Helpful Websites for Coaches

1. Coaching Communities
2. Online Personality Tests & Resources
3. Websites of Well-Known Coaches & Spiritual Leaders
4. Websites for Executive, Career & Small Business Coaching
5. Major Coaching & Coach Training Organizations
6. Other & Miscellaneous Useful Websites
7. Films & Documentaries to make you think
8. Recommended READING
9. Have any other ideas for this page? We'd love you to email us here

And remember to check out "The Launchpad" Blog for Awesome 'Bite-sized' articles on Coaching Tips, Techniques and Exercises.

 

1. Coaching Communities:

• The Co-Active Network - This area is a universal gathering place for coaches to assemble in one central community. Simply register as a Co-Active Network Members, then mingle with fellow coaches, ask questions or for help! There are many niche and geographic communities to choose from or just be part of the main community.
• Coach Spotlight - this is a great place to submit your coach profile, submit articles and help potential clients find you on the Internet.
• The Coach Exchange - where coaches and opportunity meet! There are too many facets to mention here, why not check it out for yourself?
• Coaching Valley - Their mission is "to create an exceptional internet service that brings all the coaches of the world together into one, global community."
• Coaching Commons - Coaching Commons RIP. Sadly this site is no longer being updated. However, the website is still up for now and you can review the archives. A non-profit coaching think-tank - which stays on top of all the latest coaching news - and provides a community for coaches to stimulate, educate and be entertained!
• Am I missing a useful community for coaches? Tell me here!
  

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2. Online Personality Tests and Resources:

Visit these for yourself, or recommend for your clients.

1. *NEW* Thiagi.com More than 200 training games! Excellent for workshops and inspiration.
2. *NEW* Teampedia.net A wiki (online collaborative encyclopedia) of team games, icebreakers and more. Enjoy!
3. Myers-Briggs (also known as MBTI or Jung Typology) - One of the best-regarded personality tests out there. This website does not have a free version but does give a brief overview of the 16 types. See Keirsey Temperament below for a free version of the test.
4. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter says it is the most widely used personality instrument in the world. It is a variation on Myers-Briggs and uses 70 questions that helps individuals discover their personality type within the Artisan, Guardian, Rational or Idealist roles. I am currently eNFj (Idealist Teacher). Although 10 years ago when I felt boxed in as an IT Project Manager I was ENTP (Rational Inventor).
5. Belbin's Team Roles - Not as well known as some models but a favourite of mine and hugely helpful in team interactions. Are you a "Team Player" who wants everyone to be happy and feel heard, a "Completer-Finisher" or the more dynamic "Shaper" who wants to get going now? There are 9 team roles and this model helps team members understand how conflict occurs and value each other's strengths more ie. work better as a team.
6. The Enneagram (descriptions) or go straight to The Enneagram Institute Tests. There are 9 types (are you an Investigator, Loyalist, Challenger?) and they claim many uses - including personally, in business, parenting and culturally - for more about these practical applications click here.
7. Via Strengths Survey - Self proclaimed, "world's most scientifically validated tool for measuring character strengths." 240 questions to identify identify your top signature strengths which takes about 30 minutes. Initial report is free with an option to pay for a fuller report. My top 5 strengths are Curiosity and Interest in the World, Perspective (wisdom), Creativity (ingenuity and originality), Fairness (equity and justice) and lastly Hope (optimism).
   
8. True Colours - I haven't found a free version of this (yet), but True Colours is quite well known and used in business. Are you Orange, Gold, Green or Blue?
9. Color code - This is different to True Colours and also uses colours to define personality typs. Use this link to get a free basic test. Thanks to Glen Howard of Coaching Towards Success for this one.
10. Authentic Happiness - Martin Seligman's Positive Psychology. Lots of quizzes and tests to try out.
11. The Mindgym - Lots of tools, tests and quizzes to get you and your clients thinking! Great for stress and time-management issues.
12. Human Metrics - There are a number of free and cheap personality and relationship tests to be found here including Myers-Briggs (Jung Typology).

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3. Websites of Well-Known Coaches and Spiritual Leaders:

To inspire, encourage and give you ideas!

• Laura Berman Fortgang - Author of "Living Your Best Life" and "Take Yourself to the Top". Another early adopter of coaching - great insights on careers and life.
• Marianne Williamson - Author of many books related to women and empowerment. Famous for her oft-quoted poem "...It is not our darkness that most frightens us but our light..."
• Eckhart Tolle - Author of "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth". A modern spiritual teacher of our time. Not everyone's cup of tea - but I love his dry observations about people, spirituality and life.
• Anthony Robbins - Author of "Awaken the Giant Within" and many more. Essentially he is teaching NLP but I love how he has built himself from a cleaner to where he is today. A controversial man with a huge following.
• Fiona Harrold - Author of "Be Your Own Life Coach" and more. A sassy woman and early UK adopter of coaching.
• Cheryl Richardson - Author of "Take Time For Your Life" and one of the early adopters of coaching.
• Barbara Sher - Wrote "Wishcraft" over 25 years ago and many more since. Her Sher Success Teams show you how to "get what you really want even if you have no goals, no character and you’re often in a lousy mood!"
• Byron Katie - It's all about "The Work" and her 4 questions. These give a simple look at how our thoughts impact how we see ourselves and the world.

Other people you may find interesting include Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul and self-proclaimed #1 Success Coach in North America and Oprah's spirit section on Oprah.com. For the latter it's a great place to get your finger on the pulse of what's important to women now.

