FAQs

We believe Coach Academy offers significant advantages over other programs.

• Live, in-person training is just a superior way to learn. Many other programs are partially or completely done via web conferencing or teleconferencing.
• The program is accredited/approved by both International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Center for Credentialing and Education (BCC).
• All 60+ hours of coach training are completed in an intensive 8 days, not 6 – 12 months.
• 10.5 hours of mentor coaching is included in the tuition which satisfies the requirement for ICF. This can cost an additional $1,500 – $2,000 in other programs.
• Learning how the human brain processes information through Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the cutting-edge capability for coaches today. It significantly enhances your coaching capabilities, communication precision, and efficiency.
• We offer a practical rather than academic orientation. Our emphasis is on learning how to coach through extensive practice, not learning about how to coach.
• Volunteer clients are invited in at the end of the program to give the students an opportunity to coach a stranger just before they graduate.
• Coach Academy is FAR more affordable than comparable quality programs. Other recognized programs cost as much as $10,000-$20,000. We also offer an early registration discount, an easy installment payment plan, and a discount for veterans and non-profit organizations.

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a one of the most powerful methodologies for helping people make dramatic shifts in their lives. It’s based on the idea that with our senses we are only able to perceive a small part of the world. Our view of the world is filtered by our experience, beliefs, values and assumptions. NLP embodies several techniques that can change the way people think, learn, and communicate. For example, NLP professionals often deal with a variety of personal issues ranging from reframing negative beliefs to dealing with stage fright. They also deal with communications, motivation, and peak performance assistance in business or sports.

NLP was originally created in about 1975 by John Grindler, a linguist, and Richard Bandler, a mathematician and gestalt therapist. NLP is a set of models and principles used to describe the relationship between mind, language and perception. NLP maintains that human behavior is fully a function of our senses—sights, sounds, feelings, smells, and tastes. It is an explicit and powerful model of human experience and communication.

Today, NLP represents the cutting edge in professional coaching.

It allows the coach to assist clients in modeling human excellence, improving human relationships, and creating success in any activity requiring human interaction.

NLP Coaching is simply the most powerful and effective coaching method available. There are different approaches and models for coaching but NLP Coaching gets concrete results faster than others. Because NLP is based on the study of human excellence, NLP Coaching is the result of studying and modeling the most effective forms of communication – and combining this with the leading edge knowledge of human behavior and thinking patterning.

An NLP Coach is far more than “just a coach”! These coaches use the most advanced tools, strategies, and methods for assisting clients to:

• Clarify outcomes
• Align their values and beliefs
• Remove obstacles from the past
• Seek out productive and relevant solutions
• Implement specific strategies that will give them more assured success in the future.

Some people certainly prefer the convenience of “distance learning”. However, we have a strong bias for in-person training. First of all, coaching is a person-to-person business. Our program is a practical, highly involved approach to developing coaching skills where everyone in the class gets lots of coaching practice. We honestly focus less on book learning, writing papers, and case studies. Coach Academy graduates are skilled coaches, not just students of coaching. Secondly, we strongly believe that building coaching skill is most effective when instructors and participants experience all the subtleties of in-person interaction. In-person learning and practice is fully interactive for all the participants all the time, increasing the amount and quality of feedback. Every session is packed full of interactive exercises and multisensory learning activities.

In-person training offers other benefits too. First, instructors and participants have an opportunity to get to know each other and build deep personal relationships that will last long past the training. Second, participants are more likely to be fully engaged – it is much easier to disengage on the phone, multi-task, or respond to a situation in a home or office environment which easily distracts from the learning. Finally, people working together to achieve a common goal build energy and learn from each other – which is enhanced by physically being together.

There’s simply no substitute for live training to achieve the quality of learning, the richness of the experience, and the intensity of the practice! It just works better.

