Hello - It’s Gareth here; ACC, Executive Coach & Trainer. And full disclosure, I’m the Director of Business Development at Nova Terra. So of course, I believe that what we offer goes beyond the standard… and I know this because I have been through the program myself, having been on previous coaching development programs elsewhere and had a lot of time during the pandemic to really explore what was out there in terms of coach training providers.
I’m not here to tell you how we differentiate on the market place - that’s your own journey of discovery. What I will offer is to support you in navigating the marketplace - I know from experience, it can be pretty daunting!
So let’s begin - here are my five top tips:
1: Learning by Doing or Academia?
Reflect on how you like to learn - are you into theory or more hands-on? At Nova Terra, we focus on the 'learning by doing' method. 70% of the course is practice. Academic bodies will often dip into lots of theories and long histories of coaching. At the end of the day, coaching is a practice - we are practitioners and to become an accredited coach with the ICF, there are practical exams.
2: WHO you are is HOW you coach.
My favourite mantra (which comes from a grounding in supervision). In short - research your training provider. Are they just that - a training provider of coaching (who teach you about coaching - but ask yourself this reflective question: what will you learn?), or can they also walk the talk; are they actively coaching others, providing coaching for corporate or private clients, sharing their casework, live examples and demonstrations? The latter is what you experience at Nova Terra.
3: Certified is not Accredited.
Check that your training program is accredited. The International Coaching Federation (with whom Nova Terra is accredited), the European Mentoring & Coaching Council or Association for Coaching are the three leaders in an industry which remains unregulated. This means that you can become an accredited coach with one of these bodies - so long as they have accredited your course provider - once you have passed the relevant exams and completed the required number of practice hours.
4: How much challenge? How much support?
A training provider worth their salt will challenge you from the start - even from the first meeting. That said, they will also be in a position to support you through to the end of your journey. At Nova Terra, for example, we not only offer continual assessment through the Mastery & Art of Coaching programs, we provide days of examination preparation and even provide the setting and support to complete your exam for submission to the ICF. We host a wide network of alumni and remain on hand to answer your questions when it comes to accreditation, also providing additional services that are required for continual coaching education, mentoring and supervision. It’s an earnest partnership and one we have been proud to offer for the past thirteen years and counting...
5: Size matters.
Reflect on the quantity of training hours and the quality. Any program should provide the minimum requirement of training hours to reach your goals of becoming a coach - Nova Terra offer in addition to the training, 10 hours of mentoring (when you follow Levels 1 & 2 combined). There's also the possibility to sign up to additional services such as supervision, mentoring for individuals or groups, to support you in your development. Their group sizes never exceed 12 people offering enough individual experience and at the same time a robust learning environment of shared backgrounds and ideas.
Hopefully these five pointers offer some reflection for you in your journey of discovery as you begin to shortlist how you want to coach and who you want to be in the coaching world. With this information, I implore you to meet your providers. Seek out the alumni. Get curious - you’re going to become a coach(!) - and mostly trust your instincts. They’ve got you this far and on to this page, so you must be doing something right! :-)
