Is The Easy Option Always The Best Choice For Imposter Syndrome Coaching Training?

One of the classic warning signs for imposter syndrome is wanting to collect certificates.

“When I’ve done such and such a course, I will finally feel ready / good enough / no longer terrified they’ll find me out as a fraud.”

But there’s a trend I’m seeing in the coaching training world at the moment really concerns me:

Training for Imposter Syndrome coaching and other deeper coaching interventions, where all you have to do to get the certificate is show up.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Definitely the easy option.

Watch a few training sessions, perhaps write a few reflective learning journal entires, do a handful of peer-swap coaching sessions, and wham, bam you’re miraculously ready to do the deeper-than-mindset work that is required for Imposter Syndrome and other trauma-informed interventions.

But are you?

I get it. Hard work sucks. It takes time. And effort. And commitment.

The easy option can feel so enticing.

But...

I see three core problems with this approach:

Firstly:

Elephant in the room - who wants to pay their hard-earned money and trust their future life achievements and happiness to someone who effectively took a weekend correspondence course in such a complex, advanced topic?

Or - a trend I've been seeing over the past year in my field (Imposter Syndrome) - marketing themselves as a trauma-informed coach, an Imposter Syndrome-informed coach, or even an Imposter Syndrome expert, simply because they read a couple of books and listened to some podcasts... or paid ￡29 for a coaching course from an ad they saw on social media... or took a half-day Imposter Syndrome-informed leadership course from their employer.

I could soap-box-rant about this for days, but I’ll leave that there for now. Bottom line: if you're seeing ads for that kind of bargain basement course on social media, please approach with caution!

Secondly:

At a deeply subconscious level, we don’t value achievements that didn’t take effort.

So if a coach is trying to collect a certificate to somehow ‘prove’ that they’re good enough to tackle Imposter Syndrome with clients, their unconscious mind is going to be having a field day, letting them know that the ‘easy route’ was perhaps not the wisest choice.

That brings me to one of the most important outcomes of any deep coaching training:

The training is as much about the coach's inner transformation as the client's.

Does the course help them to clear out their own Imposter Syndrome or trauma first (the two are closely linked)? If not, then they're risking blocking their clients' ability to achieve that goal, because the unconscious mind won't let us take others to a place that has seemed impossible for us, ourselves.

They'll be passing on yet more coping strategies to clients, helping them to succeed despite whatever their block is, rather than supporting them to truly set themselves free from it, to genuinely thrive and have the impact their ideas and dreams deserve.

Ultimately, the client won't get the results that they or the coach had been hoping for.

And thirdly:

There is a world of difference between information and implementation.

We can fill our knowledge-bucket with imposter syndrome information, trauma-informed information, or whichever deep-dive modality we want to study as coaches, but does that really make us a great coach for this identity-level work?

Or does it just mean we know quite a lot, 'on paper'?

This is especially true if what we're trying to do is to 'figure something out' to help clients from Google searches and random podcasts, books and free masterclasses. We don't have all the pieces of the puzzle, let alone a tried-and-tested science-backed strategy that has been proven to get results.

There is no comparison in the quality of coaching skills developed in the classroom vs the coaching office. Self-study just doesn't cut it for deepening your coaching skills, because as soon as you have a 'real life person' in the (Zoom) room with you, you're likely to 'flinch' - to hold back on applying your new skills and strategies, and to fall back on techniques that feel familiar and safe.

So you do the training, but nothing changes.

Basically, unless you’ve been out there in the ‘real world’ applying what you have learned about Imposter Syndrome coaching, or trauma-informed work, you’ve just been learning theory.

Think about it for a moment: would you get into a car with a driver who had learned how to drive from books / YouTube and a peer-support forum, and it was their first time physically behind a wheel? How about a trusting a self-taught dentist? Or a first-real-client-ever hairdresser? But they have a certificate?

After the core training on my Imposter Syndrome coaching training programmes, we spend the next 6-9 months deeply supporting my students in getting the concepts and techniques out of their heads, and actually implementing them with real-life people: paying clients.

It's not just swapping coaching calls with peers, though these are great for the initial safe-space practising (and we do facilitate that). It's not role-play, not imagining it and reflective journaling about how you felt.

It's actually being in the field, and using this stuff with real people, in ways that mean the coach / master coach trainee is still fully supported.

And I get it. That's uncomfortable. We all hate audience participation in courses!

Implementation is something it's easy to put off. It's easier just to collect information.

I remember this vividly from when I was studying to become a yoga teacher.

I had to metaphorically have my head held under water to get me to apply what I had learned, out in the 'real world'. And afterwards I was so grateful that I had got out of my comfort zone and done that.

But what made the biggest difference was personal feedback on my teaching from our expert course leaders.

Yes, we completed reflective learning sheets for each posture we were learning. But that journalling just explored my inner journey, not how to teach, and some poses definitely got more attention than others...

Yes, we had peer-swap teaching of postures, but I really noticed how one person making a mistake would become contagious in the group, until we were all teaching it the wrong way, because there was no tutor there to help us to spot our accidental mistakes.

