Making the right choice of who to train with can be a daunting task with so many offers available.
This is an objective guide to assist you in making the right choice when you decide who to use as your training provider.
In all honesty, I don’t believe there is a wrong choice. Like me, I am certain that you realise that any form of training is good. Especially training that is focused on making good people great.
So from the start let us please agree that this guide is not against certain training schools, as I believe there are no bad ones.
The reason for this guide is to highlight a few points to assist you in making the right choice for you.
There are many suppliers in the NLP and Life Coaching industry and it is very important to make the best choice for you.
Let us explore a few pointers to consider:
- Experience
- Ensure the training provider has experience.
- Experience is when the trainers have many years of experience.
- During the training there will be many questions asked and you want them answered by a mature, experienced person. You won’t take your R 800 000 car to be serviced by a trainee mechanic. Even if the mechanic looks good and speaks smoothly, you would prefer someone with actual experience. Coaching is more important than a car. It is about people’s lives. Real people, in a real world, with real problems looking for real solutions.
- A trainer ideally is a person with practical coaching experience and life experience.
- Rapport
- The best way to learn is when you are comfortable with the trainer.
- You would preferably want to feel a sense of “liking” towards the trainer.
- Most training schools will allow either a meeting with the trainer or some form of open day where potential students can come and experience the trainers and training style first hand.
- Certification
- There are certificates and certificates. Depending on the company or the trainer’s own level of certification and accreditation with various associations will determine the true value of the certificate.
- When we are certified as trainers we should have gone through a long, tough and strenuous journey of training to eventually after a few years be certified as trainers.
- The level that a “true” trainer has reached will be shown by their own certification and with which bodies they are accredited.
- A professional training company/ person will have various international accreditations. Some accrediting bodies are more difficult to be accredited by than others. The 2 we advise should be on their list are ANLP and ICR. Be diligent, some training companies create fake associations or “accredited listings”.
- Check the substance of the certificate. If it cannot be used in most countries, it has little value.
- Only higher education registered institutes can issue a diploma. A diploma will take no less than 1 to 2 years of full time study. Just because it is called a diploma does not make it a higher education diploma. There are companies that call an attendance certificate a diploma.
- Attendance versus capable.
- A credible training company will only certify on capability.
- Ideally there should be 3 ways in which a student is measured
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- Practical application
- Theory
- Comprehension
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- Practical learning.
- All techniques and skills that are taught should be demonstrated by the trainer.
- As students you should be allowed to practice the learning on each other, ensuring useable and applicable understanding.
- Ethics
- Ethics is vital in our industry.
- Trainers and training companies should subscribe to an ethical code.
- A well established and experienced company should be able to supply you with a coaching guide and ethical code.
- CPD
- Continual professional development is critical to coaches.
- Ask what form of support and continues learning is available.
- A variety of courses available shows versatility in the knowledge base of the trainers.
I trust this list has allowed you to make the best decision for you. Remember all forms of personal development learning is good for you. There are no good or bad trainers, some just produce better coaches and NLP practitioners than others.
As a little sales pitch, (you knew it was coming) we have kept written feedback from all our students over the past 10 years. Every single form reflects only excellence and exceeds the minimum requirements.