The first question when you decide to become a life coach (mindset / health / business etc), is often “should I get certified or not?” And with all the trainings out there it can be very confusing. Since the question comes up so much, I thought I’d write up some of the answers to questions that you may not be asking, but that are more relevant to making an informed decision as to what training to go for.
Please know that these are my personal opinions and some of it will be controversial. I’ve been in the field for over 20 years and my passion is helping my clients tap into their unlimited potential. I knew early on that I wanted to be the best coach I could be, and that led to me what I am about to share with you today.
Is the ICF (International Coach Federation) really the gold standard?
Let me start by saying that I think the ICF is overrated and often the ICF trainings stay at too superficial a level to get truly transformational results for your clients. Here’s why: Traditionally coaching has tried to set itself apart from therapy by stating that it only focuses on outcomes and solutions, not on problems and the past.
The problem with this is that the majority of people have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (which shapes our beliefs) and the majority of us live in stress mode most of the time. Not only that, our beliefs are shaped by what we pick up from our parents, school and society at large.
We tend to live within the limits of what is deemed realistic and what is possible or not. Coaching is about unlimited possibilities and potential. This means that as a coach, your own beliefs around what is possible and not possible, is the limit to which you coach your clients to.
What most (certified) life coach trainings focus on
Now, beliefs aren’t just cognitive. They are also not just somatic (of the body), as some schools of thought profess. It’s both-and. That leads me to the second flaw in the foundations of the coaching industry: it is mostly based on cognitive behavioral therapy and in most coach trainings you will be taught to reframe a person’s belief.
If it was just a thought, then there would be no issue with that. But since the thought has become embodied (that’s what a belief is), it’s critical to help your client get it out of the body…so it can become a thought again.
Reframing or talking about it will not make much of a difference. This has led a lot of clients to struggle with getting results, creating coping mechanisms rather than truly transcending into true freedom, and the look for something else (often after thinking they were the problem). When they find somatic experiencing, they see that as the solution that is now universal for all people. The cognitive becomes less than, even taboo.
And that is incredibly limiting as well.
The importance of the subconscious in life coaching
Another layer of that is the fact that beliefs are layered in a hierarchy. The higher the belief, the stronger the response in the body. These are usually hidden in the depths of the subconscious and if you work with just the lower level beliefs, the higher beliefs will still be operating in their lives. In the short term your client may be able to change their behavior, but the moment something triggering happens, the nervous system will be activated and they’ll revert back to their old way of being. So what is the solution to that?
Two things.
First, learning how to uncover the hierarchy of beliefs and get the core of what is holding your client back.
And second, being able to then create change on a deeply neurological level.
A client’s state of being is the sum of his emotions, the language he uses, and the images and movies he / she holds in mind. Any of these areas could be where the change power is for a client. Being able to work with ALL of these modalities makes you a well rounded coach. As you can see, you are working with clearing the past and problems FIRST, before you can help your client to the next step.
Life coaching is more than just strategies and taking action
Or, at least, it should be.
Often in coaching the focus is very much on strategies and action plans (performance based), as a result of the over-focus on solutions and outcomes. When you work with a client’s core beliefs, you get to calm down their nervous system enough for them to welcome in something new. It actually helps, then, to help them embody new, more empowering beliefs. Because when those are activated in the nervous system, action flows naturally. For all of this, it is incredibly useful to have a SYSTEM in place that you can use to predictably get results for your clients.
Of course, when you help your client move into unlimited potential and possibilities, they are moving into the realm of the unknown. This, in and of itself, is unpredictable. You also don’t know what will show up for your client. But the unpredictable nature of that, does not mean the structure of transformation is the same. In fact, there is a very specific structure to transformation that is the same no matter the topic, the type of client or the problem they want to solve and outcome they want to get to.
Rather than working with tons of different models and tools, you get to master coaching much faster when you have an overarching system that helps you guide your client through transformation and for that process to be repeatable. This helps you tremendously in your business, because you are able to get consistent results. Knowing what information leads to transformation also breaks down the overwhelm that so many coaches experience, because they don’t know what information is relevant or not, how much to write down, when to interrupt, etc.
Being able to listen for information that leads to transformation allows you to be far more present with the client and to keep them focused on structure rather than overflowing you with irrelevant content. When you have all of this in place, certification or not doesn’t matter.
Unless perhaps you want to work in organizations where they require it. But even then, it is much more a case of how you show up as an expert. Organizations often don’t know any better. They have little understanding of what coaching truly is, so when you can show them how you are different and why from a place of alignment…miracles can and do happen. I used to work as an executive coach in large organizations and no-one has ever asked me for my credentials. Not once. (It did that I have a solid background as a business analyst and can talk to the pain points of an organization, and that I could speak confidently about the power of coaching).
What to look for in a life coach certification training
So if you are new to coaching and are looking for a coach training, and you want to get transformational results for your clients, then this is a checklist to keep in mind in your search:
- Does the training company offer an over-arching system for transformation?
- Do you learn how to create change on a deeply neurological level? (not just somatically or cognitively, but in all parts of the mind-body-emotion system)
- Do you learn dig deep and get to the core of the client’s beliefs?
- Will you get high quality feedback on your skills, so you know exactly how to take your skills to the next level and accelerate your mastery?
And one last thing: having a system for transformation also allows you to do deep market research right from the get go. This gives you everything you need to create a coach program specifically designed for your target audience (in fact, it should be part of your training how to do that, so put that on the checklist!). This means you have a deep understanding of your client’s problem and how to solve it, which you can then speak to in your marketing from a place of authority. And that sets you up for business success early on.
If this post resonated with you, let’s dive in a little deeper and let me show you how to master the two main skills a coach needs to get transformational results:
Click here to watch a video training on check out how to become a certified transformational life coach through my Quantum Leap Coach System. 
Love, Femke