Heartened to see that you enjoyed it! And great prompts/questions. Lovely to hear that this post could go some way in nudging you toward coaching. I have lots of thoughts on how to find a coach that might turn into another post, but some about getting the vibe right and trialing with more than one coach I mention here in this post. Hope it helps
There’s a lot to say about how coaching can improve the metabolization of stressors. In many cases, I’m pairing remedial efforts (working through emotional fallout and imprints) with methods that often have the effect of building more flexibility into the client’s ways of making sense and interpreting things. We’re also proactively aiming for a more elegant way of being and acting that causes less emotional shear (ie psychological toll) in local contexts. This can be approached and achieved in many ways as you might imagine. IMO it’s always a different set of moves, methods and timing for each person.
On recommending a coaching program – I’d almost never recommend a specific program offhand. My probably unsatisfying (though very on-brand) answer is that the way you pursue coaching skill and credentialing is mediated through what kind of coach you want to be, how you think the world works, and what you believe the path looks like to get there. (e.g. “I want to make a career change. How do I make a career change? Learn a new skill well enough to earn a living. How do I do that? Get a degree in a different field of study. That way, I’ll know what to do and people will take me seriously if I have gone through a course/get a degree”. This isn’t necessarily incorrect, but it’s a line of reasoning that will result in a particular sequence of specific actions)
The subject of how to develop skill and how to think about credentialing in this ‘industry’ also super interesting to get into. My rough approximation of the credentialing landscape is the following:
Some pockets of high-quality programs that are narrowly specialized. These often require considerable time and monetary investment.
Lots of low-grade, mass-scale credentialing bodies that basically take aspiring coaches from 0 to 0.1. (Usually the first thing that most people reach for in order to find the permission to make a career change and qualify to get listed on coaching registries. I’m not knocking it because I’m sure some really great coaches got started that way. But the typical use-case is good to know)
Many ideologically intense woo-woo or pseudo-scientific-claims-about-maximizing-human-potentiality programs (where some content/model gems do exist)
A subset of (usually individual personality-driven) coaching programs with little substance that try to intensely upsell people. These irritate me to no end and I find many of them pretty predatory or manipulative in gross way.
I wouldn’t say I’ve exhaustively canvassed what’s out there, so if anyone reading this has any suggestions for high-quality credentialing programs, particularly ones that encourage the integration of multiple methods and paradigms, I’d be curious to hear about them!
I’d characterize my own situation as a sustained (over years) combination of structured coaching training, informal coaching training, being mentored by senior coaches and therapists, and building skill through my own practice. I’ve no credentials issued by an official body. My introduction to coaching was through Paradigm Academy, where I received the more structured coaching training. After that, I preferred to pursue coaches and subject-matter experts that I felt could upgrade my ongoing practice in some way. I’ve done most of that my own dime personally, but also in professional contexts. In my time at Counterfactual Ventures, we designed our founder selection and development program alongside a cognitive developmental theory-oriented consultancy co-founded by Bill Torbort. Developmental paradigms derived from Piaget’s work popularized by Kegan, Kohlberg, Fischer and Torbort etc. have influenced me a lot.
Because of my own models of what coach I want to be, how the world works and how to get there, unless there’s something really amazing that’s not on my radar, I’ll probably opt for undertaking a handful of highly specialized courses/training (and possibly getting credentialed) that will hopefully result in a varied and potent repertoire of coaching methods.
Apologies if that was a lot to take in! Happy to chat with you about it more if you’d like. Feel free to reach out at tee@teebarnett.com if you’d like to continue the discussion elsewhere.
Overall I like this approach a lot and agree with a lot of it (I’m also a coach)
Could you share an example of each of the four categories of coaching courses that you mention?
While I broadly agree with your assessment, I recognize that I could also easily be wrong as I haven’t done a particularly systematic search and I’ve only done one coaching course myself and spent 15-180 minutes researching 7 other courses.
Getting back to this comment might take a bit longer than usual for me to dig up exemplars of each category and even decide whether I think it’s a good idea to promote coaching types of a certain category (i.e. I’d rather be quite selective of what I choose to promote, rather than highlighting less good things in an attempt to be comprehensive.)
Also this from above! “I wouldn’t say I’ve exhaustively canvassed what’s out there, so if anyone reading this has any suggestions for high-quality credentialing programs, particularly ones that encourage the integration of multiple methods and paradigms, I’d be curious to hear about them!”
I appreciate this although having a list of not-recommended programs for people starting might also be highly valuable. Especially, as it takes quite a bit of nuance to steer clear of the lower quality ones. With that said, I’m curious to hear what high quality you’d like to promote. I’m guessing Paradigm?
Yeah. On the face of it, I could see how this feels like an easy ask, but I intentionally constructed this post in such a way as to have my work stand up and be evaluated on its own, without being associated with (or positioned against) other programs, coaches, or theoretical paradigms for now. I’ll have to spend a bit more time thinking through the differences between displaying in terms of ‘highlighting’, ‘promoting’, ‘recommending’ and ‘publicly outing’. What to look out for in both positive and negative senses sounds like something that actually could be a great post on its own. Maybe we could co-author that.
With that said, I’m curious to hear what high quality you’d like to promote. I’m guessing Paradigm?
