A recent article in the Guardian has got me thinking about what kind of coach I am and why clients should trust me to put their goals at the heart of everything that I do.
The article (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/apr/18/online-job-coaches-are-exploiting-the-unemployed-during-pandemic) talked about the surge in the number of online coaches during the pandemic and the fact that the sector is currently unregulated, pointing out that anyone can set themselves up as a coach, without training or qualifications. These comments made me check in with myself and reflect on my offer to clients.
I started my coach training because I realised that I was already informally coaching people. I had spent my career helping people to recognise their strengths and to be confident to achieve their goals. My ultimate aim was to coach full-time, but I knew that I could not do this unless I had the training and qualifications to give me credibility. I already had professional and educational qualifications in my day job. Why wouldn’t I go down a similar route for what I now wanted to do?
And so I embarked on a voyage of discovery to find a coach training company that I could work with. My criteria were fairly simple. They had to demonstrate the same values and ethos as me. But just as the Guardian article suggests, that was not quite as easy as I first thought, and I had to kiss a few frogs before I found my prince.
However, once I did it was full steam ahead. I trained under the umbrella of the International Coach Federation and met the requirements of their competency framework, and ever since qualifying I have been a member of the ICF. The Federation encourages reflection and personal development and I keep myself up to date through on-going learning and coaching practice. I believe that I owe it to my clients to be the best coach that I can be, so that they can have the best experience that they can have.
The article made me sad for those people who felt exploited. This should not be what happens. But it also reminded me that there are great coaches out there who do want the very best for their clients and who work to a set of ethics and standards which support good coaching practice. I pride myself on being one of those coaches.
The Guardian piece ends with some advice on ‘how to find genuine help’. This includes seeking genuine testimonials, looking past the sales hype, checking the contract and asking about qualifications. This feels like a reasonable and sensible approach to me, and one that I would encourage and support.
After all, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain from having happy clients who have achieved what they set out to achieve.
Helen Rogers Coaching 