You’re interested in becoming an Executive Coach. What’s the first step?

There's an old saying, "The deprived cannot give." Therefore, to become an Executive Coach, he or she must genuinely enjoy enabling others to succeed in their career!

Who you are deeply effects you as a coach and how you coach. Though this is not a static list of how you may know you're ready to become a coach - I do find some of these factors important: 1. Do you look forward to supporting others in finding solutions to their problems? 2. Are you finding you are using your 'spare time' reading / watching / discussing personal development and improvement ideas and approaches? 3. Have you been told many times throughout your life that you're a great listener and/or make yourself available to others? 4. Do you have a natural tendency towards a growth mindset and opportunity? 5. Are you committed to your own personal development? From my experience, if you've answered YES to all of the above, let's go!!!

The first and most step is that one has to believe in the value of it. It helps when someone experienced such coaching themselves and benefited from it. Secondly, you have to have a passion helping and supporting others to grow and make a difference in their life.

If you are considering becoming a coach consider three key things- Who do I want to coach? What do I have to offer as a coach? Why do I want to coach? (what will you and others get from being coached by you?) These are simple yet quite deep and searching questions that may take time to get clarity on and I would strongly suggest asking these questions of experienced coaches, noticing how they respond and what resonates with you. The journey is a deeply personal experience, unique to each coach and it is important as part of this journey to be deeply curious about your strengths and motivations, limiting beliefs and de-railers that will shape your coaching style.

Why do you want to become a coach? What inspiration or purpose inspires you? What unique experience, skills and abilities do you bring that other coaches don't have? Becoming a coach is the easy part (certification & practice), the hardest part is building your client base, delivering big results and differentiating yourself from other coaches out there. It takes time and effort to build your business and having a strong purpose will keep you internally motivated to keep going. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

You're not as far from being a coach as you might think. To make your start as seamless as possible, your niche plays a vital role. There is one niche you can start with, that will ease your transition. This niche is yourself, two or three years ago, your past self. Since you have walked the walk, you will be much more credible, have in depth knowledge and will serve your clients out of personal experience. Start from within, slowly branch out to other niches!

Your niche can begin as the person you were. As a coach, we tend to coach people who were in a similar place as we were. THen you'll know what the pain points are and where they want to go.

One of my favorite coaches focuses on successful executives that have made a big transition - such as selling their business. So you could keep an eye on life stages or significant events and build your expertise around that. It could be just moved to a new country, empty nest, divorce, made an acquisition, or other situations that require a lot of intentional discipline at work and at home. This could give you an edge and that might create more referral business too.

We need to understand what we are good at & trying to work towards it would be a good idea. There are multiple disciplines like executive coaching, life coaching, wellness coaching, grief coaching etc.., the person has to wisely choose a niche & work towards it to become better.

Research, research, research! Find other coaches that have attended the same program. Executive coach training program, unlike life coaching programs, focus on ONE thing, how to coach a busy executive. PLEASE research your desired program...make sure that they share assessments and how to share the results. Ensure that they train you on how to deal with derailers in an organization. Research!

There is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to coach education. Take time to do your research and ask for recommendations. They are not one-size-fits-all. Luckily, with many courses available you should be able to find something that fits your time and money budget. As a minimum, I would recommend only choosing a course accredited by one of the major coaching bodies (ICF, EMCC, etc...) Consider whether you are looking for something more formal & structured or more holistic. Coaching education isn't a one-time event and you should be prepared to continually upgrade your skills and deepen your coaching practice, with a range of approaches and modalities.

Entendo que o primeiro ponto sempre é ter clareza. Você quer ser Coach executivo pois essa é a sua voca??o ou porque você ouviu falar que dava dinheiro? Superado esse primeiro passo, pesquise os maiores coachs desse nicho. O que eles fizeram? Quais cursos frequentaram? Quais especializa??es fizeram até chegar lá? Terceiro ponto seria procurar procurar institui??es referencia no seu país, lugares que levem o coach a sério e entenda o que deve ser feito ou n?o, e limites da profiss?o.

Find an experienced coach doing work that inspires you. Interview them to find out the path they took. Ask if they would do things the same way or differently if they were starting out, like you are, today. You can get valuable insights from talking to people with real life experience versus reading online.

Recognize that we are never done. Once you have become certified realize that you (the coach) should also hire coaches. Why would we expect someone to invest in us if we don't?

Build your audience starting with your immediate network. You don't have to have a fancy website, but you do need to let people know what you are doing and how they can help you. I received my first set of clients from referrals and my network continues to be a powerful source for potential clients and business development.

No matter how much potential a person has in coaching, he needs to brand himself to get business. Today we see many coaches who are popular because of their social media presence. Today coaches need to network both physically & virtually. Creating our presence is very important to become successful in this area. The profile has to be very strong & should give confidence to others that we can coach them better. Continuous learning & branding is important for having an established presence in the market.

Focus on marketing opportunities that put you in front of decision-makers who are in upper corporate leadership or business ownership. Whether it’s print, video, or speaking you want to spend that energy in ways that directly connects you to the individuals with hiring abilities.

Becoming a coach is not only about coaching. It's about positioning yourself in your network. Marketing yourself is one of the most important activities you need to do to establish yourself as a coach!

Have conversations, baby steps. Start asking individuals to have a conversation. Not to sell, to see if you can help them. Then decide if they will be a great fit.

Today everything is branding & marketing. Along with potential the projection & promotion are important. We can take the help of digital presence like LinkedIn or Instagram or Facebook the coach can take their personal branding. It might take time but certainly it will help in a major way soon

As an executive coach you should be the most interesting and the most interested person in the room. You need to stay ahead of the curve, keep updated and continuously add to yourself, add tools and methods that will help you stay interesting! People invest in a coach who invests in themselves.

Remember, every opportunity to learn and evolve brings you closer to your full potential as a coach. As the landscape evolves, so must we – staying updated on trends, research, and best practices ensures we're equipped to provide the highest level of support. Seeking supervision, mentoring, and coaching from seasoned professionals is invaluable, offering fresh perspectives and guidance on our journey is also a good idea.

Learning is needed for Earning.. earning is not only on money. Earning is on getting more clients, more exposure & more experience. Without learning we can earn much of the above. Till our end of the journey learning is inevitably important. It can be done through coaching cohorts or attending classes or reading journals etc..,

To become an effective and successful Executive Coach, first reflect on your coaching philosophy. Are you drawn to solving problems for others, or do you excel in guiding them to their own solutions? True coaching is about facilitating, not fixing. It demands a curiosity-driven approach, attentive listening, and empowering questions. The effectiveness of your coaching will hinge on whether it's centered on showcasing your knowledge or amplifying your client's capabilities. Self-assessment is key: Is your aim to be the hero of the story, or to make your client the hero of theirs?

Interested in becoming an Executive Coach? The first step you can do is so powerful but often overlooked: talk to colleagues in the HR department. Identify the person who manages executive coaching services for your organization (they might be part of the Learning & Development or Organizational Development team), and learn more about the demand and supply for executive coaching and what they are looking for when selecting an executive coach for corporate leaders and teams.

To be a good executive coach, the person has to do the following, 1. The interest towards coaching 2. Good probing about coaching 3. Getting Feed-forward about coaching from other coaches 4. Identifying the niche 5. Business development strategy 6. Deciding to be an internal or external coach 7. Budget planning These small reflections are important before getting into this coaching.