In a relatively new field with few barriers to entry, there are a lot of questions. Is coaching some kind of therapy by another name? Is it like talking to your best friend? Why would someone hire a coach? What do you use a coach for? What might a coach do for me?While
field is becoming familiar, I still talk to audiences on cruises where no one has heard of coaching.
The best analogy I can think of is sports coach. No athlete gets to their peak without a good coach. The athletic coach is someone who understands physical, emotional and mental skills needed for peak performance, and is able to teach these skills to someone else, shaping it to particular and unique situation of athlete involved. One person needs to work on their backhand. Another needs to learn to control his temper.
When you think about it, when you’re faced with something new what do you do? Say you’ve been diagnosed with some disease you don’t know anything about. Or say you’d just been told your house had some problem you didn’t know anything about. If you’re like me, you’d turn to experts in fields, doctors and engineers, but sooner or later, you’ll start trying to find people who’ve actually experienced what you’re going through.
Someone who has beaten breast cancer may be able to tell you some very useful things about coping with it from all aspects – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.
Someone who’s had foundation on their house settle can tell you their experience of “the battle of experts,” and, very importantly, outcome. In both cases, we want to know - How did this turn out?
There are also people who coach at meta-level. Through education, or life experience, or both, they have knowledge of how to handle transitions, for instance, or career changes. They may not know precisely about accounting, or public relations, but they understand process of choosing right career for you, how to fit an occupation to a person, how to make a successful transition, and how to teach this to someone else.
Coaching started out as “personal life” coaching, or “business” coaching, but nowadays you’ll find some coaches doing very specific work. If you look on Internet, you’ll find a Breast Cancer coach, a Responsible Recovery coach, a Marketing Coach, an Emotional Intelligence coach, an ADHD coach, The Naked Coach, an eBook coach, a Real Estate Coach, a Parenting coach, a Teen coach, and a Dissertation coach, and many more.
You’ll find a whole host of qualifications – from academic degrees, to coaching credentials, to actual life experience. And you will find a vast array of people doing this work. The majority of coaches still live in US, but there are coaches globally, and since many coaches work by phone or email, you can swing a very wide net. Great for confidentiality, too.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND A COACH?
By looking on a search engine, going to www.coachfederation.org, or asking someone you know who’s been coached. Word-of-mouth is always a good way to choose a professional in your life. Or call me (210-496-0678); I know lots of coaches!
WHAT SORT OF THINGS MIGHT YOU BRING TO A COACH?
Being “lost” is one thing – when you’ve just hit a wall, or can’t figure out what you want to do next – or at all. Specific challenges, like adjusting to a new position, child, spouse, or condition. All sorts of life skills, like getting organized, time management, stress management, building resilience, leadership, developing your Emotional Intelligence. Practical things such as cooking, potty training, house decorating, and writing ebooks.
