Fundamentals of Life Coaching Certification

I present the major goals of a coaching relationship, which help define and distinguish the field from other types of helping relationships.

I talk about five propositions that serve as the foundation for the practice of coaching.

I'll talk about seven qualities of masterful coaches. The purpose is to give you a way of thinking about your personal development as someone who wants to have a positive impact on others around you.

This is about establishing the focus of a coaching session. It also includes revisiting homework or left over business from previous sessions.

The purpose of this step is to understand how things are currently going, the current reality that a client wants to change or improve. It is important because it provides information and context, gives insight into a client's thinking, and creates fuel or motivation for change.

The purpose of this step is to help your client let go of the present and focus on new possibilities or the way he/she would like things to be. It isn't about working through the present but stepping beyond the way things are to envision a new reality.

By now, your client has explored various options and is imagining a new future. Planning actions is helping him/her come up with concrete actions or plans to make this future a reality.

The purpose of this step is to explore problems or barriers that your client may encounter during his/her implementation of their action plans. This builds reality into their plans and helps them not only anticipate but know how to respond and overcome these obstacles.

This step not only brings closure to the coaching conversation but helps build in clarity of actions and accountability.

Surya is a 30 year-old woman who wants to get back into dating but is hesitant. You'll watch a coach help her through her fears and begin building an action plan.

Surya's coach continues to help her develop an action plan to get back into dating.

This is an overview of the self-empowerment model which you'll use during "coachable moments" to help your clients gain insight into themselves and overcomes self-defeating beliefs holding them back.

I introduce you to the five steps of the empowerment model and help you understand how to use the model to interrupt negative, vicious cycles of thinking and behaving and set up positive, virtuous cycles instead.

I share a very personal example of using the empowerment model to overcome my own fears and insecurities.

Your thoughts are the drivers of your feelings and behavior and, ultimately, results. By learning to examine and challenge your "automatic" thoughts you will shift your experience and outcomes of your life.

This is a coaching situation in which Annette takes offense at something an acquaintance says. You'll watch how her coach teaches her to see how her problem was not the event as much as the meaning she gave it. Her coach helps Annette challenge her thoughts and correct her thinking so she can respond in a more positive way.

This is a continuation of the last video in which Annette is talking to her coach about a troubling incident with another woman at her church. Annette is able to see the event in a new way and comes away feeling good about herself and her relationships with the other women involved.

You will learn to pay attention to "process" as well as content how you can monitor the quality of your relationship.

By going through this lesson, you'll understand how to build a relationship that is both unique and powerful, that "calls forth" the potential of your clients.

The intake interview sets the stage and tone for the coaching relationship. There are some very specific steps you can take to make this a powerful moment with your client. In this lecture we explore the first two steps of the interview.

The Welcome Kit is something you send to clients before or as you begin meeting. It helps you get to know them, educate them about the nature of the coaching relationship and help them begin to take an inventory of their current life situation and change they want to make. I give you the Kit in a word document which you can modify and use with your own clients.

Step three of the intake interview is about getting to know your client. Step four is about exploring the future together. What is the life your client wants to create. I give you structure and questions to successfully accomplish these two steps.

Step five is about designing the relationship. Something powerful about coaching is that the relationship is tailored to the specific needs of your clients. You learn what they expect and how you can adapt what you do to their unique needs. This step is not only enjoyable but reinforces your clients commitment to you and the coaching process.

I introduce a model of coaching competencies organized around three themes: exploring the territory (empathy skills), speaking the truth (honesty skills), and eliciting accountability (accountability skills). These themes capture the range of skills that good coaches use during a coaching session

Exploring the Territory is being with a client in a way that promotes trust, openness, exploration, and discovery. By using these competencies, you’re creating safe and trusting conditions for a client to be fully open to explore the way things are, presently, as well as how he would like them to be.

Speaking the Truth is providing information to a client that triggers insight and/or her ability to take effective action. Speaking the truth is initiated by you as coach rather than your client. You’re looking for opportunities to shift your client’s awareness in ways that are empowering.

Eliciting Accountability is about moving your client to take effective action. As such, it fits well with the coaching conversation as you help a client identify what they want and then make plans to make it happen. However, these competencies give you more ammo, so to speak, to help your clients get into productive action. At its heart, this theme challenges a client to identify what he is going to do and by when.

Goal-setting is a specific skill in eliciting accountability. I provide you with a goal sheet which you use to help your clients set and accomplish big or complex goals. It's a way to make their goals tangible and doable.

This is another example of a coaching session in which Paul wants to retreat from a relationship with a long-time friend. His coach helps him understand that distancing has been a pattern. He helps him think through how to approach his friend and talk to him about his concerns, rather than ignoring or running from them.

I give you a number of questions to think more deeply about what you want from a coaching practice. The more clear you are, the more likely you'll be to succeed.

The most important question you have to answer in order to grow a coaching business is, who is your target audience? It is so easy to assume that anyone interested in coaching or anyone who is struggling in some area of his or her life is a potential client. But not so. That’s way to general. The fact is that the more specific you can be about your target audience the more successful you’ll be.

This lesson is an overview of the three parts to marketing. Think of these as three marketing buckets: Bucket #1 is the awareness bucket. Bucket #2 is the fan bucket. And bucket #3 is the client bucket. Marketing is moving people from one bucket to another.

The key to getting people into bucket one and then onto buckets two and three is to know your niche and the exact nature of the coaching you offer someone in that niche. In this lesson, you'll define your niche and offer.

You move people into bucket two by converting them into fans. Fans like what you have to say and want to learn more from you.  There are two main tasks to get people into bucket two. The first task is to get them to opt-in to your email list or become a follower on social media. The second task to move and keep people in bucket two is to generate really good content.

The key to getting people into bucket three is making offers. Making an offer means that you’re not sitting back and waiting for someone to engage your services. You’re being proactive. I teach you the basics of how to make offers in this lesson.

Eventually, you’re going to be in front of people, in groups or one-on-one, talking about what you offer. A prospective client will often want to meet and engage in a conversation before being willing to sign up for your coaching. You'll come away from this lesson understanding how to engage with people in ways that attract them to what you do.

You'll learn 11 things you need to consider and do in order to be up and running. And by the way, it is good to keep this as simple as possible, especially when just starting out. The simpler your business the better. But in this lesson I give you a checklist of what you need to consider.

In this lesson, I review the main points and skills you have learned throughout the course. It is important that you not only recall but have a deep understanding of the skills in order to use them effectively. This review is a test of your knowledge to let you know areas you may need to study further.