Don't Get Burned by Life Coaching Schools!

I have never billed myself as a “life coach” and I never will.

There's an article in the New York Times that goes into harrowing detail of how many people are being duped into spending their savings on programs to hack their brains, take charge of their lives, and escape the corporate grind by attending a life coaching school. Most have little to show for their investment besides debt and regret. Sadly, there are unscrupulous people out there running life coaching schools who are nothing but modern-day snake oil salesmen. Don't be fooled!

I’ve never comfortable with the term “life coach.” It feels too broad, too soft, too squishy, too nebulous.

The field of life coaching is exploding with a 54% increase in the number of coaches registering with The International Coaching Federation (ICF) between 2019 and 2022. Despite the presence of ICF, the industry as a whole, lacks any kind of standardized accreditation. Caveat emptor is the guiding principle for anyone looking for a coaching school. Fortunately, there are some very good coaching schools out there – you just need to do your homework when looking for them.

In 1999, I enrolled in a year-long professional coaching course at New Ventures West, a coaching school in San Francisco. NVW’s course was focused on supporting people in business, helping them to grow professionally as managers, executives, and leaders.

During that year, I learned that the most effective coaches are those who work their way out of a job as quickly as possible. We do that by evaluating a client’s situation, learning what their goals and objectives are, determining what competencies they need to achieve those goals, and then working to help our clients develop their competencies as quickly as possible so that they become self-correcting and self-generating. In other words, a good coach develops their client’s ability to solve their problems on their own, not to create a dependency on the coach.

I lack the requisite qualifications to be a life coach not because I have not lived enough, but because I have lived long enough to see the phrase for what it is – a meaningless label.

NVW’s PCC course was rigorous. It was based on a tested methodology which gave me several ways to assess clients and provided me with evidence-based models for helping people to make changes in their lives. At the end of the year, I was awarded a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential. And I worked damned hard to get it! My certification process looked like this:

• Document three case studies following a detailed 16-point outline.
• Defend each of those cases before a panel made up of the course leaders and several other certified coaches. They asked hard questions designed to determine if I was properly understanding and applying the methodology.
• Meet a new client, interview them for 45 minutes, spend 45 minutes designing a program to help them with their presenting issue, and then coach them live in front of the evaluating panel.
• Conduct a group coaching exercise with the entire room – which included my cohort and the certification panel.

Not everyone who attempted the certification process passed. Some were told they were not ready and were given specific areas to work on and told to try again at a later date. Some were given “conditional certification” which meant that they’d be assigned a coach who'd oversee their work for six months and then determine if the conditions could be lifted. The rest, and I was relieved to be in this group, were given full certification, meaning we were free to go forth and coach and to proudly put PCC after our names.

A good coach develops their client’s ability to solve their problems on their own, not to create a dependency on the coach.

In the nearly 25 years since I received my PCC, I have had the pleasure and privilege to coach people from all walks of life. I’ve coached salespeople at Goodwill, bankers, community organizers, IT professionals, government employees, educators, mid-level managers, C-Suite executives, and many others. It’s rare that I work with a client for more than six months because we create a coaching contract that spells out a set of agreed upon outcomes and includes defining the criteria by which we will determine success. This keeps us on track and prevents mission creep. The vast majority of the time those goals are met within the timeframe we agreed to. If they are pleased with the work, it's not unusual for clients to request additional coaching in other areas, which necessitates a new coaching contract.

One thing that sticks in my mind was NVW’s founder, James Flaherty, admonishing us: never take someone up Mt. Everest if you have not made the climb and come back safely several times. To me, that means knowing and respecting my limitations and protecting my client’s well-being. My focus for 25 years has been to help people in the business world. I’ve learned a lot about helping people to be more effective at work, developing their leadership skills, and fostering more rewarding relationships. I also have a lot of experience in helping teams become more collaborative so they can operate at higher levels. Those are the areas where I coach.

I’ve never been comfortable with the phrase “work/life balance,” because the construction makes it sound like there is work and there is life when the two are inseparable. Likewise, I’ve never comfortable with the term “life coach.” It feels too broad, too soft, too squishy, too nebulous. The term life coach is, for me, a bridge too far. It’s too broad and too encompassing a term. It has soft boundaries in a world where firm yet permeable boundaries are sorely needed but are in short supply. It implies a promise I can't fulfill. I lack the requisite qualifications to be a life coach not because I have not lived enough, but because I have lived long enough to see the phrase for what it is – a meaningless label.

I’m proud to say I am a professional coach. I coach professionals in specific bounded domains where I have skill and expertise and I tell people straightaway when I assess something is beyond my abilities.

I feel sorry for those who have lost money by attending life coaching schools. If you want to be a coach, focus on a specific area and look for accredited schools that have established a reputation for producing quality coaches.

If you’d like to know more about me and my work, please visit my website.