WHAT DOES A LIFE COACH DO?
DEFINITION:
“ICF (International Coach Federation) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential”.
WHAT DOES A LIFE COACH DO?
Life coaches work with their clients to help them achieve goals, overcome obstacles and make changes or shifts in their lives. The coach works with the client, as a partner, knowing that the client has the answers to create the changes they seek. The client can be an individual or a group and the topic can range from life balance to restructuring a fortune 500 company.
A life coach is almost like a sculptor who can look at you and see the potential for you to achieve all that you desire. Through specific strategies and skills, the coach helps you define yourself and create the life you envision. Coaches help you focus, provide direction, challenge you, support you, motivate you and celebrate with you. Life coaches help you create a plan, detail action steps and hold you accountable for following through. They use skills that include observing, listening deeply, asking empowering questions, challenging and motivating. Coaches do not counsel or analyse the past. Life coaching is based on the principle that the client has the intrinsic ability to determine and achieve their goals. Everything is based on the present and what you want to achieve moving forward.
One way to understand the usefulness of a life coach is aimed at helping people meet goals in their personal or business lives by guiding them in the right direction. A life coach plays the same role in your personal development, helping you find the drive within and focus on your goals in order to reach the height of your abilities. Much like a sports coach might do for a sports person but the more you think about it, that people have been turning to friends and family for help and guidance for years. Life coaching is just a professional extension of that help.
In essence, life coaches help people to:
- Recognise their skills, talents, and unique abilities
- Acknowledge their dreams or figure out where their passions lie
- Set or refocus their goals
- Prepare for potential challenges and move past any obstacles that they do encounter
- Stay accountable as they navigate the path to success
- Build confidence
- Consider alternative approaches they might not have thought of
How does Coach meet the client?
- Face to Face
- Coaching by Telephone
- Video conferencing
Why does coaching work?
Coach removes the blocks so the client can visualize his/her future. When you see it, you can create it?
Start imagining that great future place. Happy family life, dream house, your own office or climbing the success ladder personally and professionally.
Once you envision it, then you’ll start managing and clearing the blocks to tackle and make it happen. Coaches partnering with the client to strategize, implement, reassess, move forward and try the plan.
And as the plan starts working and puzzle starts falling into place, vision becomes so exiting, the plan starts to take care of itself. Instead of pushing for the target, it starts flowing and it pulls you towards it.
While some people may be a little sceptical about turning to a coach to help them with their life issues, the fact is that people are turning to life coaches in increasing numbers — which is a sure sign that they must be serving some useful purpose.
As a coach I look forward to working with you as you exceed your own expectation