Our participants are experienced professionals who bring their own in-depth knowledge and expertise into the classroom experience. The caliber of the participants uniquely adds learning value and richness comparable to the most sophisticated programs available. This program attracts:

• Experienced coaches who want to get ICF certified.
• Organization development or human resources professionals who want coaching training and credentials and who are charged with providing internal coaching to executives, managers, and professionals within a business organization.
• Coaches or HR professionals who are interested in learning more about the power of NLP for use in their coaching or business roles.
• Individuals experienced in coaching-related roles, e.g. outplacement counselors, executive search consultants, business consultants, counselors, teachers, social workers, mediators—anyone who is interested in enhancing their coaching skills and/or making a career change to coaching as a profession.
• NLP practitioners who want to learn how to coach clients.
• Business or sales managers who want to learn how to incorporate coaching skills into more effective results.
• Counselors, teachers, social workers, or other “people” professionals who would like to better understand coaching and NLP for use in their work.

Professional business and life coaching is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Individuals and companies are realizing the value of coaching to improve performance and personal satisfaction. With this rapid growth, a need for differentiation is born. Even experienced coaches are being asked by their clients and potential clients whether they are trained and certified.

In the corporate arena, The Hay Group completed a comprehensive study on leadership development. After identifying and studying the top 20 companies, they concluded:

• Among the top six things that a company should be doing is providing internal coaching for mid-level managers. The reason for “internal” coaches is that so much of the coaching of mid-level managers is focused on learning how to work within the organization. Thus it is important that the coach know the company well.
• Among the top five things that were shown to have little or no effect was internally run classroom-based leadership training for mid-level managers. Although controversial, their findings were crystal clear in this regard.
• A company’s investment in skilled coaching resources is a high impact, strategic decision, and the proven ROI is worth it.

The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the dominant independent certifying body for coaches. Numerous organizations offer coach-specific training that includes some kind of certification or qualifies for ICF continuing education.

ICF has three levels of certification – Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and Master Certified Coach (MCC). Specific requirements for each certification level can be found ICF’s webpage “Become a Coach.”

The world of coaching is changing—it’s one of the fastest growing industries around. Because there are more and more people becoming coaches, certification is becoming an “entry ticket” with many clients, especially corporations and governmental agencies. Even experienced, full-time coaches with busy calendars and over 10 years of real coaching experience are getting certified. Why? Because the market is shifting—prospective clients are demanding it. In time, if you are not certified, you could easily lose out on coaching opportunities to those coaches who are credentialed.

There are a myriad of “certifications” available too. To start with, you can be certified in hundreds of assessment instruments (e.g. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Hogan, Birkman, Lominger’s 360, MAPP, Kolbe Index, and more). You can also be certified in selected models (e.g. Sherpa Coaching, Certified Professional Co-Active Coach). Or you can get certified as a “specialty coach”, such as a Certified Retirement Coach, Certified Career Coach, Franklin Covey Coach or an Essence Chakra Balancing Certified Coach. Really. . .there are LOTS of options. But there is only ONE recognized independent certifying body for professional coaches today. It’s the International Coach Federation (ICF). If you are serious about coaching, then you should be serious about your professional credentials. And getting your ICF coach certification is a must.

Corporations that invest in leadership development see long-range benefits from higher productivity and operating results. Making an investment in skilled coaching creates significant leverage for developing leaders. This program will deliver:

• Skilled internal coaches
• Sophisticated coaching approaches using NLP principles
• The right time frame for coaches to really learn and integrate the powerful instruction
• High value training at a very competitive price
• Extraordinary support network including faculty,Program staff, and fellow students that lives on
• Credentialed internal staff that adds credibility to the HR/OD function
• Higher morale and company loyalty of the participants as a result of the investment made in the participant’s training and development

With the current 8-day intensive format, it is extremely difficult for someone to make up time. We intentionally include 2 hours more than the minimum 60 hours required for certification. So if you are late arriving or have to step out briefly during a session, you can normally catch up on the material and the fewer hours won’t adversely impact your training hours for certification. If something more urgent and extensive takes you out of class, our approach to helping you recover your training time and learn the missed content will totally depend on when you missed. Sometimes we can assign a combination of reading and independent activities such as outside coaching practice to make up the loss. Other parts of the program may be so significant that we may not have an easy alternative. For example, we spend several hours with the class discussing the practice test on Friday morning. That would be extremely difficult to conduct as a make-up segment. If you miss more than a full day, then we usually suggest that you attend a subsequent session. We understand that unexpected events occur and people get sick. Our commitment is to your success in learning this material and becoming a confident and competent coach. Rest assured we will do everything we can to work out a viable solution.