For a variety of reasons, people seek life coaching. Occasionally, clients have specific objectives in mind, such as career change, or the development of healthier habits. Individuals occasionally seek Life Coaching in order to increase their happiness, productivity, and control over their lives.
However, the true purpose — and true value — of good Life Coaching is to assist you in accomplishing whatever goals you set for yourself.
Having an accountability partner and guide who can provide feedback, new ideas, and emotional support can mean the difference between creating a new reality and spinning your wheels wishing things were different.
So if you are a Coach, a client or just someone curious, let us take you into the world of coaching.
For A Client:
Do some self-assessment before meeting with a coach to clarify your goals. Consider the following questions and jot them down:
What activities do you enjoy?
What do you excel at naturally?
What are your greatest strengths, according to others?
What is the most important thing in your life?
What drives you forward in life?
If this is your first time considering coaching, you are likely to have concerns about expectations. Perhaps you’re unsure of what to expect from a coach or how the process will unfold. The following are eight things to anticipate during your coaching experience. All data comes directly from the 2012 Global Coaching Study conducted by the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Your coach is almost certainly a specialist in one of the five most popular coach vocations. The most likely scenario is that of leadership. Your coach will almost certainly address at least one of six major areas during your coaching engagement. According to the survey, the most frequently cited reason is personal growth (38%), followed by interpersonal relationships (32%), and self-esteem (32%).
Coaches (26%) rated communication skills and team effectiveness as equally important, with work/life balance (25%) rounding out the main six areas.
You should anticipate a minimum of four months for your coaching engagement. Between four and six months accounts for half of all coaching engagements. However, the duration will ultimately depend on your needs and preferences. Regardless of how your sessions are delivered, your coach may ask you to take specific actions between sessions to assist you in achieving your personally prioritised goals. These actions may take the form of pertinent articles, checklists, assessments, or models that serve as a foundation for your thinking and actions.
Create a list of your own questions and seek answers to them. Coaches vary in terms of expertise and area of focus. And they may be unaware of how to address your specific concerns without your prompting.
Your coach will assist you in developing a concise action plan outlining how to proceed and make progress. Provide as much detail as possible about your needs, aspirations, and goals. The coaching and action plans are only as effective as the data you supply.
Finally, the focus of the coaching conversation will always be on the coachee, not the coach.
Your coach will want you to take responsibility for your actions and will provide clear direction and guidance to enable you to solve your own problems and expand your thought processes. This will facilitate reflection and learning, as well as increase the impact of your coaching journey. Expect your coach to assist you in developing a mindset that allows you to maximise your potential and discover solutions within yourself.
Now that you’ve seen how a coaching partnership operates, you’re ready to lay the groundwork for your own.
For A Coach:
One of the most important and at times challenging roles a coach has to manage is that of expectations within the team and staff. As with any leader, the ability of the coach to communicate, manage and wrap accountability around expectations is a key element to success.
As with most things, it should start with communication and in particular, questions. To understand these expectations and help support and manage them. The use of questioning also provides an opportunity to provide clarity on what you are thinking as a coach. Managing expectations isn’t about acquiescing to the wants of the coachees. It is about having worthwhile dialogue and gaining understanding from coachee and coach on what is best for the team and the individual.
Once your clients have met their goals, review what strategies are working well and what needs to be tweaked in order to continue their forward progress. It also helps people maintain their progress and continue working towards long-term goals without backsliding.
The bottom line is we all have expectations. Coaches should make those expectations explicit at the outset of the coaching relationship, and they should insist on them throughout the relationship.
It is important to be very clear about these expectations. The client should understand exactly what you expect of them, and what they can expect of you. You must remain true to these expectations – you lead by example.
