More and more people today feel the desire to become a coach. Maybe because you have experienced how powerful coaching can be. Maybe because you enjoy accompanying others on their path. Or because you realize that your own life has led you to help others with your experience, empathy, and calm.
The entry into the world of coaching almost always begins with a question:
Which coach training is right for me.
This article guides you through the most important steps, backgrounds, and requirements. As someone who has worked in coaching for years, I know how important it is to consciously shape your own path. A good coach is not made by a certificate but by a combination of knowledge, personality, experience, and inner attitude.
What does it actually mean to be a coach
A coach is a person who supports people in change processes. Coaching is not therapy but future-oriented work that creates clarity, facilitates decisions, and enables development. Coaching conversations are about opening space: for inner insights, new perspectives, and conscious steps.
Coaches support people in:
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Understanding inner blockages
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to make goals visible
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Sorting out challenges
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Recognizing one's own potential
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Expanding scope for action
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Finding balance in everyday life again
A coach always works with the coachee, the person who brings a concern. The key to effective coaching is the quality of the relationship, clarity in the process, and a professional attitude.
Why coaching training makes sense
A good coaching training not only imparts knowledge but builds coaching skills step by step. It combines theory and practice, psychological foundations, and personal development.
Coaching is effective when it has quality, clarity, and structure. That's why professional coaching trainings emphasize:
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Conducting conversations
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Basic psychological knowledge
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Systemic models
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Perspective work
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Solution-oriented thinking
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Coaching models and structured methods
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Personal reflection
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Supervision
Many trainings include courses, modules, practical exercises, case studies, and supervision so that methods are not only learned theoretically but truly acquired and experienced.
Which coaching paths exist
The coaching market in Switzerland is diverse. There are short further trainings, long courses, and comprehensive part-time programs.
Common paths include:
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Compact advanced courses
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Extensive trainings with certificate
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Specializations in topics such as stress, leadership coaching, team coaching, or life coaching
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CAS, MAS or further education at universities
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Program with preparation for the professional exam for the Federal Specialist Certificate
The suitable form depends on your needs: whether you want to use coaching for your profession, reorient yourself, or develop your own offering.
Typical Contents of a Coaching Training
1. Basics of Psychology
2. Conversation Management and Presence
3. Coaching Attitude and Ethics
4. Coaching model and process flows
5. Solution-oriented work
6. Methods for clarification, goal setting, and development
7. Work with values, emotions, and needs
8. Supervision and reflection
9. Transfer into your own workday
A training should not only provide tools but enable an inner maturation process.
Where to find coaching trainings
Coaching trainings are offered at various locations in Switzerland. Universities, universities of applied sciences, institutes, associations, and private providers conduct courses. Programs range from weekend courses to comprehensive part-time studies with degrees and certificates.
It is important that the training fits you. That you can identify with the school's attitude. And that you feel that people are truly allowed to grow there.
Requirements to become a coach
Many wonder if you need a specific prior education.
There is no legal requirement, but good programs want:
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Interest in people
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Empathy and sensitivity
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Willingness for self-exploration
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Ability to listen
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Joy of learning
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Ability to reflect
You don't have to be perfect. You have to be willing to develop.
How coaching trainings are structured
A typical course has a clear structure of theory, practice, and personal development. Many programs include:
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modules that build on each other
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supervision by experienced professionals
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practice sessions with other participants
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application exercises in your own daily life
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intermediate exams or reflection papers
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a final project
Some institutes also offer information sessions so you can get a feel for the atmosphere and teaching style.
What you learn during the training
You learn how to work with people who need orientation. How to help clients progress through questions, mirroring, structure, and presence.
You learn how coaching works, why it works, and what it needs to have a sustainable effect.
And you learn how important it is to know boundaries. Coaching does not replace psychotherapy.
Coaching is a clear, resource-oriented, and non-therapeutic support. Therefore, the question of your own framework is important: in which area do you want to work, which topics interest you, and which form of support suits you.
What coaching demands from you
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Presence
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Patience
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Inner stability
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Clarity in communication
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basic psychological understanding
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Ability for self-reflection
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Genuine interest in people
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Courage to look at your own patterns
Becoming a coach does not just mean learning a technique. It means repeatedly facing yourself honestly.
Why people choose the path of coach training
Some want to start a new career. Others want to deepen their knowledge or develop a new professional identity.
Many come from social, educational, or medical fields, others from management, and still others from creative professions.
What they have in common is that they experience accompanying people as meaningful.
Coaching in Switzerland: Opportunities and fields of work
The job market is continuously evolving. Coaching today takes place in:
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Company
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Schools
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Counseling centers
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Teams and organizations
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HR and personnel development
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Health, prevention, and stress management
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Self-employed practice
Coaching is a growing field with diverse opportunities, both for self-employed individuals and for people who want to integrate coaching into their existing professional field.
Final thought: If you want to become a coach, the path begins within you
A coach training is not just a certificate. It is a developmental journey.
A path that changes you, strengthens you, and brings you closer to your inner attitude.
If you feel that you want to accompany people, then this path begins right here. With clarity. With curiosity. With the trust that you are allowed to grow.
