What professional coaches know that other “coaches” don’t
You can’t be serious.
Terry, Professional Coach for Pug Owners
There’s a difference between the buzzword “coaching” and the professional discipline. That is, a lot of people call themselves coaches, but they don’t take it seriously. Because they don’t know how, or they don’t understand their role and responsibilities as a professional coach.
Which isn’t to say coaching can’t be fun. Sure, there may be jokes, lightness, and laughter, but this is work. And while you might feel good after a session, it’s not because you’ve been flattered. It’s because you’ve gained something invaluable — a little bit of clarity, insight, and confidence. Enough to motivate you to taking small (or sometimes big!) action.
May I go a bit deeper?
I sometimes think about coaching like getting a massage. When you’re on holiday, booking a massage is a nice perk that leaves you feeling refreshed and relaxed. The therapist often uses a light touch and doesn’t mess you about too much.
However, when you’re working through some tightness in the body, an injury, or another physical challenge, the purpose of the massage and the approach may be very different. You expect a certain outcome and a level of finesse and expertise from the person helping you achieve it.
Both types of massage can be done by professionals who take their work seriously. However, like in coaching, there are huge pockets of the industry containing people who don’t. And if you’re not in it, it’s hard to tell the difference.
The difference between “coaches” and professional coaches
Coaches who take their work seriously do three things that others don’t:
They seek regular supervision. While coaching is still currently unregulated, it is becoming more and more professionalized, with ample opportunity for guidance and oversight through supervision, mentorship, and more. Seeking regular supervision is not unlike what happens in Counselling & Therapy (a regulated profession), where professional counsellors or therapists are required to seek regular supervisory services to maintain professional standards of ethics and more. However, an industry does not need to be regulated for the people who represent it to take responsibility for their own best practices and upholding of ethical standards. Serious coaches get this.
They invest in their professional development. It’s not enough to get the weekend certification and set up shop as a coach. There is much more to it and the work is neverending. That is a GOOD thing. It means that, as a professional coach, the learning game goes on, for as long and as hard as you want to play it.
They receive regular coaching from other, professional coaches. In the world of UX & Product, there is an adage that goes, “you have to eat your own dog food”. Meaning that, if you’re selling something, you have to want to buy it, too. Unserious coaches don’t really know what they’re selling because they don’t experience what it’s like to be in the other seat — how it feels when they’re asked a challenging question, or listened to deeply, or what it’s like to have a game-changing insight. From that perspective, these “coaches” don’t actually believe in coaching. So why should you?
Becoming a serious player
I love playing this game and I’m constantly finding new, fun ways to do it.
For me this year, it means working toward my next level of certification: the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF). I currently hold an ACC with them. It’s up for renewal soon, so I’m at a crossroads — do I take the easy path and maintain my current status? Or do I put in some extra effort to level up, personally and professionally?
I opted for the latter, not as a goal or destination, but as a way to continue developing my skills while meeting the three tenets of serious coaching I shared above. I’m mostly there anyway. For example, the PCC requires a minimum of 500 hours of coaching; I have over 800. The PCC also requires that I submit two recorded demonstrations of my coaching. That’s what I’m working on now with my supervisor.
Making seriously fun progress
No matter what, I want my coaching to be serious work, but also fun. The best way to achieve that is to keep doing it, keep learning, and keep experiencing it for myself.
It’s also why I regularly create opportunities to challenge myself (and others) by opening the free speed-coaching pop-up. This is where I fling open the Calendly doors and let anybody in to see for themselves what it’s like to have a short, powerful conversation — 20 minutes of speed-coaching on any topic or question they wish.
It’s a way for people who are stuck on something and curious about coaching to experience it for themselves. And it keeps me sharp. I always learn new things in every session, and even more so when those sessions are with new people, on topics big and small. Plus, it’s quick and fun!
The free speed-coaching pop-up opens just a few times each year. And this opportunity is ONLY available to my Hold That Thought newsletter subscribers. Sign up now if you want to hear about it. HINT: you should do so NOW.
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I hope to see you there! And I look forward to the opportunity for some serious fun together.
