In January 2021 the new further training as a systemic Business Coach starts at Munich Business School in cooperation with the Berlin Coaching Center ISCO. Course leader and owner of ISCO Gabriele Müller met Catharina Jurisch, who qualified herself as a Business Coach in 2011 with ISCO and is now managing director of Cathagis Coaching, for an interview and spoke with her about her experiences and her way after the further training.
Note: An audiovisual version of the interview in German can be found here.
Gabriele Müller, coach and owner of ISCO: The first question, which I would like to ask you, is: Why did you do the further training at that time with the ISCO AG? What was the trigger for it?
Catharina Jurisch, former course participant: “At that time I had been working in our family business for 20 years. Among other things, I was responsible for the staff and the concerns of the employees. This made me realize how important coaching and professional support of the employees is. I believe that I intuitively solved this task quite well, but I lacked the professional basis for it. Furthermore, during this time I felt like doing something new, learning something new and getting further training. That’s how I came up with the idea to do the training as a business coach to put my intuitive skills on a professional level.
Gabriele Müller: What criteria were decisive for you at this point? What was important to you in your decision?
Catharina Jurisch: It was a very large and confusing market. A friend of mine and I therefore did a little market research. First and foremost, some kind of certification was important to us. We then quickly came across the German Association of Coaching (DBVC) and looked at all offers that are accredited with this association. Since the IHK was not yet so strongly spread at that time, we directed ourselves after the DBVC. It was also very important to me personally that the training was not too scientific. Coaching is taught today at universities, but coaching is nevertheless strongly practice-oriented, which is why the practical relevance was very important to me. I wanted to be introduced to actual coaching and already have a coaching case. Then one should also get a good overview of the methods and tools in coaching. We soon noticed that there are providers who are more religiously, completely in NLP or completely scientifically oriented. At ISCO I had the feeling that the training gives a very good overview of the entire coaching methodology. You learn a lot about the topics and tools you need to start as a coach, like psychological background knowledge, but also order clarification and invoicing. The training was very practical in every respect and good for someone who actually wants to work with it. Of course, the people, the chemistry among each other and the environment were also important. You, Gabriele, were crucial for me there, because I could see that you have 20 years of entrepreneurial experience and know what you are talking about. That was very important for me to get started.
Gabriele Müller: How did the further training back then change your life?
Catharina Jurisch: The training turned my life completely upside down after a very short time. I started with my position in the family business and wanted to do better with the tasks I had there. But after about two modules I already thought that I could do something completely new and become self-employed. I was very motivated to apply what I had learned and start my own business. At that time I was in my mid-40s and I felt it would be a good time to make a new start. I was also well coached by you in this respect. In the third module I finally decided to start my own business. Already during the training I worked parallel on my website and my web presence. As soon as I received the certificate, I started right away. I’ve been in the business for eight years now and despite all the work, it gives me great pleasure. All my private and professional experiences fit perfectly into my current job. I made the right decision for further education at the right time and my life has changed completely.
Gabriele Müller: What would you advise the new candidates? On what should they orient and what should they pay attention to?
Catharina Jurisch: The most important thing for anyone who wants to become self-employed is to gain practical experience immediately. Both the peer group meetings and coaching each other, as well as having a real coachee already, were extremely helpful, even though it was very frightening at the beginning. You dare to start on your own afterwards. That’s why I would definitely recommend this further training for this group of people, because you receive every practical tool you need and at the same time you’ve already started practically. Apart from that, you should also like the approach and the type of coaching of the training. You get a good feeling for this when you read through the various module descriptions and see how the curriculum is structured. I would make sure that you have a wide range of tools and possibilities at hand. Because at the beginning you don’t know exactly where your area of expertise will be and in which direction you want to develop. I was often told to specialize in one area because there are many coaches and specialists are needed. However, contrary to the advice of many, I did not do so. I stayed broadly focused on family businesses and medium-sized companies because I wanted to offer the entire range of consulting and coaching services. This also proved to be the right way for me. With this training you have the opportunity to develop in several areas and you are not yet fixed on a certain methodology, a certain tool or a certain topic. I would advise everyone to pay attention to this, as they cannot yet know what will happen on this path.
Gabriele Müller: Could you give the candidates a tip, what is an important first step when entering professional practice after the further training? How did you become so successful? What is important?
Catharina Jurisch: It is very important to look back on your own experiences, in other words to say: Where do I stand today? What is my expertise? You have to have a background, because you can’t coach executives if you have never been in the company before. You also have to think about: What is my expertise? What have I learned so far? What am I already able to do? Do I know what my future target group is? Do I dare to coach the board of directors of a large concern? Or would I rather help young people find their way into professional life? What does my heart beat for? What topic am I interested in? Where do I have potential to get customers? Where is my network? It was clear to me that I didn’t want any large companies as customers, but rather family businesses in the middle class. That’s what interests me, that’s what I can do, that’s where I have expertise, that’s where I know my way around, that’s where I know the structures and that’s where I feel comfortable. To concentrate on that, you need breadth and not focus. That was the right path for me.
Curious? Then you find all the information about our further education as a systematic business coach on our website.
