How can I become a coach?
Some people consider whether they should become self-employed as consultants or coaches.
Or they have specialised knowledge in their field, but do not yet know how to impart knowledge successfully and accompany people effectively.
Good coaching is more than just imparting knowledge. It is the ability to initiate sustainable change processes in people's lives.
Coaching is powerful
It never ceases to amaze me how powerful good coaching can be. It's not complicated at all. Good questions and a few tools. It's actually quite simple.
The only problem is that we find the simple things so difficult. We are used to making everything complicated. This obscures our view of simplicity.
A competition was once held to find the answer to the following question: "The Pope, the American President and the Russian President are sitting in a hot air balloon that is losing air due to a leak. In order for at least two to survive, one has to be thrown overboard. Who should that be?"
Thousands of entries were received. The competition was won by a child who gave the answer: "The fattest".
Problems are often complicated, but solutions are always simple once you have found them. "Why didn't I think of that before?"clients often say after a coaching session.
Or: "Why did I actually need a coach for that? I could have thought of it myself."
You could have - maybe. But you're not, because you've blocked your view with all sorts of things. Coaching helps you to gain clarity.
An experienced coach, Christoph Schalk, once said when asked whether he could coach himself: "Of course you can. But I treat myself to coaching because I've found that when I try to solve things without support, it takes me eight times as long as when an experienced coach accompanies me in my search for a solution."
Learning coaching is easy
Learning coaching Coaching is simple, but not easy -Steve de Shazer
Coaching can be used wherever people are supported and accompanied, e.g. in a professional context, in counselling or in the support of employees.
Coaching is not something you learn from books alone, but is best learnt through practice.
That's why I recommend that newcomers to coaching gain experience: as a client with an experienced coach or in training courses, such as the Online Bootcamp Coaching Basics in March.
I am a coach with decades of experience in coaching people. As an experienced coach, I teach you the most important principles and coaching tools in a boot camp - in a concise and compact format. This gives you the opportunity to experience theory in practice, understand it better and deepen it.
When planning the programme, I had people in mind who are considering whether coaching is something for them but don't have the time or money for a 7000 euro coaching course (PRICE IHK Berlin).
And counsellors, advisors etc. who already have basic knowledge of counselling but would like to learn more effective strategies from systemic coaching.
But more on that later.
Who can become a coach?
In general, anyone can become a coach, regardless of their profession or school-leaving qualifications. Age also plays no role at first.
Qualities that can be categorised as "personal skills" are important. If, for example, you have broad specialist knowledge - without personal skills and experience - then you will have a hard time as a coach, depending on the area. The qualities you need to work as a coach are not only techniques that can be learnt, but also an expression of your personality.
We also recommend
- Common sense
- Interest in other people
- Certain coaching skills (like the basics you can learn in my bootcamp)
- Self and life experience
- Recognising your own strengths and weaknesses
- Ability to listen
- Attention
- Interest in the client's concerns
- Willingness to confront
- (also moral) neutrality, freedom from prejudice, independence and openness
- Flexibility in content
- Empathy, emotional empathy
- Credibility, personal integrity, congruence
- Discretion, absolute confidentiality regarding the content of the coaching session
In any case, fun and an interest in other people and personal development. That is a very important prerequisite.
Have you been toying with the idea of further training in the field of coaching for some time? You don't have to fill out this list of characteristics in full. Your interest in this topic and in people is enough for you to take a closer look. My bootcamp is deliberately structured in terms of price so that trying it out is not financially painful.
Are you still unsure whether a training programme like the boot camp is for you?
Why don't you try the following?
Be curious - an experiment in everyday life
In your next exchange with another person, try to be as curious as possible and don't be afraid to ask questions that go into detail and challenge the other person to realise things and be creative. It can be a conversation in your area of expertise or about a topic/situation with which you have experience. Show authentic and genuine interest in the other person's topics rather than presenting specific ideas or solutions. Try to interrupt the other person as little as possible and still steer the conversation in a focussed and targeted manner.
Reflect on your findings and the conversation afterwards.
- How did you feel about it?
- What do you think the other person took away from the conversation and the way you listened and asked questions?
- You can also ask the person about this if you know them better or feel it is okay to ask this question. How did the other person experience you as a listener and questioner?
- Can you imagine doing this in a "professional" setting?
Even if the experiment was exhausting and you still found it difficult to ask the right questions: Being curious is not that difficult. As a coach, it's even really good if you're curious. Because curious people are open to learning something new.
Imagine how the conversation would have gone if you had also consciously used coaching tools, methods and techniques. The expertise of a good coach lies in knowing when which tool makes sense.
You can learn these tools:
Bootcamp: Basics of coaching
The Coaching Basics Bootcamp course teaches you the most important coaching tools in theory and practice.
You get
- 10 hours of input: Crisp input and space for your questions
- Worksheets: Step-by-step instructions
- Practice opportunities: The chance to apply what you have learnt straight away.
Ideal for anyone who wants to discover the basics of coaching. Previous knowledge is not essential.
What you can learn
In the Online Bootcamp Coaching Basics you will learn among other things
- The most important methods and techniques
- your offers well presented
- Results and profits achieved
The contents
- The start: Setting the right dialogue framework
- Order clarification: What exactly does the customer expect?
- Swing: the comprehensive concept for life in balance
- Goals: Precisely define desired results
- Scaling: Planning intermediate targets
- Miracle question: Expanding the horizon of possibilities
- Circular questions: Recognising more through a change of perspective
- Resources: Raising the treasure chest of your own experiences
- Feedback: How to actually empower people
- Conclusion: End conversations and give homework.
Your result
- You will learn the most important tools for coaching in a short time.
- You can apply what you have learnt directly in the course.
- You can get started with coaching offers straight away - and continue practising, of course.
You can think of the Coaching Basics Bootcamp as a craft weekend where you learn lots of useful techniques that the professionals also use.
After that, you will know the basics of how to build a table yourself, for example - without embellishments. This will come in handy later in an apprenticeship at the Würzburg Academy for Empowerment Coachingwhich I can highly recommend.
But according to the 80:20 principle, the Coaching Basics Bootcamp gives you the 20 % of the most important coaching tools that you can use to master most conversations quickly and cheaply. You have a good foundation to start from.
Time required
- approx. 10 hours for the webinars
- As much as you want: Watch, practise and try out again and again
Date
The bootcamp will take place live via Zoom on
4 March 2022: 19.00 to 22.00
5 March 2022: 10.00 to 18.00 (with lunch break)
All lessons are recorded and are then available to you forever. Here you can register.
Who is the Coaching Basics Bootcamp right for?
- For counsellors and pastoral workers who want to expand their knowledge of counselling people quickly and inexpensively without much effort.
- For future coaches: For people who are considering a career as a coach and want to lay the foundations.
- For open-minded people who want to broaden their horizons and skills.
Be well prepared
An initial exploration of the topic will make it much easier for you to absorb new content. I recommend the following quadros, which will give you a good introduction to the most important coaching techniques. That way you've already heard about them beforehand.
See you around?
I would be delighted if I could accompany you on your journey and we could spend this intensive bootcamp weekend together.
Your Kerstin
