How to Choose a Life Coach Training Program

By dougnau on Oct 5, 2008 in Career Coaching, Life Coaching

So you’ve been thinking about becoming a life coach and you are wondering where you can go to get a proper education. Perhaps you’re even wondering if you ‘need’ an education. This article is written to best support you in answering the question ‘How do I choose a Life Coach Training program’, so if you are interested in more basic questions like what is a life coach, or how do I become a life coach, I highly suggest you read through the articles I’ve written on these topic before addressing the program you wish to attend. The article on how to become a life coach also discusses what credentials etc., someone needs for starting up a business in this field.

What should I consider in picking the right life coach training program

When I became certified as a life coach I had the luxury of having a relatively small pool of coach training programs available. In the past 5 years, the growth of the coach training industry has been phenomenal. Today you have more choices as for program formats, locations, and focus of specialty then at any other time in our history. While this is fantastic, its also made making the decision of which coach training program to enter much more difficult. Here are the questions you should consider when deciding which coach training program to enter:

How do I best learn? Do I learn best in person, over the phone, online, as an individual or in groups?
Am I willing to travel to coach training classes and if so, how far am I willing to travel?
How much time can I commit to the coach training process?
How much money do I want to spend on a coach training program?
Is it important to me to be accredited in the field of life coaching?
What area do I believe I will focus on when I begin coaching?
Do I need a program with a strong reputation for supporting its graduates in building their practice?
Am I looking for a program which best supports me in coaching within my business environment?
Am I looking to participate in a fully designed program, or simply personal development classes?

I encourage you to write out the answers to each of these questions on a sheet of paper such that you can get a visual picture of what your ideal program looks like. There’s a good chance that one exists that meets the requirements you are considering.

What’s the first question I should consider?

Unless you’ve got a huge network of friends in the coaching industry and you actually know of enough life coach training programs to be able to pick a few to learn more about (and I’d be very surprised if you did), the best way to learn about the programs available is through an internet search. Before burning a lot of time browsing through training programs, I do suggest that you answer question #5 above first. Is it important for your training to be accredited?

The #1 accrediting agency for life coaches is the International Coach Federation. At this point in time, there is no requirement for ‘life coaches’ to be certified (and this goes for business coaches, relationship coaches, wellness coaches etc.), and depending on who your intended clients are, they may or may not care. Corporations hiring coaches may ask for background/accreditation, but my experience has shown me that the certification is a nice to have, and that practical experience can easily satisfy a clients needs. I’ve had very few private clients ask anything about education – quite honestly most probably don’t know that any such certification program exists!

Regardless, this is a big question as many feel that this field will be monitored and licensed such as the field of psychiatry within the next decade. I personally believe that would be very difficult to do seeing that coaches span a huge variety of niches and industries, and since ‘life coaching’ is just one of many fields of coaching, it will be difficult to differentiate the life coach from the ADHD coach. Would a small business or career coach need accreditation? How about a sports coach (they share the same title)? Tough questions to answer.

If you are wondering, I did elect to participate in a certified coach training program that could provide accreditation. I felt that it minimized any risk should accreditation be required in the future (and my training program was quite expensive). But more important, it gave me some sense of assurance that the program was a legitimate organization that would reliably see me through to graduation. In essence, the International Coach Federation (ICF) has audited this group and they must adhere to pretty strict guidelines in order to keep their stature as an accredited coach training program.

Accreditation is not important to me – what should I do?

If program accreditation is not important to you, then you’ll find literally hundreds (if not, perhaps thousands) of training classes available to you. You can start with a Google search on ‘Life Coach Training’ – here’s a link that will bring you there (Google Results). Use the questions above to narrow your search – like ‘online life coach training’ or ‘life coach training Sacramento’. Once you’ve answered the questions above, you’ll be able to effectively narrow your searches using your favorite search engine. You’ll likely find a few potential programs advertising throughout this website. Write out the potential programs and call them up. Believe me, you do want to contact any program you’ll be taking classes with to make sure they align with what your expectations are. Most will allow you to audit a class before needing to join a whole program.

One thing you do need to ask yourself is whether or not you want to go through a program or simply a class (or series of classes). Even certified coach training programs will typically let students enter some classes without deciding to go through the entire training. If you are just looking to take a class here and there (which can be a valid approach since no accreditation is required), then focus on specific content of the courses provided. Many of the unaccredited programs still offer a certification or degree through their program – the only issue is whether any authorizing agency recognizes it. Again, ask yourself if that degree/certification is important to you (even if its not recognized by a certifying body – most clients at this point in time wouldn’t know the difference).

What if Accreditation is important to me?

If going through an ICF accredited program is important to you there will be a pretty standard structure that your program must adhere to. There will be a specific number of contact hours that you’ll need to go through and you’ll also be required to work with a mentor coach throughout your program. Again, costs vary widely.

One other thing you’ll need for accreditation is to complete a certain number of life coaching hours with clients. Check the ICF website for specific details, but the last time I checked, you’ll need 150 hours to graduate from your program and earn a status of ACC (Associate Certified Coach). You’ll need to apply for your ACC through the ICF after completing your coach training program which will be an additional fee but should go extremely smoothly when you complete your program with an ICF accredited coach training program.

To find accredited programs, visit the ICF website coach training program page. You’ll be able to filter the results of accredited coach training programs by language, location, niche, and program format.

Can I still get certified if I did not attend a coach training program?

To the best of my understanding it is possible to get certified with the ICF even if you did not attend a specific coach training program, however it requires that you pass a test as well as to provide documentation of education that you have been involved with. You’ll also need to prove your coaching hours. I do not know anyone personally that has taken this route so I can’t comment on how easy it is, you can get the full details on the requirements of accreditation here.

Summary

Picking a life coach training program is a personal choice and has as much to do with the format and content of the program you are considering as with your intentions of taking the classes. Individuals in my courses varied from business executives looking to incorporate coaching into the business environment, to personal growth enthusiasts, to coaches looking to build a business from the ground up.

Understand what your personal purpose is of taking the coach training program and the parameters under which your training program operates and you’ll see yourself quickly pointed in the right direction.

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