Many people in Hong Kong ask me about the best way to get coach training. Well, there's no easy answer, as there are limited options in Hong Kong, a plethora of options if you're willing to travel, and many different paths to becoming a coach.

So instead I keep a webpage with the latest options that I know of and my opinions about advantages and disadvantages. Please see Coach Training Options in Hong Kong.

I'd love to hear if and how this is useful to you, and how I might make it more useful.

1. Get yourself a coach
and experience coaching. 
This strategy works in
three ways: 1) you can learn how to coach by modeling your coach, 2) you can develop
coaching skills and behaviours with the support of your coach, 3) by using the
service yourself you demonstrate your belief in coaching. 

2. Walk the talk. Become a model. 
Whatever qualities you believe are lacking in your organization,
develop them first in yourself to the highest degree. You will influence others
and they will want to know how you did it. 

3.
Practice coaching at every opportunity. 
Practice
makes perfect. Use every opportunity at work, at home and with your friends to
practice your coaching and coaching skills. Start with people you feel
comfortable with and experiment with others as you gain confidence. 

4. Develop yourself so that you are very attractive as a
coach. 
When you are open, positive, supportive,
and fully confident in being yourself, people will want you as their coach. Reduce
your smallnesses and emotional reactions. Develop your personal
foundation. 

5. Get clear about who your
ideal clients are. 
Start noticing what kind of
person is attracted to you as a coach. If you also want them as your client,
great! Tailor your services for them. If you want a different kind of client,
upgrade yourself so that you're attractive to the right people. 

6. Discuss your experiences with other people who are
learning to coach.
Connect with other new or experienced
coaches and share your experiences. You can learn from others' successes and
mistakes and also through sharing your own experiences.  

7. Collect stories and examples of how coaching has helped
someone.
When you are very clear about the value of
coaching, you'll see more clearly what you need to do to be most effective. And
you'll be able to sell your services more easily.  

8. Take part in a coaching group and learn from an
experienced coach. 
Just as when you have your own
coach, you will be able to model the coach's techniques, develop yourself
through the support of the group and demonstrate your belief in the process. In
addition, you will be able to watch and learn from the coach coaching other
members of the group. If you can't find a local group, hire a coach
and form one, or join an international one that meets by telephone. 

9. Get clear about why people want you to coach
them. 
When you understand exactly why your
clients want you as their coach, you can influence them easily, you'll know
what you need to do to help them. 

11.
Surround yourself with other people that coach. 
Your environment has a profound influence on you. When you stay close
to others who coach, you'll absorb their attitudes and naturally model their
behaviours. Join a coaching community.

The key to
understanding how to attract coaching clients is to look at the issue from the
client's point of view. Why do people choose one coach over another? What are
they really looking for and what makes the difference to their
choice? 

I asked a group of
people how they chose their coaches and then matched the responses to create
the following diagram. 

The first thing people look for when hiring a
coach is specific knowledge and experience. Clients want a coach who has
achieved goals or had experiences that give them special insight into their
issues. This knowledge and experience, which I call the coach's
niche, is one of the easiest ways for the client to assess
the coach's value to them. For coaches this means that how we define our niche
and how we describe our accomplishments is key to our success in attracting
clients. 

The second set of
criteria that people mentioned was what I call presence.
When people are interviewing prospective coaches they want to feel fully
understood and comfortable with the style of the coach. People will assess this
criteria based on their gut feeling when they interact with the coach. When it
comes to longer term coaching results (the key to keeping clients), the coach's
presence is the most powerful factor and it acts like a catalyst for the
effectiveness of all other aspects of what the coach delivers. 

Coaching skills is another
criteria prospective clients use when comparing coaches. Coaches with highly
developed skills and an effective tool kit will be able to impress prospective
clients by helping them make concrete progress in their trial coaching session.
But for coaching skills and tools to be effective, the coach's presence is
still the foremost requirement. 

Sometimes a coach's outlook is the
key attraction for a client. I've had clients hire me simply because they
notice that my can-do attitude and positive focus will have an immediate impact
on their results. Also, clients may be looking for someone with new ideas or a
completely different perspective to stimulate or inspire them. 

The baseline requirement for clients is that
they trust and respect the coach. Clients are concerned
about the integrity, honesty, supportiveness, trustworthiness and confidentiality
of the coach. They want a coach that they respect and are proud of. Usually
they will assess these criteria based on their intuition, but they will also
pay attention to others' opinions and will sometimes ask for references. If
they do not trust and respect the coach, any amount of value in other areas
will not convince them to hire that coach. 

In summary,
coaches wishing to attract clients should clearly describe their niche, narrow
or broad, so that prospective clients understand what special knowledge and
experience they have to offer. The coach's presence will be assessed
intuitively by the client and is critical to the clients choice to hire and to
keep the coach. The coach's skills and outlook influence clients' choices
through the impact they make during a trial coaching session. Coach's must have
a high level of integrity to ensure they are worthy of the trust and respect of
their clients.