Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute of Life Coach Training (Hardcover)

by Patrick Williams (Author), Diane S. Menendez (Author)
Key Phrases: professional life coach, inner love, developmental change process, The Language of Coaching, Wheel of Life, Diane Menendez (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Personal and professional coaching, which has emerged as a powerful career in the last several years, has shifted the paradigm of how people who seek help with life transitions find a "helper" to partner with them in designing their desired future. No matter what kind of sub-specialty a coach might have, life coaching is the basic operating system: a whole-person, client-centered approach.Here, Pat Williams, who has been a leader in the life coaching movement, has co-authored another essential book for therapists working as coaches. Becoming a Professional Life Coach draws on the wisdom of years of collective experience that have gone into designing the curriculum for the Institute for Life Coach Training. This curriculum has trained therapists and psychologists around the world to add coaching to their current businesses. This book presents the essential elements of life coach training program in a content-rich form that is equivalent to a graduate-level education in the field. .

About the Author
Diane S. Menendez, Ph.D. is a master certified coach and has coached leaders, teams, and organizations for over 25 years.

Patrick Williams, Ed.D., a pioneer of the coaching profession, began executive coaching in 1990. In 1998 he founded the Institute for Life Coach Training, an ICF Accredited Coach Training Program. He speaks worldwide on living purposefully, coaching for global change, wellness coaching, and the coach approach in leadership. He has written dozens of articles and taken part in numerous television and radio interviews. He is also the author of Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute for Life Coach Training and Total Life Coaching: 50+ Life Lessons, Skills, and Techniques to Enhance Your Practice… and Your Life.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 388 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; 1 edition (March 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393705056
• ISBN-13: 978-0393705058
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Comprehensive Resources on Life Coaching Available., August 3, 2007

By	Mary E. Allen, MCC "Life Coach Mary" (Laguna Niguel, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I highly recommend "Becoming a Professional Life Coach" for both new and experienced coaches, and for anyone interested in learning the "coach approach" in their lives, business and communities. Today coaching skills are an invaluable resource, both in the workplace and for personal fulfillment, yet there are still millions that don't even know what coaching is or how to become one. Pat and Diane deliver an easy to read, comprehensive guide offering history, theory and practical application of the most potent skills used by professional life coaches worldwide. This book addresses a great need in the marketplace.

As a veteran coach, it was refreshing to expand my own depth of knowledge on skills I've been using for years. They describe the skills, and when and how to use the skill most effectively. I also love how they included the developmental stages of consciousness, which help people recognize how ready someone is to change, and the best way to support someone to the next stage. They've also included sections on identifying life purpose, creating fulfillment and working on practical issues like money. The case studies integrate real-life examples to demonstrate how a skill or process is put into action.

Since Patrick Williams is the founder of his own coaching school, I expected a cookie cutter curriculum from his own school's teachings. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how thoroughly they integrated and referenced the best disciplines from a variety of coaching schools, as well as useful and distinguished models from the field of psychology. It is no wonder that Patrick Williams is known as "The Ambassador for Life Coaching." As a veteran life coach, I applaud Patrick for inspiring thousands more to integrate a "coach approach" in their everyday lives and/or become a life coach themselves. The world could use a few more life coaches, and this is a perfect place to begin.

Mary E. Allen, CPCC, MCC
Author of The Power of Inner Choice: 12 Weeks to Living a Life YOU Love
Host of "Conversations with the Masters"
Host of "Conversations with the Masters of Coaching"
[...]

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource, June 3, 2007

By	Richard Tafel (DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a great resource. I am a life coach and have used many of the exercises with my clients. The book is also good to give to my new clients who are interested in the field of coaching. I also enjoy the quick history of coaching in the beginning. This is good resource to have on the shelf to be used as needed.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Touchstone For The Field, June 21, 2007

By	Michael Arloski (Ft. Collins, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Being a truly effective ally of another person requires us to know both what
to do and how to be, Becoming a Professional Life Coach gives us both.
While the task of creating a comprehensive training text on the broad field
of life coaching is quite daunting, Patrick Williams and Diane Menendez take
it on with what appears to be real joy and they master it. The reader is
both instructed and inspired cover to cover. The challenge of doing more
than producing another coaching "cookbook" is met and exceeded with an
excellent integration of both practical technique and well grounded theory.

Becoming a Professional Life Coach integrates what is sometimes missing in
much coach training, such as Prochaska's Stage of Readiness For Change. The
book takes terms which have become well-worn catch phrases, such as
fulfillment and empowerment, and infuses them with new life, helping the
coach to truly understand their meaning, importance and their use. Becoming
a Professional Life Coach will become the touchstone in the field of
training life coaches.

Michael Arloski, Ph.D., PCC, author of Wellness Coaching For Lasting
Lifestyle Change.