The Scoop: The Relationship Coaching Institute is the first and largest relationship coach training organization in existence. Since 1997, this upstanding institute has educated and enlightened aspiring relationship coaches from a variety of backgrounds. The Founder, David Steele, has used his experience as a therapist and coach to create step-by-step guides, practical resources, and mentorship programs that support high-integrity coaches. The institute’s values-driven approach to coaching has inspired many professionals to raise the bar for their businesses and offer clients quality services. Over the last 20+ years, David has successfully shaped the future of the coaching industry by mentoring and working with many up-and-coming relationship professionals. “I’m passionate about making a difference in the world and helping people become successful coaches,” he said. “That’s what I’m all about.”
David Steele founded the Relationship Coaching Institute in 1997 to nudge the coaching profession in a positive direction. This former therapist believed he could have a long-lasting positive impact on people’s lives by promoting ethical coaching and mentorship practices. He set out to single-handedly change the industry and hold dating professionals and relationship coaches to a higher standard.
How exactly did he go about doing this? By taking it one step at a time. He grew his authority, perfected his coaching techniques, and mentored up-and-coming professionals who went on to become mentors themselves. He didn’t try to overhaul the industry overnight — instead, he thoughtfully created resources and tools that reinforced his philosophy and worked for his students.
David Steele founded the Relationship Coaching Institute to transform relationship by training and mentoring coaches.
David told us he has written his non-fiction books in a similarly methodical way. He doesn’t believe in throwing words on the page. He takes his time, and he creates an outline first. Then he figures out chapter titles. Next, he brainstorms a title for the book. He takes 10-15 minutes a day to do these small tasks and break writing a book into small, manageable tasks.
“I’ve written four books that way,” he told us. “It takes longer than you want — it’s taken me at least a year each time — but it can be amazing how much progress you can make if you do small chunks regularly. This is true for anything, including building a successful coaching business.”
David became a recognized and respected mentor in the relationship coaching industry by applying this patient, organized, and efficient mindset to everything he does.
Regardless of whether he’s writing a book about building a business or hosting a workshop on relationship coaching, he tackles his work with authority, integrity, and persistence.
Under David’s guidance, the Relationship Coaching Institute has taught coaches, therapists, and other professionals how to reach singles and couples with a positive message. Many relationship professionals listen carefully to his thoughts on relationship coaching through his books and trainings and use his insights to launch, grow, or maintain successful relationship coaching businesses.
“Clients trust you when you’re focused on their needs,” he said. “That’s what the coaching business is about — we empower people by focusing on them, not on what we know.”
Experienced Coaches Challenge the Advice-Giving Model
The Relationship Coaching Institute operates under the assumption that singles know what to do to get a date and start a relationship. They aren’t confused. They’re aren’t stupid. And they aren’t powerless. They’re just stuck because many aspects of dating are scary, and fear makes it hard to turn thoughts into actions and stay on the right path. As David said, “In today’s world, everything you need to know is in books and on the internet. People usually know what they should do, and can easily find out if they don’t — they just find it really hard to actually do.”
Knowledge isn’t always enough. They need to follow through and put all those sound dating theories into practice. So, the Relationship Coaching Institute offers tools to help people get where they want to go. It’s not about telling clients what to do — it’s about giving them a structured support system to hold them accountable and motivate them to achieve the success they’re already capable of.
The Relationship Coaching Institute (RCI) teaches professionals to use ethical and effective coaching methods.
“In coaching, what I’ve found is the whole advice-giving model just doesn’t work,” David said. “We coaches have a lot of opinions, but when trying to help a single person, giving our advice on what he or she should do doesn’t work.”
The RCI mentors dating professionals who are anti-dogmatic and open to different perspectives. A good dating coach is not a guru who has all the answers. These rational, patient, and compassionate individuals understand the difference between truth and beliefs in the dating scene. Their message isn’t that they have all the answers, but that they can help you find your answers.
“In coaching, sometimes we present principles, ideas, alternatives, and paradigms for our clients’ consideration,” David said. “In spite of having very strong opinions about what does and doesn’t work, I never present my beliefs as dogma. It might be true for me, but that’s just one way of looking at it.”
Now semi-retired, David has established fruitful mentorship programs to coach coaches and guide them through the stages of developing a business, establishing a coaching brand, and gaining clients. The Relationship Coaching Institute trains up-and-coming dating coaches, teaches them proven coaching principles based decades of experience, and helps them build their coaching business. While David does have some basic do’s and don’ts for professionals to follow, he said he follows his own advice and tries not to dictate to anyone what they should do.
