Want to Become an Executive Coach? Here’s How.

Leadership development in the form of executive coaching has become a necessity for companies to expand the leadership capabilities of their high-profile personnel and also bring out the hidden potentials of their employees. The rise in demand for executive coaching is an attracting magnet for those professionals who want to venture in the field of coaching to bring out the best in oneself and in other people in order to conquer the rapid changes and hurdles in today’s competitive business environment.

Here are some tips that can help you in your journey towards becoming a life-changing executive coach.

Understand Your Role as a Coach

It is basic to know what executive coaching actually is.

Coaching is different from consulting and therapy. An executive coach does not pass his own set of knowledge, skills, and experiences to his client to solve a problem, but rather help the client bring out the best of his own abilities to arrive at a sound decision independently. He is not a therapist who analyzes past experiences to fix the inner problems of a person, but rather someone who works on a future-focused approach with the aim of increasing the client’s self-awareness and self-grasp. The goal is to help the client in building up his own strengths to effectively deal with professional relationships, promote positive cognitive and emotional skills, and eliminate roadblocks to career growth.

Probing, listening, observing, and providing feedback are tools used by executive coaches to help their client realize his real visions, goals, and desires are and work toward achieving them. The coach assesses the client’s personality, leadership style, overall attitude and values, and provides feedback on how these data can be turned into positive fuels for self-improvement. Coaching methods vary and it is your job to employ the best practices to suit your client’s needs.

Know Your Drive

People attend executive coach training for a number of reasons. Some people wanted a dramatic change in their career. Some people find their natural inclination to coach and help others. Still, some attend training not to become coaches, but only to satisfy their cravings on self-development and do better in their normal jobs.

If you are leaning toward becoming an executive coach, be sure that you have the motivation and urge to learn. Executive coaching is, after all, a continuous learning process.

Get a Good Initial Training

To kick start your executive coaching experience, choose a reliable professional coach training program. Pick a coaching organization that has a clearly set-up module and is approved by coaching associations like the International Coach Federation (ICF), a global leader in professional coaching. ICF validates training programs to ensure that they are top notch and deliver the necessary core competencies.

Get Certified 

There is really no legal requirements to be an executive coach. However, if you really want to practice executive coaching as a profession, then it is better to build your reputation so that your clients can trust you more. Get an ICF-certified coach training program rather than a normal training program so you can get a world-recognized certification to add to your credentials.

Continue on Your Education

An executive coach can help clients from a myriad of industries. Even so, if you want to cater to or get to know more about your clients in specific fields such as human resource and consultation service, then attending a customized corporate training will be an advantage. It is important to continually attend training in order to be updated with the latest best practices on executive coaching.