A friend of mine thinks she has the best job in the World, and I can see why she loves it so much. She’s a midwife. While it’s a job with a serious medical element to it, looking after the health of new moms and babies, she says that isn’t the biggest part of her job. Most of the time, she says the most important task she has is coaching her patients through a big event in their lives – having a baby, and helping them feel in control, ensuring that they plan the birth and have the most positive experience possible.
In this regard, coaching is surprisingly similar. Coaches help people through big events and changes in their lives, helping them to do, be, or have what ever it is they want in their lifetimes.
Coaching is a fairly new profession that has become popular in the last 10 years. Some people call it life coaching, others call it executive coaching, or even professional coaching. Individuals and businesses are using coaches more and more to help clarify success and speed up achieving it.
Coaching helps people get from where they are to where they want to be.
Coaches are qualified and certified professionals, and are usually affiliated to a professional body like the International Coach Federation. They have established standards and codes of ethics that guide coaches.
Many people think that coaching is a type of consulting, but that isn’t correct. A consultant is an expert in a particular field and advises the client what to do. In coaching, we believe that the client is the expert – he or she knows him or herself better than any coach possibly could know them. The coach is the expert in enabling the client to understand and reach the goals they have in life. Coaching isn’t a form of psychotherapy, either. Psychotherapy is mainly concerned with what has happened in your past, whereas coaching is about working towards the future.
There are similarities to sports coaching, such as working on teamwork, being the best you can be, good preparation and a focus on goal orientation. Unlike sports coaching, however, there is no winner or loser. Life coaching is about enabling the client to do what is important to them. In this regard, the client can only win.
Coaches help their clients in lots of ways, sometimes by helping people to set better goals, or helping them focus better so they get better or quicker results. Some clients need interim goals that help them move closer to the great things they want from life. Coaches equip their clients with the tools, structures, support and accountability that enable them to achieve their dreams.
Most coaches work with their clients through regular telephone appointments usually on a month-to-month, or quarterly basis, with most clients calling their coaches around two to four times a month. During these calls, clients will usually update on successes and challenges they’ve faced in working towards their goals, and leave their coaching calls with new actions they have decided to take to help them to move toward their objectives.
People might think of coaching clients as stressed company managers but, in reality, coaching clients come from all walks of life. They might hire a coach because they want to speed up their career progress, reduce their stress levels, get a better work/life balance, achieve more (or less) of something, grow personally, or just be happier. Many coaching clients see it as an investment in themselves. Companies sometimes hire coaches as well for members of their leadership team. One Fortune 500 company recently announced to all of its officers that if they wanted an executive coach, they would make one available to them.
Coaching works best when there is a long-term commitment to taking part. Many coaches ask for a minimum commitment of three to six months, because it usually takes that long to discover and plan goals and implement the plans that take the clients toward those goals.
If you are looking to hire a coach, the most important thing is that you feel that there is a good fit between you and them. Before making a decision, it’s good to get a better understanding of the overall coaching process. There have been hundreds of articles written on coaching in the last 3-5 years. Interview at least three coaches before you decide on one. Ask them about their experience, qualifications, skills, and ask for at least two references. You need to work closely with a coach for it to work well, so putting in some advance work can help you find the right coach for you. A good place to start looking for a coach is to visit a recognised professional body’s website, such as the International Coach Federation at http://www.coachfederation.org. They have a directory of coaches who are members, and a consumer guide to hiring a coach available to download, which you may find useful.
A word of caution on hiring a coach: there are many people out there assigning themselves the title of coach. Some are legitimate professionals, and some are not. If you decide that hiring a coach might be the right thing for you, make sure that your coach has the training, qualifications, and credentials that work best for you.
Some of the world’s greatest athletes have coaches, from Usain Bolt to Tiger Woods. You don’t need to be falling behind in the game of life to benefit from working with a coach. Even those at the top of their games can get better. What could coaching do for you?
