When I began my coach training, 14 years ago, I was serving as a pastor, I had just previously served on judicatory staff, I was a wife and mom to two young girls. I was exhausted, completely depleted from the experience of interacting with many people who were not functioning from a place of authenticity; and neither was I. I was constantly yielding to others and not standing for what I believed was important. I did not trust my own judgment and, while I was a good organizer, I did not trust my leadership abilities. Working with a coach and beginning coach training helped me to engage my own understanding of who I am and who God calls me to be. I began to engage my confidence and find my voice more frequently. I became a better pastor, not just finding my self, inviting the church members and lay leaders to explore, engage and embrace their authentic selves. I became a better spouse and parent, working to be more of a partner, starting from authentically me rather than starting from assumed projected expectations of who I should be or how I should function. I discovered that using coaching skills allowed me to be more fully who I am and to invite, and create space for, other to be fully who they are.
Coach training can offer an individual the strength and courage to experience a sense of liberation from the assumed expectations that we feel placed on us in everyday life and leadership. Engaging who we authentically are helps us to live out our callings in a more personal and unique way. Coach training is not a quick fix or the only answer. Coach training provides an opportunity to engage personal reflection and conscious decision-making work in tandem with others doing similar work. Coach training is not just for people who want to be a professional coach. Coach training is for anyone who wants to better understand and engage being their authentic self and helping others do the same.