“As coaches, we honor our clients’ truths,” he said. “We respect other people’s opinions.”
Training You to Be a Chooser in Business & Life
David’s mission is to empower individuals to make decisions that fit with their values and perspectives. He prompts his clients and students to think about their situations and draw their own conclusions rather than relying on him to spoon-feed them answers.
The RCI has just launched a free web app that will lead people to ask questions and consider their options in a logical and methodical way. The Chooser Online Coaching Tool will guide people to become a chooser and take action in their lives.
“This is our gift to the world,” David said. “It’s highlighting the choices we make and how to make the best possible choice.”
The tool challenges users to come up with five possible solutions or outcomes to their dilemma. This prompts them to think critically about their options and be creative coming up with more than just two options. Life isn’t a binary thing, so The Chooser Online Coaching Tool tackles problems with a multi-faceted and thought-provoking approach.
“Our mission is to help our clients achieve what they believe to be impossible,” he said. “Because you always have more choices and resources than you’re aware of.”
“We create our reality and our outcomes by the choices we make.” — David Steele, Founder of RCI
The Chooser Online Coaching Tool guides people to review their options, weigh the consequences, and decide the right course of action. It’s for people who feel stuck, undecided, or conflicted and need a way to get perspective on their situation and reinforce their decisions. If someone is in a dilemma and needs answers, they can rely on the tool to provide a compact version of the guidance they’d get from a coach.
By condensing one of his coaching strategies into an app, David has made it possible for people of all backgrounds to help themselves out of difficult situations.
“As coaches, we are always challenged by helping our clients make the best choice for themselves,” David said. “There are lots of reasons people self-sabotage, and most of it boils down to fear or false beliefs.”
RCI’s Coach Directory Gives the Pros a Reliable Platform
Helping people is second nature to David, who started his career in 1978 as a marriage and family therapist. He later became a relationship coach because he saw an opportunity to help couples avoid critical errors and fix small issues before they became marriage-ending dealbreakers. Then he decided to start sharing his coaching techniques with other professionals in an effort to move the industry itself in an empowering direction.
Over 20 years later, the Relationship Coaching Institute has launched countless careers and set high standards for dating and relationship coaches around the world.
The RCI has continually pushed for greater integrity, honesty, and transparency in the coaching business, and its resources have become necessary guidelines for anyone thinking of launching a career as a professional relationship coach, dating guru, or love guide.
The Relationship Coach Finder gives professionals the resources to kick-start their businesses.
In the last year, the RCI has developed a platform to encourage collaboration between the best in the business. The Relationship Coach Finder is a directory that connects the individuals who have signed on to the RCI credo and learned from David’s experience. This helpful tool provides coaches with a platform where they can operate their businesses using RCI programs, exercises, and content.
Coaches can use the Relationship Coach Finder to grow their businesses in a number of ways. They can leverage RCI’s #1 Google ranking to get new clients. They can promote their products in the Coaching Shop, or find useful articles, videos, and tips in the Free Stuff section. It automates marketing and practice management to give newcomers and experienced professionals a boost. They can expand their knowledge, clientele, and reach by becoming members of this global directory.
“We do everything we can to make a difference in the world,” David said. “I got into the coaching profession because I wanted to be more effective, and I developed tools, coaching programs, and workbooks that empower others.”
Mentorship Programs Make a Difference in the Industry
Whether you’re building a coaching business or writing a book, you have to start somewhere, and David believes it’s best to start small. He has created step-by-step programs to mentor the next generation of dating professionals and set them on the path to success.
“We help our members break up building their businesses into small, manageable tasks,” he said, “so it’s not so scary or overwhelming.”
The Relationship Coaching Institute has spent decades honing its processes, informing its audience, and maintaining high standards in the dating industry. Today, it stands as the leading authority on how to run a quality-driven coaching business that gives singles more than quick tips and cliché mantras. These high-integrity coaches empower individuals to take action in the dating scene and work toward long-term relationship goals one step at a time.
“We want a shortcut, but the important things in life don’t happen easily,” David said. “Because life is challenging, we all need help. We can’t do it alone. We need to get help, and, when we allow someone to support us, we can go farther and faster than we could on our own.”
