Life coach training is becoming increasingly popular as the demand for direction and focus to help balance personal and professional lives grows among the corporate community. There is no standardized curriculum for life coach training, but many options are available in a number of formats and locations. Here are some tips to use when choosing life coach training opportunities.
According to U.S. News and World Report, life coaching is the second largest consultant business. It is second only to management consulting. Life coaches counsel people who are hoping to find direction and focus for their lives. They hope to establish significant life goals and balance between their personal and professional lives. Many clients have already reached an admirable level of success; they wish to enhance the success they have already achieved and reach further goals.
A life coach can easily be compared to an Olympic trainer. An Olympic trainer works with athletes who have already accomplished a considerable amount of success. A life coach works with successful clients, too. Life coach training prepares a professional for working with driven, ambitious, and competent individuals. It teaches a therapist, motivational speaker, or other professional to help clients design plans for how to have the lives they want and ways to implement their own resources to achieve excellence.
Life coach training has become very popular over the past five to 10 years. The demand for professionals to help burned-out or stressed executives cope with their lives and scary transitions has sky rocketed with recent company downsizing and outsourcing and the baby boomer population hitting 50 years old. Start-Ups Magazine reported that life coaching is the number two industry behind IT. It is the number one home-based profession. Therapists and psychologists have found themselves taking advantage of life coach training in order to become certified life coaches. They already possess many of the required skills, such as outstanding communication skills, empathy and concern for clients/patients, and abilities to help clients focus on the positive.
There are many options for life coach training. Many programs are offered online and teach through a distance learning approach. Classes that deal with motivation, communication, leadership, and basic psychology and sociology are common courses included in programs for life coaches. Some programs are offered through seminar formats, while other programs are conducted at conferences so attendees can obtain certification. Good life coach training programs offer certification or diplomas so students may show prospective clients that they are qualified and educated to help them through the process.
Certification from life coach training is important because clients need to have confidence in the life coach they select. Knowing they have met and exceeded guidelines established by other professionals provides credibility for life coaches. Several associations and organizations exist that provide certifications. Some include the International Coaching Federation, the International Association of Coaching, and the International Coaching Council. Each organization has its own guidelines for certifying and legitimizing coaches who have undergone life coach training. However, there is no universal standard or common baseline for life coaches at this time. The field of life coaching is still relatively new and is fluctuating with the needs of clients and the skills of the coach.
Life coach training helps to facilitate careers for certified professionals. Some make contacts with potential clients while still in school. However, others may need to market their services. Many life coaches work with executives, some work with companies to counsel employees, and others work with individuals who are hoping to break into new careers or employment arenas. Therapists, motivational speakers, and other consultants have found lucrative careers through life coaching. The most recent trend in life coaching is tele-coaching, where life coaches counsel clients over the telephone. This is a good use of resources for busy executives and clients who do not have time to sit down regularly with a life coach.
Life coach training is relatively inexpensive and provides a professional with an entirely new career opportunity.