Report on the Workshop for Those 25 and Under & Why You Should Learn Coaching Earlier in Your Career

On August 30, 2025, at the end of last month, a Trust Coaching School group workshop was held for those aged 25 and under!

This group workshop allows individuals aged 18 to 25 to take a coaching course, which normally costs 55,000 yen, for a limited time for free in a 1-day session. This was the first time it was held, and I was involved in the operation as one of the instructors.

In this post, I would like to write about the workshop on the day and why I felt once again through holding this workshop that it is necessary to learn coaching at an earlier stage.

By the way, we are accepting applications for the free campaign for those 25 and under until September 30, so if you read this post and are interested, I hope you will consider learning coaching on this occasion.
You can check the details of the campaign here.

Also, for those who are already over 25, you can take the course at the regular price. It is never too late to learn, so I hope you will take a new step forward.
Click here for information on taking the course at the regular price.
*If you are applying directly to me, please click here.

1. Report on the Trust Coaching Workshop for Those 25 and Under

1) What is the Trust Coaching Workshop?

First, I would like to briefly introduce the overview of the workshop.

What we provided this time were the "Basic Course" and "Advance Course" among the coaching courses offered by the Trust Coaching School.

Roughly speaking, coaching consists of the following three stages.

① Techniques to organize yourself (mental management techniques)
② Techniques to communicate smoothly with others
③ Techniques to actively change relationships with others (coaching techniques)

At the Trust Coaching School, among these three techniques, we offer the ① techniques to organize yourself as the "Basic Course," and the ② techniques to communicate smoothly with others and ③ techniques to actively change relationships with others (coaching techniques) as the "Advance Course."

Since it was a 1-day session this time, we had participants learn the contents of the Basic Course and Advance Course all at once in 7 hours, including a lunch break.

I think it was a very intensive time. Thank you very much to all the participants for your hard work.

2) Workshop atmosphere

This time, more than 20 people participated, including those job hunting, those who had just joined a company as new graduates, those active as young employees, and those who started businesses at a young age.

As there were many participants, the instructor team also proceeded as a team, consisting of Trust Coaching School Representative Baba + 6 certified Trust Coaching School coaches.

Overall, while listening to the lecture, participants were divided into groups of 4 to 5 to discuss key points. Those who have taken training with workshops should be able to imagine it easily.

What I think was a bit unusual was that the lecture part was conducted by 5 instructors in a relay style. Since it was conducted by a diverse team of coaches, each utilizing their own strengths, I think participants were able to feel that there are many patterns in how to behave and interact as a coach.

I myself was often surprised by the facilitation of the other instructors, and it was a day where I learned a lot alongside the participants. (To be honest, there were moments where I thought, 'This facilitation... it actually works... how? ...Wow...')

Also, during the group discussions, one coach joined each group as a facilitator to manage the process. While filling out the worksheets and sharing, participants dug deep into their own thoughts, and I am sure that being exposed to the opinions of others in the group helped deepen their understanding even further.

Honestly, I think seven hours is quite a long haul. However, even during the final Q&A session, questions were coming in right up until the very end, which I believe shows how interested everyone was and how engaged they were throughout the day.

3) Participant Feedback

A week has passed since the workshop, and we have been receiving feedback little by little.

We have heard stories about what they thought and felt, such as, 'I talked a lot about what I thought about in the workshop with people close to me.'

I believe those who participated were already interested in communication and coaching, but perhaps they were able to form a clearer image of what can be achieved by honing their communication skills and reflect on it more deeply.

I would like to add more feedback here as it becomes available.

2. Why you should learn coaching earlier in your career

1) Why I didn't learn coaching in my 20s

Now, as I prepared to offer this to people aged 18 to 25, I found myself reflecting on my own teens and 20s. In doing so, I felt that 'it really is important to learn coaching at an earlier stage in your career,' so from here on, I would like to talk about why it is good to learn coaching early on.

By the way, I learned coaching in my early 30s.

I have been working in HR since I was a new graduate, and although I knew about coaching, I didn't think about learning it in my 20s.

There are two reasons for this.

a) It cost too much, and b) I thought it had nothing to do with me.

That is it.

a) 'It cost too much' means exactly what it says. At the time, coaching itself was not very well known, and opportunities for individuals to learn it were extremely limited.

It wasn't that there were no courses available, but if I were to attend one, I would have had to be prepared to invest half of my annual income. My salary wasn't particularly high either, so if half of it were taken away, life would have been quite difficult. It is no wonder I couldn't bring myself to learn it.

b) 'I thought it had nothing to do with me' was also a major factor.

At the time, I thought coaching was something for 'motivating and moving people.' And I believed that motivating and moving people was the role of a manager.

Therefore, I thought that as someone who was not in a management position, I did not need coaching.

However, when I entered my 30s, I became overworked and depressed, to the point where I had to take a leave of absence from work. Fortunately, with the cooperation of those around me, I was able to take time off early and began to recover, but in the process, I was forced to rethink my approach to my career. (I have written about the details of this in 'How Coaching Changed My Work-Life Balance')

Just as a program that allowed me to learn coaching at a low cost became available, I compared various schools and knocked on the door of the Trust Coaching School, thinking it would be a good reference for rethinking my career. And then, I was faced with a surprising fact.

That fact was that most of coaching is actually 'mental management technique'.

2) The foundation of coaching is mental management

Coaching is not a 'technique for moving people,' but most of it is actually 'mental management technique'...

Some of you may be wondering, 'What does that mean?'

When people talk about coaching techniques, the focus tends to be on 'how-tos' like 'how to listen,' 'how to speak,' and 'how to ask questions.' Certainly, these are important techniques as well.

