Who doesn’t want to improve their energy, engagement, happiness levels, and overall satisfaction in their life and work?
Raise your hand please…
Are there any takers?
No? Of course not!
We all want MORE of the good stuff in our lives.
Once our basic survival needs are met, the next order of business is improving our lives and seeking fulfillment. But, just like young children need a teacher to help them learn their letters and numbers… people need a guide to help them look inward, evaluate their behaviors and thought processes, and escort them down the path of infinite possibility.
I haven’t met a student yet who isn’t driven, in some fashion, to make the world a better place. A big part of the drive to coach is about wanting to motivate individuals and inspire positive change, whether that’s in yourself, for someone else, or within the context of a larger cause or organization.
What if you want to inspire and motivate others without changing your place of employment, or going into business for yourself?
Over the years, I’ve had many potential coach training students ask this question in different ways. Each version boils down to this: “Is the coaching skillset really valuable enough to my personal development (and in enough demand) to justify going through the coach training and certification process? Even if I don’t want to be an entrepreneur?”
Believe it or not, coach training is probably one of the best investments you can make in yourself, regardless of your professional or personal aspirations.
- You'll learn the skills to actively, effectively, and intentionally listen, in a non-judgmental way.
- You’ll discover how to challenge and explore an issue—just a little further—to lead someone on a discovery mission to uncover their own answers from within.
- You’ll see increases in productivity and happiness, in yourself and those around you, ultimately creating a workplace environment that encourages everyone to thrive.
Indeed, coaching skills can be applied any time, anywhere, and in any situation—giving you the ability to adapt to a wide variety of circumstances and be valuable in any number of positions.
Coach training gives you the skills and perspective to:
1. Transform workplace culture, attitudes, and morale
Even a small shift in how a person understands and responds to someone else can cause a tremendous ripple effect. You’ve probably experienced it yourself… responding to someone’s frustration or difficulty with compassion, instead of annoyance, completely changes the tone of the conversation and allows a solution to be found more easily.
2. Solve the real problem
How many times have you been faced with a dilemma, explained the problem to a trusted friend or mentor, and had them reply, “Oh, you should just do ______ !”
Unfortunately, their answer doesn’t—can’t!—help you at all, because it’s based on their particular perspective, experiences and world view.
Coach training equips you with the skills to ask empowering, open-ended questions that help people identify the limitations, both real and imagined, of their own situation and find the answers that are right and true for them. It’s not about providing solutions based on the coach’s knowledge.
Ultimately this style of problem solving is more powerful in the long run, by showing the people you coach how to draw on their own wisdom and knowledge to find an answer. While a coach might have valuable experience and insight in a client’s field, the ability to empower a client to solve their own dilemmas and take greater ownership of the process is of far greater value.
3. Identify and achieve goals
This is probably the most obvious benefit of coaching and the reason most people seek out the services of a coach. But don’t be fooled… while regular coaching techniques can assist with short-term goal setting and achievement, there’s a lot more to the process.
iPEC graduates are trained in skills and techniques to look beyond the “obvious” goal checklist to the thought patterns and emotions underlying an individual’s behavior. By addressing these underlying influences, and getting to the client’s core belief system—which strongly influences how they show up in life—coaches have a much greater chance of fostering lasting, sustainable change in their clients.
4. Discover your why or your purpose
Feel like you’re drawn to helping others, but you’re not particularly passionate about any one thing? You’re definitely not alone. In all the noise of day-to-day living, the daydreamer part of our personalities is often buried under the weight of “practical considerations.”
But part of coach training is developing the ability to see endless opportunity and possibility, and helping others make that same intuitive leap. As a student, you learn how to ask powerful questions of others… and benefit from coach-trainers, peers, and mentors who also ask you those questions, gently guiding you toward your deepest desires and passions.
5. Improve connections and relationships
The basic functionality of our world—in workplaces, schools, and home life alike—hinges on how well people get along with each other. It’s far too easy to let our own values, prejudices, and experiences color our understanding of another person or their situation.
iPEC’s Core Energy Coach Training is focused on exactly this… stripping away misconceptions and the false “lenses” we see the world through to enable clear, open communication to occur. When others are taught these skills and see these behaviors modeled, they tend to share them with others, creating a more congenial environment for everyone.
So to recap, true coaching is really about:
- Developing the ability to see endless opportunity and possibilities, and helping others make that same intuitive leap
- Guiding others toward discovering the real issue, instead of what they think is the issue
- Leading others to form more effective decision-making processes and improve their communication
- Helping others find answers that are right and true for them, rather than providing solutions based on your own experience or knowledge
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