Also, it's easy to teach a complicated technique to someone who already knows it. It's much harder to teach it to a 'real person' for whom it's totally new. So peer sessions were good, but they weren't really giving us the confidence or the skills to do so outside of the classroom.

It was having a tutor there to support me, to answer my questions, to point out ways I could improve, that allowed me to hone my skills.

But even then, the support ended when we graduated. We had never taught 'real-world' classes. We had the information, but we weren't implementing it. And fewer than one third of the students ever went on to teach...

... because applying what we've learned is actually the hardest and scariest bit.

That's why on my Imposter Syndrome Coaching certification programmes we do supported case studies before the end of the course on my programmes - so that hardest step is already behind you, when you graduate. You've already been applying what you have been learning in the real world.

Then you can celebrate in style, confident that you know how to support people with these transformational techniques, with proven, real-life experience giving you strong foundations.

These are real-world case studies, which I personally review, rather than hypothetical in-classroom situations.?

And even then, that review is not just a tick-box exercise. We use those case studies to help students to celebrate what they have learned and implemented, and to develop an action plan to fill in any gaps.

The case studies are a journey of inner transformation - for the coach.

Students tell me there's a world of difference between their first real-client case study and their sixth.

They love how much their skills deepen and develop over that time, and how much they help them to grow as a coach. The case studies support them in taking the next steps into coaching mastery.

But the key to this growth is the support and feedback from an expert tutor, to help us to refine our skills. After all, it's super-hard to spot our coaching blind spots, by ourselves. And if we're relying solely on fellow students for that feedback, then we risk ingraining people's misunderstandings and mistakes in our own practice.

Our graduates are fully supported, too, with CPD and coaching supervision calls, plus exclusive grads–only membership of the Soultuitive? Coaching Lab, with a? grads-only forum, monthly pick-Clare’s-brains calls, and regular expert masterclasses on everything to do with being a brilliant coach and getting to make the difference you're dreaming of.

So if you work with one of my certified Natural Resilience Method? Practitioners or Imposter Syndrome Master Coaches?, you know you’re getting the real deal.

You know they didn’t just cobble stuff together from reading my books, listening to my podcasts, and trying to reverse-engineer my free masterclasses.

You know they have studied direct with me and my expert tutors, and the course takes a full year, not just a few weeks, so there is rigour, depth, and wisdom in their work with you.

You know they have been on a journey of inner transformation, themselves; that they've used the strategies and techniques they'll be sharing with you to create their own breakthroughs; that they have grown as a coach, moving into Mastery.

If you’re looking to work with a coach on #ImposterSyndrome, please ask them what training they have had. And if they’ve had any (many haven't), was it a course where you can get your certificate, just by showing up? Or were they supported in implementing what they've learned, both to create transformation in themselves, and for real-world clients? Is the training they took going to offer you the depth of trauma-informed, imposter syndrome-informed coaching support you deserve?

Remember: there's a huge difference between getting an attendance certificate and being formally certified.

Or would you rather work with a coach who has gone the extra mile, who is confident and capable with strategies that are proven by science and research to get you the results you want?

Looking For An Imposter Syndrome Coach?

If you're looking for an Imposter Syndrome specialist coach or therapist as you're reading this, here's a free podcast episode and workbook with 10 Questions You Should Ask Your Potential Imposter Syndrome Coach .

I'm not pitching you - I rarely ever take 1:1 clients these days because my schedule is full with my Master Coach and Rise Like A Rebel? clients. I just want to help you to make a great decision!

Looking To Add Imposter Syndrome To Your Toolkit?

If you're a coach, therapist, line manager, HR professional or Mental Health First Aider who is looking to add proven, transformational Imposter Syndrome strategies to your toolkit, here's where you can apply to join one of my Imposter Syndrome coaching certification programmes .

You don't have to rebrand and go all-in with Imposter Syndrome.

You can keep doing the type of coaching work you love - but you'll have a fantastic additional toolkit to help unblock clients at the identity level, where Impostor Syndrome realy hangs out, rather than just at the mindset level, even if they feel like they've tried everything and nothing has worked.

And if you don't want to become an Imposter Syndrome expert, but you do want to know what to do if Imposter Syndrome gate-crashes your 1:1 conversations, I'd love to give you a copy of my new book, Coaching Imposter Syndrome .

It's ideal for line managers, consultants, HR professionals and anyone who supports people in fulfilling their potential. It guides you through how to spot the hidden warning signs of Imposter Syndrome and how to get people started on their journey to recovery.

Clare Josa is considered a global authority in Imposter Syndrome, having specialised in the field for over 20 years. The author of the best-selling book, Ditching Imposter Syndrome , and her new book, Coaching Imposter Syndrome , she is a sought-after international keynote speaker. As a reformed engineer, she brings practical, science-backed common sense to her inspirational work, with demystified ancient wisdom, as well as a generous dollop of humour. You can find out more about working with Clare here .