Here is an example from the Life Coaching module.
At some point in their lives, most people will seek help from other people – friends, family or professionals – to help them make decisions or get advice on how to handle a particular situation or event. Some decisions are more complex than others and individuals cope very differently to a given situation.
For instance, some people are very good at making decisions on the financial aspects of their lives but struggle with their physical health or personal relationships. Others may thrive in their relationships but flounder in keeping abreast of their work or study commitments.
A client may contact a life coach when they feel they lack control over their lives or when they need objective advice (away from family and friends). They may lack motivation or have feelings of frustration, depression or a lack of confidence may be affecting their personal effectiveness in everyday life.
Life coaching involves understanding a person psychologically, physically and often financially. A life coach becomes a confidant to help the client:
- determine what is important
- pin-point their strengths and weaknesses
- ascertain where they want to be in 6 months, a year, or 10 years time.
It involves assisting the client to set personal and professional goals, and to develop a workable strategy to obtain their goals within a given time frame. For a client, seeing a life coach can be a life changing experience and an invaluable opportunity to take control over their life and fulfil their dreams.
A client who seeks out a life coach does so not because they necessarily need to, but rather because they want to. They usually have areas in their life that they feel they would like to improve. The life coach helps them to focus on what they want for their own future. A psychotherapist or counsellor will help a person get from dysfunctional ways of responding to life to functional ways. A life coach will help a person move from functional to excellent.
Life coaches work one-to-one with their clients, either face to face, via the telephone or email. They build up a relationship with their clients that may be viewed as being something akin to a close friendship. You could perhaps view the coach as being someone who goes with you every step of the way. They almost walk alongside their clients. Life coaching started to emerge in the US in the early 1990’s and it’s popularity has increased dramatically since. One possible reason is that having a therapist can be treated with some stigma, but there is no stigma attached to having a life coach.
Some areas in which a life coach may be asked to provide assistance and support are:
- interpersonal relations
- self-esteem and confidence
- development of physical wellbeing
- public and professional image
- personal finances or business
- career development
- practical life skills, such as time management
LEARN MORE ABOUT BUSINESS COACHING
This is an example from our Business Coaching course.
Like the coach of elite athletes, the business coach is results oriented, and his or her main tasks are to help clients –recognise, overcome and then remove barriers to personal growth and development. Then to develop strategies for achieving goals that will enable the individual to develop his or her full potential. Again like the sports coach, the business coach will be required to accurately assess the client’s aptitudes, strengths, weaknesses, needs and goals in order to arrive at a programme that is specifically tailored to that individual.
Unlike a sports coach, however, business coaches may also have to manage a client’s reluctance, lack of motivation, inaccurate perceptions and other psychological barriers to effective self-management. Life coaching is primarily about helping clients develop the skills and attitudes that will enable them to manage themselves and their own lives but business coaches will also take into account their business and working life.
As we have said, people may contact a life coach for very different reasons: to help them make better financial or career decisions; to get them motivated; to help them overcome feelings of frustration, helplessness, or lack of confidence; to help them manage personal relationships or to help them develop practical life skills.
The reasons for contacting a life coach may not be the primary issues that are causing the client distress or dissatisfaction, and much of the life coach’s work will be to lead the client on a journey of self-discovery.
Like all inner journeys, life coaching must begin with the client’s present situation and the many internal and external influences upon it. Life coaching begins with working with the client to understand where the person is, emotionally, psychologically, physically, financially and interpersonally. Only after obtaining a more accurate, clear picture of the client’s present can both client and life coach identify elements in the client’s past that may be hindering growth in any particular area, and plan strategies for the client’s future that will encourage and nurture progress.
Let’s now look more specifically at business coaching. Business coaching can help a business owner, manager or director to:
- make better decisions
- reach their goals faster
- set better goals
- improve relationships
Business coaching usually involves working with the individual on THEIR problems, so every client will receive a different form of business coaching, individualised to their needs. So a business coach may work with a business person in one of two ways:
1. To help them as an individual perform better
- how they respond to staff
- their work life balance
- their organisational structure
- delegation
- staff training
- motivating staff
- better management skills
- time management
2. To help their business perform better
- looking at ideas for the structuring of the business
- employment of staff
- time management with staff
Being a manager or business owner can be a lonely job at times. So a business coach can be there as a sounding board and confidant to help the business person to voice their issues and then help the person to find solutions to their problems effectively and quickly.
Business coaching is generally considered to be a good method of intervention to improve a business or the way the business person works, as it can be
- time efficient
- effective
- is individually tailored to the person’s requirements
- is outcome focused