In sport, top athletes in every discipline recognise the benefits of a close relationship with a professional coach. Increasingly, high profile or celebrity figures from the worlds of finance, commerce and the arts are following suit to help them stay at the top of their game but can an executive or life coach really be a good investment for the average person?
Do you ever ask yourself where you will be in 5 or 10 years time? It can be a daunting question to answer and consequently most of us don’t challenge ourselves to think about it. Amid the daily maze of family and work responsibilities, activities and projects it can sometimes be hard to see the big picture and easy to become overwhelmed or feel like you’re lacking direction. Frustrations with feeling stuck in our careers or our personal lives can snowball and feel insurmountable in the context of our complicated modern life.
That’s where a coach can come in. By creating clarity out of chaos working with a coach enables you to focus on the aspects of your life which you find frustrating, to examine why you continue to make the same choices that make you unhappy and to make behavioural changes in order to increase you sense of happiness and peace of mind.
Coaches often specialise in specific areas such as relationships, careers or personal growth. Their skills include the ability to motivate, offer support when clients need a boost in confidence and help them decide which direction to take. Traditionally, family members would have filled this role but as extended family has become more fragmented and divorce increases, it falls to a professional to provide counsel.
A big part of the process is figuring out where you are in your life and where you want to be, but for many people, being asked to set career or personal goals is confusing. An executive or life coach will work with clients to turn dreams into reality by creating a roadmap to get from the present to their vision of the future.
Executive and life coaches are part of a growing profession. The International Coach Federation (ICF) says it has more than 12,000 members worldwide, a number which has doubled in just five years. Likewise, the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) reports that coaching is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States.
It is important not to confuse coaching with therapy. In very simplistic terms, a therapist will work to heal the wounds of the past in order to resolve issues in the present while a coach will support you as you move forward into the future. If a potential client is insistent that their own life’s frustrations are the fault or responsibility of someone else then a good coach would suggest that counselling or therapy might be a more appropriate response in the first instance. Once the historical issues have been addressed and resolved, coaching may be the right option to move forward decisively and effectively.
Obviously another big difference is that while therapists try to help people with problems, coaches spend a lot of time working with already healthy and successful people to further improve their lives.
Finding the right coach for you is not a simple task in itself. Unfortunately, executive coaches and life coaches are not regulated. There are numerous coach training programs across the country, but no one national standard for certification. Associations like the ICF and WABC have their own credentialing programs, but there is no requirement for anyone who wants to practice coaching to take part.
Just like hiring any professional, you should do some homework and shop around before choosing an executive or life coach. Since it’s someone you’ll be working with closely, and probably revealing a lot of personal information to, it’s key to look for someone with whom you feel at ease in terms of both their personality and communication style. Coaches with a background in business will tend to have a more direct approach, where as those with a background in hypnotherapy or other alternative therapies will often have a softer style.
I would recommend talking to three or more prospective coaches and requesting two or more references from each. Good coaches will be more than happy to provide these and will not try to pressure you into making any hasty commitment. You should ask lots of questions, including how much experience they have, how many people they’ve worked with and what specific successes they’ve had in helping their clients. The top coaches will have full client schedules and so it is often better to be patient and wait a week or 2 for a space will a busy coach than to sign up to someone purely because they are available immediately.
Both the ICF and the WABC allow you to search for accredited coaches on their websites and both provide further information and resources on the coaching industry.
Once you have found a coach be prepared to make at least a 3 month commitment to the process during which you’re likely to talk with them once a week or more, in person or by phone. In addition, you will have ‘homework’ in the form of questionnaires or tasks to help you move forward most efficiently in the time available.
A relationship with an executive or life coach is not simply one of the trappings of the rich or famous, it can be an extremely productive way of identifying and achieving your career or life goals. The process will require hard work, commitment and often some painful revelations along the waybut equally a successful partnership with a coach is one that can genuinely see your dreams turn into your reality.
Executive and Life Coach, Rachael Wood, www.ogilviedavies.com can be contacted at Rachael@ogilviedavies.com and is an accredited full member of the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches
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