First let us say that it’s OK to be concerned.
Especially when you’re drawn to service, to helping people.
It’s also OK not to be perfect in the coaching course.
Here are some of the big fears we hear:
“And what if I’ll harm someone while working as a coach?”
“And what if I won’t know how to help them?”
“And what if the client will not progress?”
Worries like this may lead to thoughts of
“So maybe it’s better to give up on the dream of becoming a coach altogether.
Maybe it’s better to just admit that I’m not made for this job of a professional helper and just give it up.”
No.
This is not the solution.
But these worries are good, and I’ll explain why:
There wasn’t a coach-in-the-making who didn’t have such thoughts cropping up.
We’re dealing with peoples’ lives and we have a big responsibility on our shoulders.
If you see yourself as someone who has the ability to help others, and you enjoy it, and you know that others can benefit from the help you already offer them,
then giving up on the thought of becoming a coach is simply NOT the solution.
What is better, is first of all, to give it a chance.
To assess how you are already helping people and to learn to grow from there to become a professional helper.
It’s better to learn skills and tools and practise them first in a supportive and non-judgmental environment, together with others who learn to do that too.
It’s better to learn how to work, to slowly assess how you fit into the profession, to gradually practise first with other people who want to achieve the same, then with people who present “not so complicated” challenges, and only then, and when you feel that you’re ready, to move on to offer help to real clients.
These worries are good.
They mean that our ethics are in the right place and that we want to work to the benefit of the clients.
It means that we’ll strive to assist and help the clients and will put them in the centre of the process.
But if we keep being worried, and we freeze or give up,
all the good which we can offer will be wasted.
If we won’t try, we’ll never know if we are suitable to help professionally.
And what good is that?
The solution is therefore to give it a chance,
To want to learn how to work professionally
To learn the skills and tools.
A good coaching course will provide you with all that.
Look for a course which will include the following:
- Teaching the difference between a friendly way of helping and a professional way of helping
- Teaching the tools and skills needed for a professional helper: Safety, listening skills, dealing with feelings and emotions, empathy (to name a few)
- Will be based on a strong ethical code of the profession
- Gives ample support: Look at the ratio of participants to trainers, and at the ways in which support is given to students (there should be several ways indicated)
- Setting professional boundaries
- Will include a lot of practical practice with real problems which will be presented by real people
This is a good indication that the outcomes for you will be that you’ll know how to help people while focusing on them, on their empowerment and growth.
With that you’ll be able to help them achieve change they wish to achieve.
You’ll be able to assess the process whether you’re helping them enough.
And you’ll considerably minimize the chance of harming them in the process.
And always remember:
Coaching is NOT advice-giving or offering a cure.
You are not telling people what to do.
They discover it and decide it for themselves, with your expert guidance.
So are you able to work as a coach?
There’s only one way to know it:
To learn how it’s done, to get feedback on your work and once you’re ready, to try it for yourself.
We believe in peoples’ ability to help others.
And we believe that you can do it too.