Selecting the right business coach training programme can be problematic because there are many seemingly comparable courses on offer in Ireland and abroad. Unfortunately coaching is as yet an unregulated industry and no official governing body exists anywhere in the world to set and validate standards, or to monitor consistency and quality.

The reality is that currently anyone can call themselves a coach or even start a coach training programme. There are many people in the marketplace with little or no commercial experience or professional standards, who claim to be "Life, Business Executive Coaches". As a result, organisations globally are rightfully becoming more and more vigilant about whom they hire to coach their senior people. If you aspire to operate in a professional business environment where high standards are expected then you must ensure your training is credible and meaningful.

So how do you make a distinction between the good, the bad and the outright awful? We offer here are a few simple questions for you to direct to the course promoter of any business coaching course you are considering. These should yield vital information to help you make an informed choice.

We would suggest that you need to train with an organisation who understands business coaching from more than just an academic or theoretical point of view. If the tutors themselves do not have clients or do not have the standing to charge a significant daily rate for their work then we would ask "What hope do their students have of making a living?"

• What are the qualifications and experience of the course director and course tutors?
• Do they have relevant business or advanced business and psychology degrees?
• Are they experienced business coaches, who have been and are still practising in the "real world" of commerce?
• Can they demonstrate a firm grounding in corporate issues and advanced level coaching skills?
• Do they have a current list of business coaching clients with testimonials from them?
• What do they charge for their business coaching (average daily rate)?

• What does the programme director consider to be the necessary competencies to become a business coach and how do they see these differ from someone working in the lifecoaching arena?
• Do they know the difference between "Business Coaching" and "Lifecoaching for Executives" (often called executive coaching but confused with business coaching) and is this covered on the course?
• What specific "business coach training" is covered on their course and what percentage of the overall hours does it constitute? For example is business strategy and team building and strategy covered?
• Is the course accredited and monitored by a meaningful organisation - specifically one that understands business coaching?
• What is the accreditation process for both the course, the supervisors and the novice coach? In our experience most of the accreditation agencies are not stringent and only require training but no supervised practise of real coaching.