How to Be A Master coach

How to Be A Master Coach with NLP?

The term “master” is used loosely in the Learning & Development world. It can be rather erroneous and project wrong impressions to the lay person. Typically when I am referred to as a Master in my field, it is because I have some expertise to show for the title.

​So, when I am asked by a prospective learner how to be a master coach, my answer is “practice coaching skills that you need to acquire first”. There are many roads to this end game, my obvious preference being to attend an NLP practitioner certification course.

Why NLP training as opposed to a coaching program? Because the former provides learners with amazing coaching tools that are so easily applied to others.

The brilliance of this methodology is that learners need to apply this, first to self, then to others. By the time learners have completed the NLP practitioner certification course, they would be adept with how to be a masterful coach, using all processes practised in the ten days.

Format of any training typically takes the shape of learning a topic like conflict resolution for instance, watching a demonstration of how to do it, breaking out into groups of two then playing the client and coach.

This gives every learner the opportunity to work through their issues as a client and thereafter, practise coaching their client too. Structurally, this forces every learner to deep dive into the NLP technology, which becomes second nature by Day 3.

​A business coach would benefit greatly from an NLP training like this, as business principles applied to NLP models is where the power lies. The most successful NLP Practitioners were ones who had a solid background in some field, in my case more than 25 years corporate experience as an employee first, then a consultant.

​This is how a master coach is created, meshing the expertise and context of two fields together. Beyond this, I began to do NLP coaching in Singapore, working with clients mostly from corporate who wanted to be more effective.

From early days of placing NLP manuals under my chair at my first few coaching sessions (just in case I needed them), to the confidence and security that journeyed me through to becoming a master coach. It makes me smile today at the transformation I went through first before helping clients along the same path. 

That took years of amazing work as a business coach to one who eventually worked with all types of mental illness, including suicide and depression. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to be shown this road but this is exactly where an NLP training can be profound and lead you to an unexpected place.

The entire NLP practitioner certification course migrates a learner from content to context. Moving away from the noise of life, learners are trained to work with the five senses in any experience.

For instance in my practice doing NLP coaching in Singapore, if a learner has a phobia I would not ask why and how he installed it. That would take me to content of the experience that I do not need, to rid the phobia.

Rather, I would ask the client to place the phobic picture as part of a timeline in a movie theatre, rewinding from before the phobic event then fast forwarding across the event to the end of the timeline. As a master coach I would not need to know who was in the picture nor what happened in the picture.

​This way the learner is able to get rid of the emotion attached to the phobic picture and in a few minutes of replaying the movie forward and back, the learner reports the phobia has disappeared.

I would say learners who enjoy playing like a child again are the ones who make the fastest change in an NLP training. They are not stuck to any particular premise and boundaries are malleable enough, to allow for flexibility.

A business coach without NLP technology would miss out on this huge segment of change work, which is actually extremely process driven and procedural. Follow steps 1, 2 , 3 and results speak for themselves.

This simplicity in a learner’s journey, to be a master coach is valuable. It gives rise to a deeper understanding and higher rate of application, after the NLP training which is the whole intent of learning new technology isn't it?

Today, I do NLP coaching with a twist. I have many contexts to choose from, not just corporate and mental health but slicing across vertical channels into the Asia Pacific Region, even as far as Nigeria. All good experience for a business coach and definitely what’s needed as a master coach.

My life purpose lies in migrating mindsets of ordinary lay people to becoming an NLP Practitioner. This mindful and heightened awareness way of thinking has so many benefits in accelerating decision making and deepening intuition.

When I operate in this way I become more effective and cut through the noise of life, with efficiency and volition. A sense of direction and purpose is the fire in my belly that catapults me to my goals.

This is my wish for you. The journey is incredible and exciting. No advice given neither telling. Only sharing of models at an NLP practitioner certification, that are easily applied to all contexts of work and life.

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.