What is the difference between life coaching and executive coaching?
There are many different types of coaching. There’s coaching in the world of academia. Sometimes the coaching is focused on administrators as leaders. Sometimes it’s for teachers based on their efficacy in the classroom. And sometimes it’s for students so they have a successful academic career. Addiction coaching supports people who choose treatment and recovery, maintaining that on an ongoing basis. Business coaching supports small to mid-sized businesses in terms of their growth, stability, scalability, sustainability, and more. Career coaching can focus on starting a career, finding a job, advancing to the next level in your career, changing careers, or even retiring. Executive coaching is most commonly working with leaders, high potentials, and executives in the corporate space. Health coaching includes professionals who are working in the field and working with individuals who are accessing care. There’s a term called holistic, and holistic means you’re working with the whole person, the whole being. It may incorporate somatic, gestalt, ontological, or other techniques.
When you look at earning a credential with the International Coaching Federation, as part of the process, you are assessed on your coaching. To pass that, it does mean that you’re taking a holistic approach with your clients. Leadership coaching specifically supports new emerging leaders or established leaders in their leadership style or efficacy. Life coaching can include personal interests, such as lifestyle and personal goals. It may be supporting someone managing ADHD. It can be around dating or relationships. Sometimes it’s grief, relocation, transitions, and more, whatever someone has going on in their life. Wellness coaching encompasses balance, well-being, health, fitness, nutrition, and more. As you can gather from all the different types, coaching is something that truly supports in all areas, personal and professional, and is used in all industries.
What does certification mean for you? What difference does it make? A key benefit of coaching certification is the knowledge, the information, learning the competencies, developing your skill, the tools, the support you receive. An additional benefit of that certification is the credibility you’ll have amongst your clients and prospective clients. Earning your certification at the Center for Coaching Certification also means becoming part of a community, access to resources, and the ongoing connection and support in your profession.
Sometimes people ask, how do I know if I’m going to be a good coach? The answer to that is that if you’re asking the question, chances are it indicates you really do care enough to learn how to be effective, to learn the skills and the competencies and the techniques, which generally means you’re probably going to be a coach.
What are the opportunities for coaches? There are many. Sometimes coaches work inside of an organization coaching other employees. There are also many coaching providers that contract with organizations to provide coaches. Sometimes people want to do it as a part-time or full-time business on their own. For some, coaching is an after career.
Coaching services in terms of costs or earnings range anywhere from $100 an hour on up. The median is $500 an hour for a coach. Most commonly for somebody doing life coaching or career coaching where the individual is paying you, $100 to $200 a session is common. When you’re coaching small business owners, it tends to be more in the $200 to $400 range. When you’re coaching in the workplace, in the corporate setting, it tends to be $300 on up. Coaching for high-level executives can be much higher.
How long does it take to build a coaching business? The time will vary based on you. This applies with any small business that you’re starting. What’s the level of effort you’re putting in? What’s your network? What’s your experience? What’s your willingness to learn? At the Center for Coaching Certification, we do and offer many things to help people start a coaching business, including lots of information and tools for getting started, as well as opportunities.
If you don’t want to do coaching as a business, what does coach training do for you? It develops you both personally and professionally. It’s a set of skills that serve you in all of your interactions. It helps at home. It helps in relationships with people at work and in the community. It’s considered a competency that leaders must develop and use. It’s a skill set professionals in many, many different fields learn because it elevates the quality of what they’re doing.
When you’re looking at different training programs, sometimes people focus primarily on the schedule. A thought for you, different schools have completely different content and a completely different quality in terms of what they teach. So, go beyond looking at the convenience of the schedule to what you’re really going to gain from it. It is helpful to know who the trainer is and your level of comfort with them and their style. At the Center for Coaching Certification, we publish bios about all our trainers on the website, and they have introductory videos with their bio. If you want to talk to a trainer for a particular class schedule that you’re considering, that can be arranged. Be sure you’re happy with the content of the program you’re looking at and with the person who’s going to be your trainer.
Where are the classes held? Classes are held using Zoom, and they can also be scheduled for private groups, which opens up possibilities for doing on-site programs. There are requirements for live participation hours in all accredited training programs. The beauty of the online classes means it saves you time and money in terms of commuting. It also means that the other people in class are from around the world, and that adds value in every discussion. At the Center for Coaching Certification, all the programs are accredited by the International Coaching Federation.
If you decide you do want to join the International Coaching Federation, ICF, they have information about membership on their website. They require that you have 60 hours of training to join as a member, and you agree to be accountable to the Code of Ethics. They charge an annual membership fee. If you want to earn a credential, there’s an application process with the International Coaching Federation, and earning a credential is different than becoming a member. What does this mean to you? Your coach training or certification comes from a school that’s accredited by the International Coaching Federation, ICF. You go to them, ICF, to join as a member or to apply for a credential. ICF is who gives the credentials. The training organizations, that’s where you earn your certification.
How long before you move from one class to the next is another common question. When you register for a cohort, those schedules are there and available, and you can see. Some people will take classes a la carte, the partial hours, and they’ll attend a 30-hour program and then sometimes come back years later and continue the journey. For others, they continue right through. They finish one class and move into the next. The choice is yours; considerations for you are commonly time and budget, what you can commit to.
You do have options. Come visit us at www.coachcert.com and also at www.coach-123.com.