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4. Executive, Career and Small Business Coaching:

• Geert-Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions - If you're interested in cultural differences (and similarities) this is an amazing man who has created five fascinating cultural dimensions by country including individualism 'v' collectivism and masculinity 'v' femininity.
• Michael E. Gerber - author of "The E-Myth" for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs to make their businesses more efficient and run smoothly WITHOUT them...
• Brian Tracy - a one-man personal and business development success machine.
• Kathy Jo Slusher-Haas - Marketing for coaches done authentically! Helpful free resources and love the kitten video!
• We'd love some more suggestions for this section - please email us your ideas here.

Oldies but goodies include the Dale Carnegie website all about personal improvement, empowerment and getting results, the Nightingale Conent website that has been promoting authors and success-related products since 1961. Franklin Covey author of the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and populariser of "The Urgent Important Matrix" is now hugely successful working with big organizations to build teams and effectiveness.

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5. Major Coaching and Coach Training Organizations:

1. CoachU - One of the biggest Coach Training organizations. Founded by Thomas Leonard. Has trained over 30,000 coaches worldwide including Canada, the UK, the US and Australia.
2. The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) - Another big Coach Training organization. Has trained over 40,000 coaches, consultants and managers in 13 countries. Many resources and a Co-Active Coaching Network with meetings and forums for support.
3. Erickson College - Over 10,000 'learners' in 14 countries. Various levels of training and can also study NLP with them.
4. Results Coaching - has a more structured approach to it's coaching. Over 8000 trained coaches in 11 regions including the UK, Australia, the US and Hong Kong.
5. The Coaching Academy (Europe). Has trained over 23,000 people in coaching skills. Various levels of training and lots of free weekend starter courses. Lots of resources and a helpful blog.
6. The International Coach Academy - have trained over 4000 students in 90 countries. They're ICF accredited and have more than 12 specialist areas to choose from including parent, sales, executive and grief coaching.
7. Fowler Wainwright International - started by Berry Fowler, former chairman of Sylvan Learning Centers and Barbara Wainwright, former Worldwide President of Certified Coaches Federation.
8. Coachville - Basic membership is free. They have radio shows, courses, support groups and much more. Their mission to "improve the quality of coaching worldwide" and their purpose, "To provide a rich learning environment for ANYONE pursuing coaching mastery."
9. The International Coach Federation - The ICF. Find a local chapter for coaching support and ongoing learning. Can attend meetings as a non-member to check it out before joining.
10. The International Association of Coaches (IAC) - describes themselves as an "independent, global coach certifying body. Our mission is to inspire the on-going evolution and application of universal coaching standards." A possible alternative to the ICF.

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6. Other Useful Websites:

• Coach 1 online - a simple online system for coaches and clients. Record goals, actions, progress and more! Either have your clients sign-up or buy a license and have (up to 100) clients using it - for example as part of your corporate coaching program.
• Noomii - Get yourself listed here for free, help clients find you! It's early days but Noomii is working hard to provide a bridge between people who want coaching - and coaches!
• TED - stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Great for ideas - it started in 1984 as a conference to bring together these three worlds but now its scope is huge. Talks and performances by the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers (in 20 minutes!) are available to the public for free and can be freely shared and reposted. Great for a 'brown bag lunch' at your desk!
• Microsoft Royalty Free Clipart - amazing amounts of QUALITY clipart, photos and animations for every presentation, exercise, poster or publication you could ever wish to create. This has been an amazing resource for me over the years (also Microsoft Templates here).
• SelfGrowth.com - This is a great place to submit articles and find anything about Personal Growth on the Internet.
• Change This - A forum for mainfestos and ideas to be voted on and shared. If you're an upcoming author this is a great place to promote. If you're looking for topical ideas look no further.
• Birthday Alarm - I use this free service to send me emails of friend, family and client's birthdays. It sends me two reminders - one a week before (I use this for paper cards) and one the day before which I use for e-cards.
• A Mindfulness Bell - I use this when I have a busy day or a distracted mind. Supplied by a buddhist community in Washington, USAm Set the bell/s to ring every 15,30 or 60 mins as a reminder to stay on track and be mindful of time!
• Wikipedia - A user-supported and created online encyclopaedia. A good place to start your research whenever looking anything up online...
• Happy News - As it sounds. If you want some happy news, go here. Lots of heart-warming animal and charitable stories. A pleasant antidote to our fear-based news system.
• The Tao - English translation of The Tao. Available in sections. SImply amazing wisdom written over 2500 years ago by Lao Tzu. Go to for inspiration and a reminder of how ancient coaching wisdom truly is...

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7. Films and Documentaries to make you think:

• The Corporation - If corporations were people they would be psychopaths... This film begs us to be more conscious and asks who controls our economy, our governments and our minds?
• Supersize me - The infamous film diary of a man who ate only McDonalds for a month and nearly died. You will be scandalised and amazed.
• Zeitgeist - A dark documentary that covers religion, money, poilitics and more. I was amazed by how far and wide geographically (and back in history) the bible stories go. Some may find this challenges their religious beliefs and others may simply consider this far-fetched and conspiracy-theory-gone-mad. Still it raises a lot of pertinent questions and got me thinking.
• What the Bleep do We Know? - Quantum physics made almost understandable. A scientific look at religion, emotions and possibilities you never imagined. I watch this again and again. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?
• FoodInc - Reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
• Validation - A short movie (16 minutes) about the power of 'validation'. Funny and soulful, watch whenever you need a boost - or press play on the screen below!
• We'd love some more inspirational film suggestions for this section - please email us your ideas here.

VALIDATION - The Movie:

 

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