Could 50,000 coaches be wrong?

Article by author, speaker, and founder of New Ventures West, James Flaherty, MCC, the co-leader of our upcoming Integral Coaching and the Enneagram Course.

Entering a six-month coach training program on the suspicion that life coaches are?glorified confidantes who charge a lot of money and that coaching is “new-age nonsense,”?the author of a recent Harper’s article finds lots of evidence to support her hypothesis. The?irony of the piece’s title, “50,000 Life Coaches Can’t Be Wrong,” becomes quickly?apparent.

Her skepticism is not unwarranted. There are, however, ways of coaching that offer more?than what the popular trends promote. Coach training and the work of coaching itself?may encompass goal-setting and happy-making, which is a good starting place. However,?coaching can be more than being a good listener, giving advice or helping someone get?what they want. These are all great things, of course, but they don’t necessarily address?true development.

The modality that the author learned, along with her research that went as far back as the?human potential movement begun in the 1970s, all speaks to horizontal development. In?other words, there is something out there – a goal – that I want. To be happier, more?productive, thinner, richer … we all know what goals are, and we know the ones that are?common in our culture.

Integral Coaching, the methodology we practice at New Ventures West, is far more?concerned with vertical development: helping the clients grow in ways that have them?actually live in a different way, not just solve the problem in front of them. Coaches can?certainly help clients attain their goals (and how wonderful that they do!). But when we?understand why we’re doing what we’re doing—when we’re attuned to ourselves—the?goals themselves change. In Integral Coaching? we are interested in supporting clients in?developing the capacity to respond to what life hands them and to understand “for the?sake of what” they want what they do—what is their true longing? What is it only they?can bring to the world?

So much of this information lives in the body, an aspect that is often left out of coaching.?Attunement and resonance, capacities that are essential in supporting someone as a coach,?are developed on the level of physicality. Our physical bearing often correlates to how the?rest of life shows up for us. For instance, how much can you infer about someone who is?slouching and folded in on themselves all the time? Or a person who can’t stop fidgeting?

Most importantly, practices that occur on the level of the body are the ones that bring?about this vertical development and longer-lasting change. Repeated action actually?rewires our nervous system. If we train ourselves through repetition to move in a different?way (breathe, shout, lift weights, relax, stretch, chant, kickbox – whatever fosters our intended growth), it goes to follow that our experience of the world will change.

We also must remember that we are so much more than our ideas. Insights are fantastic?but unless they are grounded in practice it’s possible that they will never become realized.?In addition to our thoughts, we are embedded in a world of relationships and culture. We?operate in a particular environment and use tools and technology. Without taking into?account the unique matrix that makes up each person we are not seeing the whole picture,?and we may not be making adjustments in the most appropriate domain.

Apart from differences in coaching methodologies, coach training programs vary widely in?terms of requirements, rigor, and outcomes. The Coaches Training Institute, where the?author of the Harper’s article did her training, and many other popular programs offer?modules that are likely to fit in a student’s life, certify them and get them working more?quickly. A valuable approach.

Integral?Coach? certification takes one year, plus a two- or three-day prerequisite. That is?barely enough to fit in what happens. It is a deep dive into one’s own life, ideas, presumptions, biases, patterns. It’s all unearthed, examined and worked with?in the interest of building what we call the body of a coach: a body that is present enough?to let life through, that is free of bias, that can meet the client where they are. There is no?one way to be an Integral Coach? except that those qualities come forward in interactions?with anyone—not just clients. As such this work finds its way into places other than?entrepreneurial coaching practices (i.e. it’s far more than a way to market oneself). The?certification process not only asks you to demonstrate your aptitude in the methodology. It?looks at how present you are—how much you’ve overcome ?your habitual tendencies, how consistently you catch yourself acting from the patterns that aren’t serving you.?These skills and qualities are essential to fully support another person in their vertical and?horizontal development. It’s not an easy process, and it’s not for everyone.

