Netta Neva participated in our International Coaching Certification course a year ago which was her first coaching certification course. This is how she writes about her experience. You can read the original post on her blog.
I can honestly say that it changed my life on many levels. In addition to learning a new skill and getting connected with like-minded people, I got a spark to do coaching for real and to turn it into a profession.
Since some of you might be considering in adding coaching to your skill-set or even making it your profession, I wanted to share my experiences and thoughts about my coaching certification one year later.
The easy way to try out coaching
Before deciding to sign up for the International Coaching Certification course by World Coaching Organisation Finland, I had been contemplating it for a while. I had been comparing several different coaching and counseling-related courses, but none of them seemed to fit my life situation at the time. In general, they lasted at least a year, and since I knew my employer would not be paying the training, the price tag of usually thousands of euros felt overwhelming. Besides, I was not even sure whether coaching would be my thing, since I had only done a small coaching workshop a couple of years back.
That is why I decided to conduct a small experiment and do the coaching course over a weekend in Helsinki. I figured that with that course I could get straight into the action, since it required practice sessions with two clients. Maybe that way I could see whether I would like coaching as much as I expected. In addition, I could expand my international network, since the course was taught in English. Even the monetary investment (about 500 to 600 €) was still feasible compared to the alternatives, so there was nothing to stop me anymore.
It gave more than took
When the course started, we were asked what we wished to get from the course. I remember answering that I hoped I would be able to keep myself energized for the whole weekend. After all, the days were long (about 10 hours each), so after a normal work week, it was an intense experience. Thankfully, my wishes came true. Yes, the days were long, but I remember feeling energized even at the end of them. My head was full of new ideas and deep thoughts about myself as well as the experience.
In hindsight, I can say that the decision to take that course changed my life. Not only did I get a good foundation for my coaching skills, but I also got the spark to continue learning more about coaching and eventually turning it into a profession. In addition, I got to meet wonderful people representing different nationalities and backgrounds and build up a versatile peer group from them. And perhaps most importantly, I got to know myself even better and take concrete steps towards my dreams. I am not sure I would be where I am now without it.
Coaching skills are useful to anyone
In general, coaching skills such as building rapport, listening consciously and asking meaningful questions are useful to anyone, because you can use them both at work and at home with your family. That is why I recommend diving deeper into the world of coaching even if you do not want to become a professional coach.
Whether or not you should sign up for the same course that I took is up to you. I can warmly recommend it but understand also if others’ needs are different than mine. After all, we are the best ones to decide what are the right choices for us in our lives at any given moment.
Thank you Netta! You can find many interesting coaching related posts from her blog.