This answer might make the above make more sense. My understanding is that Paradigm isn’t currently active, but were it still an option, I would restrict the scope of my recommendation to attending their workshops and working closely with specific coaches. For someone looking for a well-structured coaching program and hoping for a widely-recognized credential to earn, it wouldn’t be a very good choice. For me personally, my style of learning is boosted tremendously by fruitful individual relationships (great mentors, coaches, etc.) I like to think it worked out quite well in that sense
Heartened to see that you enjoyed it! And great prompts/questions. Lovely to hear that this post could go some way in nudging you toward coaching. I have lots of thoughts on how to find a coach that might turn into another post, but some about getting the vibe right and trialing with more than one coach I mention here in this post. Hope it helps
There’s a lot to say about how coaching can improve the metabolization of stressors. In many cases, I’m pairing remedial efforts (working through emotional fallout and imprints) with methods that often have the effect of building more flexibility into the client’s ways of making sense and interpreting things. We’re also proactively aiming for a more elegant way of being and acting that causes less emotional shear (ie psychological toll) in local contexts. This can be approached and achieved in many ways as you might imagine. IMO it’s always a different set of moves, methods and timing for each person.
On recommending a coaching program – I’d almost never recommend a specific program offhand. My probably unsatisfying (though very on-brand) answer is that the way you pursue coaching skill and credentialing is mediated through what kind of coach you want to be, how you think the world works, and what you believe the path looks like to get there. (e.g. “I want to make a career change. How do I make a career change? Learn a new skill well enough to earn a living. How do I do that? Get a degree in a different field of study. That way, I’ll know what to do and people will take me seriously if I have gone through a course/get a degree”. This isn’t necessarily incorrect, but it’s a line of reasoning that will result in a particular sequence of specific actions)
The subject of how to develop skill and how to think about credentialing in this ‘industry’ also super interesting to get into. My rough approximation of the credentialing landscape is the following:
Some pockets of high-quality programs that are narrowly specialized. These often require considerable time and monetary investment.
Lots of low-grade, mass-scale credentialing bodies that basically take aspiring coaches from 0 to 0.1. (Usually the first thing that most people reach for in order to find the permission to make a career change and qualify to get listed on coaching registries. I’m not knocking it because I’m sure some really great coaches got started that way. But the typical use-case is good to know)
Many ideologically intense woo-woo or pseudo-scientific-claims-about-maximizing-human-potentiality programs (where some content/model gems do exist)
A subset of (usually individual personality-driven) coaching programs with little substance that try to intensely upsell people. These irritate me to no end and I find many of them pretty predatory or manipulative in gross way.
I wouldn’t say I’ve exhaustively canvassed what’s out there, so if anyone reading this has any suggestions for high-quality credentialing programs, particularly ones that encourage the integration of multiple methods and paradigms, I’d be curious to hear about them!
I’d characterize my own situation as a sustained (over years) combination of structured coaching training, informal coaching training, being mentored by senior coaches and therapists, and building skill through my own practice. I’ve no credentials issued by an official body. My introduction to coaching was through Paradigm Academy, where I received the more structured coaching training. After that, I preferred to pursue coaches and subject-matter experts that I felt could upgrade my ongoing practice in some way. I’ve done most of that my own dime personally, but also in professional contexts. In my time at Counterfactual Ventures, we designed our founder selection and development program alongside a cognitive developmental theory-oriented consultancy co-founded by Bill Torbort. Developmental paradigms derived from Piaget’s work popularized by Kegan, Kohlberg, Fischer and Torbort etc. have influenced me a lot.
Because of my own models of what coach I want to be, how the world works and how to get there, unless there’s something really amazing that’s not on my radar, I’ll probably opt for undertaking a handful of highly specialized courses/training (and possibly getting credentialed) that will hopefully result in a varied and potent repertoire of coaching methods.
Apologies if that was a lot to take in! Happy to chat with you about it more if you’d like. Feel free to reach out at tee@teebarnett.com if you’d like to continue the discussion elsewhere.
Thanks for such a detailed response. I’ll be thinking and processing all of this for a while. Great food for thought.
Overall I like this approach a lot and agree with a lot of it (I’m also a coach)
Could you share an example of each of the four categories of coaching courses that you mention?
While I broadly agree with your assessment, I recognize that I could also easily be wrong as I haven’t done a particularly systematic search and I’ve only done one coaching course myself and spent 15-180 minutes researching 7 other courses.
Getting back to this comment might take a bit longer than usual for me to dig up exemplars of each category and even decide whether I think it’s a good idea to promote coaching types of a certain category (i.e. I’d rather be quite selective of what I choose to promote, rather than highlighting less good things in an attempt to be comprehensive.)
Also this from above! “I wouldn’t say I’ve exhaustively canvassed what’s out there, so if anyone reading this has any suggestions for high-quality credentialing programs, particularly ones that encourage the integration of multiple methods and paradigms, I’d be curious to hear about them!”
I appreciate this although having a list of not-recommended programs for people starting might also be highly valuable. Especially, as it takes quite a bit of nuance to steer clear of the lower quality ones. With that said, I’m curious to hear what high quality you’d like to promote. I’m guessing Paradigm?
Yeah. On the face of it, I could see how this feels like an easy ask, but I intentionally constructed this post in such a way as to have my work stand up and be evaluated on its own, without being associated with (or positioned against) other programs, coaches, or theoretical paradigms for now. I’ll have to spend a bit more time thinking through the differences between displaying in terms of ‘highlighting’, ‘promoting’, ‘recommending’ and ‘publicly outing’. What to look out for in both positive and negative senses sounds like something that actually could be a great post on its own. Maybe we could co-author that.
This answer might make the above make more sense. My understanding is that Paradigm isn’t currently active, but were it still an option, I would restrict the scope of my recommendation to attending their workshops and working closely with specific coaches. For someone looking for a well-structured coaching program and hoping for a widely-recognized credential to earn, it wouldn’t be a very good choice. For me personally, my style of learning is boosted tremendously by fruitful individual relationships (great mentors, coaches, etc.) I like to think it worked out quite well in that sense