Why Faith-Based Professional Coaching Training?
by Dr. Keith E. Webb
Many in ministry call themselves a "coach" or describe their ministry function as "coaching." In non-profit circles the term is often used interchangeably with mentoring or one-on-one teaching or discipleship. In the marketplace, the function of coaching has taken on unique characteristics that produce effective results. Increasingly, these skills require specialized coach training.
I define coaching as "an on-going intentional conversation that empowers a person or group to fully live out God's calling." One professional coaching association describes coaching as "an ongoing relationship which focuses on clients taking action toward the realization of their visions, goals or desires. Coaching uses a process of inquiry and personal discovery to build the client's level of awareness and responsibility and provides the client with structure, support and feedback."
Becoming an effective coach requires specialized training. This training should consist of at least four broad components:
- specialized training to learn and practice the core coaching skill set;
- understand and be able to function within the principles and practices of the coaching relationship;
- experience coaching as a coachee, and later be mentored regarding your coaching;
- utilize learned skills in coaching others.
A one- or two-day coaching workshop will simply not give potential coaches the instruction or guided practice they need to become effective coaches. Neither will books, internet sites, or audio recordings. Learning to coach requires getting with an experienced coach to learn and practice the art and skills of coaching.
That last question brings up the topic of professional coach accreditation. The International Coach Federation is one of several worldwide bodies that set standards and ethics for the coaching industry. They created a coaching Code of Ethics and detailed 11 Core Competencies good coaches regularly practice.
Non-profit coaches, even those not coaching full-time, would benefit from professional coach training and from following professional coaching standards.
Introducing coaching with a biblical worldview will help faith-based organizations more rapidly instill a coaching paradigm in their staff. By matching Christian values, worldview, and beliefs, coaching will be seen as a way to live out those qualities. Suspicion over whether or not coaching is a New Age practice or just the latest Western management fad will also decrease.
By way of illustration, after leading a coaching workshop, a participant came to me and said, "Wow, I didn't know that coaching was for Christians too. Coaching practices sounded good to me, but until now I wasn't able to make the leap between coaching and my faith." He is not alone.
Many people learn paradigms and skills in a secular setting and then have difficulty integrating them with their faith and practice. Given enough time, most Christians can "contextualize" their secular training, but by then they've missed the advantages of immediate implementation thus lowering their chances of integrating new behaviors into their lives.
Coaching training with a Christian worldview integrates participants' faith with their coaching skills from the beginning. They immediately apply their learning and skills when it's fresh and begin creating new habits of behavior the day they finish the training. A dynamite combination of strengths!
The fact is that basic coaching principles are very much in keeping with Christian values. Biblical passages can illustrate and reinforce coaching values and skills. For example:
- The Holy Spirit is the real coach, John 14:15-18.
- Listening is an important and difficult skill, James 1:19, 26.
- Be like Jesus, ask questions, Luke 2:46-47.
- The role of a coach is to draw out the coachee's understanding, Proverbs 20:5.
- People must think and develop holistically, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 2:52.
Demonstrating how new coaching values and skills integrate with existing Christian values and belief system will mean a higher and more rapid employee adoption rate. In other words, your employees will actually use their new coaching skills.
When a participant connects a new coaching skill with their faith their excitement really increases. It's natural. People want to integrate their deepest values with their new learning. Christian coaching allows that to happen naturally.
There will not be a dichotomy between employees' personal faith values and practices and their newly-introduced coaching values and practices. Employees will be able to enhance and express their faith through coaching and coach training. This deep-level integration is sure to produce better results than a non-faith-integrated approach.
Coaching is a skill as well as a body of knowledge. It takes practice. You can't learn to do it from a book. So, in our training there is a lot of time for practice. But unlike some marketplace settings, coaching topics that are Christian or faith issues are welcome in our workshops. No need to hide or gloss-over the deepest aspects of life. We encourage participants to integrate on all levels: spiritual, character, family, profession, culture, community, etc. Of course, the coaching techniques we teach are completely compatible with and non-offensive to those who are not Christian.
I invite you to consider professional-level coach training with a Christian perspective. We offer a 60-hour Core Coaching Skills Certificate Program to equip coaches to effectively empower and help others.
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Copyright © 2007 Keith E. Webb & CRM
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 Dr. Keith E. Webb is a trainer and experienced cross-cultural leadership coach helping organizations, teams, and individuals multiply their cross-cultural impact. Find free articles at http://www.CreativeResultsManagement.com.
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