Make me Tony Robbins, or some reasonable facsimilie thereof

July 23, 2009 2:32 PM

I'm curious to know of any reputable life coaching certification programs. I think I might be interested in this as a potential career path, but am having difficulty sifting through moutains of info.

There's just a glut of stuff on Google, and that, to me, means that most of it is utter crap. I'm wondering if any folks on the green have any experience with US-based life coaching certification courses. Needs to be remote delivery (unless anyone has a good program in Boise, ID); expense and time to get certified aren't too much of a concern at this juncture. Just researching my options.

posted by jasondbarr to education (10 comments total)

Life coaching isn't like being a doctor. You could hang out a shingle now if you wanted to. From what I've seen most of these courses are personally enriching only the pockets of the people who put them on.

Do yourself a favor and watch the Life Coaching episode of "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!". It's the fourth episode of their third season if you're looking to Netflix it.
posted by inturnaround at 3:15 PM on July 23

Financially successful life coaches are just really, really, really good salespeople. They sell you on the idea that for $499 (or whatever their price is) they can help you overcome all the obstacles in your life that are keeping you from succeeding.

They can't, because in 95% of the cases, the obstacle is the person buying the course, and he or she isn't going to change after a 1 day seminar. A few do I'm sure, and for them it's probably a great investment. The other 95% are wasting their money.

If you can sell yourself, go ahead and start tomorrow. You don't need any certification.
posted by COD at 4:24 PM on July 23

Your local community college probably has good social work course offerings which will provide much more legitimacy than any fly-by-night life coaching course.
posted by The White Hat at 4:25 PM on July 23

If expense and time are not a concern, it looks like you may want to look in to some Counseling / Clinical Psychology graduate programs. These largely deal with the same issues, but on a deeper, more scientific (and presumably, more legitimate) degree.
posted by platosadvocate at 5:13 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]

Gossip on the street says that the most reliable way of becoming a life coach is to drop out of a university psychology program, kind of like the old doctor->dentist joke.
posted by rhizome at 5:38 PM on July 23

Life coaching has gotten a bad rap *because* just about anyone can call themselves a life coach. I've met some people I wouldn't trust to tie their own shoes that call themselves life coaches, but I've also met some astoundingly good executive coaches. Keep in mind that the credentials may have been what got them in the door to be placed on retainer at these large corporations, but may not have anything to do with how good they are as coaches...it may be an incidental thing, in that they were good coaches, and got the credentials to get bigger clients.

Although life coaching has no official governing body that approves standards, there are 3 self-appointed organization though that take on the job. These organizations are the International Coach Federation, European Coaching Institute, and International Association of Coaching.

That said; Tony Robbins isn't a life coach, he's a motivational speaker...and there's a different sort of training for that, if that is what you want to do. I've heard good things about Toastmasters, although I have no personal experience with them. Taking a speech class at the local jr. college couldn't hurt, and will give you an idea of how you feel standing up in front of an audience while being mostly risk free.

In the whole coaching/motivation/leadership training arena; there are a metric ton of different modalities; ranging from the super woo-woo hippy stuff to the hardcore "dont' feel guilty about being rich and pissing on poor people". You should find something that resonates with you, and hook up with the people who do that.

As an example; I once took a seminar with Betty Sue Flowers, and I'm currently reading a book where she is a co-author; "Presence - Human purpose and the field of the future", because their philosophy and ethics resonate with me, and I'm considering adding both their field work, and them as speakers to some things we're trying to put together for a future retreat. Whereas the guy behind Rainmaker sets my teeth on edge with his talk of managers needing to treat their staff as children. I find it demeaning and condescending, and thus wouldn't be served by following his methods or advice. And then there's Margaret Keyes, who does this amazing Jungian people-whisperer thing...and I love her and love her work; but I could no more do it than I could dance on the head of a pin.

My point is this; define your modality...what you want to focus your coaching skills upon - be it executive coaching, or family dynamics, or what have you, then find the best people in that sub-field. Watch them do what they do and see if it is is something that you would feel comfortable doing.

Only after you've picked a modality, and started to define your programs, and you're ready to start thinking about developing a client base should you decide if certification is right for you.
posted by dejah420 at 6:12 PM on July 23

Please people, focus on the question. The op is not asking for your (negative) opinion of life coaching. He is looking for information on life coaching training classes from people who have participated in them.
posted by alms at 7:54 PM on July 23

Someone I know through an NGO recently underwent training to be a life coach. She lists the courses she took and various other qualifications on her blog. She's based in Toronto, but I think some of the resources are available online, and there might be local-to-Boise versions of the other courses. (Granted, her education/work experience is probably as important as her life-coach training.)

I used to be highly skeptical about life coaching and leadership development until I realized that they were tools within a process that helps me achieve what I want more effectively. So from an organizational management point of view, it's not BS at all. Several testimonials on that blog are from others involved in that NGO who have found life-coaching/facilitation training extremely helpful. I only wish more activist groups took it as seriously as the corporate bigwigs. (my student union for example... shakes head) Anyway, just another perspective to balance out the haters. I think it's fantastic that you're seriously thinking about life-coaching as a career path. Good luck!
posted by dustyasymptotes at 9:05 PM on July 23 [1 favorite]

Yeah, not to be a downer, but what alms said.

I understand what it is that a life coach is supposed to do, I know that there are a lot of people who I wouldn't trust to advise me on what type of car to buy, let alone how to live my life, etc. etc. What I'm looking for are people with first-hand experiences (read: are making a living as a life coach) with reputable coaching certification courses.

And, dustyasymptotes, thanks for the link. I'll definitely check it out.

Keep the input coming, folks!
posted by jasondbarr at 9:51 PM on July 23

Also, dejah, thanks for the links to the policing bodies. I understand Tony Robbins is not a life coach; I was shooting for a catchy title to get people to read the question. :)
posted by jasondbarr at 9:53 PM on July 23