However, what I first learned at the Trust Coaching School was about the 'state of mind' that serves as the foundation for those techniques.

I am sure that those of you reading this post can relate to this, but...

Even when I tried to listen to someone while I was feeling irritated, the irritation came first, and I couldn't listen well.

Even though I was just asking questions because I wanted information, perhaps because I was feeling impatient, it ended up sounding like I was cornering them.

Don't you think these things happen more often than you'd expect?

Even if you learn 'how to listen,' 'how to speak,' and 'how to ask questions,' if your state of mind is poor, you just end up being an overbearing person. Especially since I first learned coaching from books, I made many such mistakes.

What I learned in the Basic Course at the Trust Coaching School was how to handle this 'state of mind that comes before skills'.

As I put what I learned in the Basic Course into practice, my mental management improved significantly. I became less irritable, stopped falling into prolonged periods of depression, had more time with peace of mind, and first and foremost, I felt much more at ease myself.

And because I felt more at ease, I had more time to pay attention to others, gradually felt more inclined to engage with people positively, and naturally began to utilize the communication skills I learned in the Advanced Course to move things forward while cooperating with those around me. (The details of this change are written in 'How Coaching Changed My Career')

3) The difference that coaching ability makes, especially for those who 'do not want to be' managers

① Techniques for regulating yourself (mental management techniques), starting with
② Techniques for communicating smoothly with others
③ Techniques for actively changing relationships with others (coaching techniques)

I think it is good for those aiming to be leaders or managers to acquire all of these at an early stage.

However, even if you are thinking that you do not want to become a manager, I would still recommend that you learn these skills.

The reason is that the fewer people who want to become managers, the more these skills (1) through (3) will make a difference in work performance is what I believe.

People who become, or are capable of becoming, managers can move people using the authority that managers possess—or, to put it plainly, "power." In a sense, they can get people to act even if they are poor at communication.

Does that ring a bell?

For example, isn't there someone around you who is extremely intimidating and overbearing, yet somehow has remained a manager for a long time? (Though I think that has decreased quite a bit recently...)

On the other hand, if you have decided not to become a manager,

that means nothing other than not relying on power, but having to consistently use communication that gets people to "want to act". Not having managerial authority means exactly that.

Getting the other person to

"want to talk to you"
"want to listen to what you have to say"

is essential.

Getting them to understand what you want to do, and to want to take action or provide support.

There are a surprising number of things that can only be achieved once you are able to do that.

Precisely because you lack authority,

whether you can get the other person interested and make them want to "cooperate" on their own, and whether you can build relationships of trust with those around you,

will significantly change the quality of your work and the amount of results you produce.

Also, if multiple people are handling similar work, I think you can understand from experience that many people would prefer to have someone who is mentally stable and has the ability to build relationships of trust with those around them continue working for a longer time.

In other words, for those who "do not want to become" or "will not become" managers,

① Skills to regulate yourself (mental management skills)
② Skills to communicate smoothly with others
③ Skills to actively change relationships with others (coaching skills)

the difference in whether or not you have learned these skills is likely to become the difference in the results you can produce and whether you can work stably for a long time.

Surprisingly, the difference in knowledge and experience does not affect your career as much as you might think when you are young.

What truly impacts your career,with that knowledge and experience,is whether you can achieve results together with the people around you.

Therefore, even if you are thinking, "I have no intention of becoming a manager..."
I strongly recommend that you learn coaching systematically at an earlier stage in your career.

It doesn't matter what age you start. Most people reading this post will surely continue to work for at least another 10 years, right?
(By the way, my parents are in their 70s and both are still working. My grandfather worked until he was in his 80s.)

Ten years is certainly not a short amount of time. How many of those 10 years you can spend making more effective efforts, being more positive, and living a fulfilling life will surely change significantly depending on when you learn coaching.

Conclusion

Up to this point

・Report on the Trust Coaching Workshop for Under-25s

and, sparked by that, what I reconsidered:

・Why you should learn coaching at an earlier stage in your career

is what I have written about.

Just as those who are learning coaching have their reasons for doing so, I believe those who are not learning it surely have their reasons as well. I have no intention of denying that.

However, I would still like to reiterate that by learning coaching at an earlier stage in your career—even if it's not while you are in your 20s—you can open up various possibilities.

I believe that coaching ability is "the power to create mental space and, with that space, build trusting relationships with others."

Some people might say, "I can perform well when I'm pushed into a corner!" I have a bit of that in me too, so I understand that well.

However, if people are pushed into a corner 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, they will definitely burn out.

While it is important to be able to push yourself when you need to, you also need the ability to avoid unnecessary pressure and not blame yourself excessively.

By improving your state of mind, you then reach the step of calmly engaging with others, building trusting relationships, and achieving results.

Close your eyes for a moment and think about how you want to proceed with your career and life, which will continue for more than 10 years from now. Wouldn't you like that path to be calmer, more fulfilling, and something you can walk forward with positivity?

If you feel the same way, I hope you will consider learning coaching now.

Because I believe that will lead to broadening the scope of your career and making the time you spend from here on out more fulfilling.

Thank you very much for reading this far!

If you are interested in our free course campaign for those 25 and under, please take a look below. We would also be very happy if you shared this with people you know.

If you are considering our regular courses, please click here. We offer individual scheduling and one-on-one sessions.

If you would like to apply directly to us, please do so here↓

For those who would like to start by learning through a book, we recommend the manga version of "The Godly Art of Goal Achievement" published by Trust Coaching. You can also read it on Kindle Unlimited.

About the author of this article↓