The result, however, is a person who knows herself and can attune to others on a level?that is not commonly seen in the coaching industry. When the question shifts from “what?do I want” to “what is life asking of me?” we encounter a different human being. And that?is the question into which we, as Integral Coaches, are inviting everyone. For some this is?a lofty inquiry: there are plenty of people whose life is a series of emergencies and who are?looking to calm themselves enough to be able to sit in conversation with someone for?longer than five minutes or learn to take a deep breath. So we start there. We start?wherever the client is, and we invite them into deeper, self-generating development.

Regardless of the kind of training or coaching one does, how wonderful it is that there are so many people in the world who want to make a living by helping improve the lives of?their fellow humans. On that level alone we can probably agree that it’s by no means a racket, a ruse or a moneymaking enterprise. Hooray for the people who are learning to be?better friends, helping people attain their goals, wanting to make others happy. It’s an?industry that was born of a collective understanding that there has to be something more to life, and that we have a right to endeavor toward greater meaning, whatever form it?takes. We celebrate that so many people want to train as life coaches. Power and luck to?them. 50,000 people who are up to that really can’t be wrong.

What we’re up to at New Ventures West is something different, though we haven’t yet?found a name for it that lives outside of the very broad category known as coaching. The?methodology and the training go deep, and people emerge forever changed: set on?unexpected spiritual paths, reconnected with a passion long since forgotten, suddenly?understanding what is theirs to do in the world (which may not, in fact, be coaching).

There aren’t 50,000 of us doing Integral Coaching? … more like 2,000. But we’re out here,?and we invite you to explore what’s possible.

Take care of yourself.

Love,

James

Practical Wisdom

Consider the following when considering coaching, coaching schools, and the coaching industry.

• If you're considering becoming a coach or being coached, prioritize looking to the schools and their graduates offering the highest standards and rigorous training. Get referrals. In fact, at New Ventures West , we encourage people to ask around to find the best school for them.
• Recognize the importance of coaching that examines and uses both horizontal and vertical development and that the coach-client relationship implicitly offers you a great depth of personal growth.
• Explore coaching that provides you with body-centered techniques and practices to contribute to lasting change, as you can't have a healthy mind without a healthy body—understand the two, the mind and the body—are highly interconnected.
• Don't just rely on insights or sound bites on a surface level. Good coaching and the best coaching schools will have you put in the work, invaluable if you want to create meaningful change.
• If you're not interested in putting in the work, which is the only way to create meaningful, lasting change, New Ventures West will not be right for you.
• There are no shortcuts.
• Be wary of schools that don't offer ways to experience their methodologies and programs for yourself. Coaching is an investment. You should be given the opportunity to see if it's right for you.

Ready to discover a coaching school for yourself?

At New Ventures West, we offer free events to try out Integral Coaching for yourself because we appreciate that coaching is a major investment of your time and money to provide you with a more open to possibilities future.

We insist you discover for yourself that our program is the right fit. Ultimately, we want you to be happy you've made the right choice. It's our promise to you, one we're willing to wager that only a few other coaching schools out there are also willing to make.

If you still aren't sure, put us to the test.

Register for one of our upcoming free events today!

Are you already a coach and want to go deeper?

New Ventures West is cooking up one of the best, advanced certifications yet in the coaching industry, taught over this coming winter.

Already a professional working coach certified by New Ventures West or another accredited school?

Want to go deeper, not only for your clients but also for yourself, enabling you to see, with great clarity, how to navigate the world we live in while finding inner peace, serenity, purpose, and hope?

Integral Coaching and the Enneagram

• Learn how to skillfully establish and maintain a grounded, peaceful, forgiving inner landscape.
• Gain clarity and the power to bring out circumstances for yourself and others into a nurturing, harmonious, inspiring wholeness.
• Become proficient in bringing a full integration of a rich living life to your clients through yourself.

Led by New Ventures West , founder James Flaherty, and long-time partner and friend and co-founder of the Enneagram Institute, Russ Hudson, this rigorous training is the culmination of years of joint study, learning, and practice with hundreds of students.

Learn more and Register by visiting Integral Coaching and the Enneagram's web page.

New Ventures West is one of the oldest and most rigorously accredited schools featuring seasoned faculty offering Integral Coaching certification. We've trained thousands of graduates, including world-renowned coaches and leaders for global companies.?

Contact us to learn more, or sign up for our emails today!