Coaching course – how to choose the best one? Warsaw, Kraków or Gdańsk? – interview with Piotr Cieszkowski

In Poland we have quite a selection of coaching courses.How to choose the best coaching course in Poland?

When choosing such a course, it is worth asking yourself a few questions first about what we expect. What is our goal? Do we want to use the acquired knowledge professionally? If so, what kind of clients do we want to work with? Will the course we choose help achieve a given goal, and does the person conducting it have appropriate references? After completing the course, will we obtain the certificate and competences we need to practice our profession?

Today’s article features Piotr Cieszkowski, a business coach and student of the School of Business Coaching and Executive Coaching, PerfectCircle Academy.

Why did you decide to take part in a coaching course? Is this something new for you, or have you had professional experience with business coaching before?

I have been interested in personal development since childhood. Since I was a child, I have been signing up for online courses on speed reading, improving my memory, setting and achieving goals, NLP, creating mind maps, dream maps, etc. However, I first heard about coaching in 2008 thanks to Maciej Bennewicz’s book „Coaching, or the restoration of personality „. It was something new for me – a reading full of stimulating anecdotes and exercises thanks to which I could organize various thoughts and find answers to tormenting questions. When I took part in the full coaching process myself, I already knew that this was a profession created for me. I have always liked working with people and helping them in their personal and professional development – this is what a coach allows. That’s why I decided to participate in a coaching course – to improve my qualifications and obtain a certificate confirming my knowledge and skills.

So, I learned what coaching is relatively long ago, but it was only during the Business Coaching OPEN program at the PerfectCircle Academy – a business coaching school in Warsaw – that I learned what professional business coaching is.

You chose the PerfectCircle Academy, the Business Coaching OPEN program and the community # PerfectCircleCommunity – was it an accident or a conscious decision?

An informed decision. I wanted to take part in a course that would teach me not only how to be a good coach, but also how to offer and sell the coaching process and successfully acquire clients. There are more and more personal development trainers, not necessarily certified, not necessarily such, who are successful in business or life. There are even social media groups like “Outlaw Coaching and Personal Development’.

What do you think about the coaching situation in Poland?

First of all, it is worth emphasizing that coaching is a work method. It is a tool with which a good coach achieves breakthroughs and set goals in his work with the client, and a pseudocoach achieves frustration and dissatisfaction. Just like a knife that, if placed in a surgeon’s hand, will produce a different result than if placed in a murderer’s hand. Unfortunately, for some time now in Poland, on the personal development market, and specifically in the field of coaching, we have been dealing with a situation in which this proverbial „murderer” calls himself a „surgeon”. It is therefore not surprising that fan pages such as those on Facebook are being created, which, by the way, currently has over 156,000 followers.

What’s more, a good coaching process is truly a premium service, and with such valuable services, cheap and poor-quality imitations quickly appear.

A specific business coach or coaching company should primarily receive recommendations from clients who have already benefited from coaching with a given coach or coaching company. Recommendations and business successes of previous clients and companies with which they cooperated are a good selection criterion. However, it would be best if the company offered clients a guaranteed return on investment in the coaching process – this increases the sense of comfort when making decisions. It is also worth paying attention to what school the coach graduated from and whether his supervisor, a master coach, has achieved business successes and is recognizable on the market. You can also check whether the coach has accreditations – for example obtained from the Polish Chamber of Coaching or other federations, organizations or associations such as the International Coach Federation, Gallup Institute, European Coach Community, European Mentoring and Coaching Council, Center of Credentialing & Education or #PerfectCircleCommunity. 

In general, I believe that coaching is the profession of the future, as evidenced by its inclusion in the classification prepared by the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy under the number 235920 as: „Personal trainer (coach, mentor, tutor)”. Such an entry also means that the setting of work standards for the coaching profession is still progressing.

What would you recommend doing to people who are interested in coaching but are afraid to change their professional life? How to choose the best coaching course?

Fear always has a cause. In this case, these people could use coaching to find out the cause of their fear. Later, also to take action in accordance with your needs and goals – while maintaining inner peace and self-confidence.

To choose the best coaching course, you must first ask yourself about the desired effects, i.e. what is expected from such a course. Then look for an offer that meets these expectations. I also recommend talking personally to the course organizers and graduates so as not to buy the proverbial „pig in a poke”.

Coaching course Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk, Poznań, Tarnów, or online?

Does it matter for the quality of the coaching course and its effectiveness whether you choose Warsaw, Kraków or Gdańsk?

Well, this is a difficult question because many factors influence the quality of a coaching course. I chose Warsaw because I live here and most things are happening here – both in business terms and in the area of creating new, innovative services, and coaching is still such a new and innovative service on the market in Poland. The school of business coaching and executive coaching at the PerfectCircle Academy is the first school in Poland specializing strictly in business coaching and executive coaching, which I chose and sincerely recommend, located in Warsaw. As far as I know, the school is developing intensively and will soon launch a new program in the form of online classes and will also open branches in other cities. Therefore, I highly recommend looking for this innovative service that combines entrepreneurship learning, business coaching and executive coaching in other cities!

Thanks for the interview, Piotr!

Thank you too.

And you? Do you want to successfully develop your own business as a business coach?

Coaching course in Warsaw? Or online? We have each of these versions ready for you. Are you interested in joining the #PerfectCircleCommunity community of business coaches and mentors? The Business Coaching OPEN coaching course is a path that opens the entrance to this community, as well as to cooperation with PerfectCircle. The Business Coaching OPEN course is also an effective and supportive mastermind group –HERE you can read about what the mastermind is and what benefits it offers.

Do you want to help entrepreneurs, directors, presidents – and thus start earning good money? Before you decide on our PerfectCircle School of Business and Executive Coaching and the Business Coaching OPEN program loved by our clients. First check what one of the graduates of this course, Agnieszka Miliszkiewicz-Pajdzińska, says about this program HERE.