If you are like most coaches you’ve spent a good deal of time and resources developing your skills. Of course, you want to put your skills to work for your coachees but you also want to gain personal advancement in your career or coaching practice. You’ve invested a lot to get where you are today and just like any investment, you want to maximize your Return on Investment (ROI). But what is the best way to maximize your coaching skills ROI?

One of the traps coaches fall into is taking a narrow view of what a coach is and what opportunities exist. When most people think of becoming a coach they think of coaching individuals within an organization or one on one sessions within a coaching practice. Today I’d like to challenge you to think ‘Outside the Box’ when you think about what you can do with your coaching skills and expertise.

Of course, you can have the formal title and role of coach but don’t stop there. You can also leverage your coaching skills informally as you work with individuals, teams and direct reports. As you apply your coaching skills in these informal settings you are developing and exhibiting attributes that will help you develop leadership skills that will position you for advancement.

Another option for leveraging your coaching skills is to add coaching educator or trainer to your toolkit. Coaches I talk with don’t automatically think of this option but it can be a great way to leverage your skills and improve your ROI.

When you become a coaching educator, you take on the role of educating others, helping them to develop coaching skills rather than coaching per se. Of course, a coaching educator uses his/her coaching skills in the education process.

Here are just a few benefits of becoming a coaching educator;

• Add an additional source of income if you have a coaching practice
• Add an additional skill to your resume if you work within an organization
• Reach more people, help to put coaching skills in the hands of more people
• Develop trainer skills which are very valuable and different than coaching skills
• Develop presentation skills
• Develop group facilitation skills
• Ability to do some training virtually, giving you more flexibility
• See coaching make a difference in more people’s lives

For more insights on leveraging your coaching skills we have a few different resources for you to check out;

• Download our Become a Coaching Educator guide
• Check out our 5.5.5 Coaching Skills Train the Trainer™ program.