I regularly hear colleagues inquiring about coach training—Is everyone becoming a coach? It seems like everyone calls themselves a coach, is the market saturated? Why is coaching and coach training so popular? What makes your coach training any different from others’? What is the big deal with becoming a coach? Why do we need more coaches?
These are excellent questions! (If you are asking questions, then you are a good candidate for coach training!)
The short response: Coaching skills are beneficial for everyone!
The longer response: 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 arena from which to begin that collaboration.
When I began my coach training, 20 years ago, I was serving as a pastor, I had just previously served on judicatory staff, I was a spouse 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 me, 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 others to be fully who they are.
Coach training offers individuals 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. It 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.