What is Life Coaching?
In my opinion, life coaching aims to help you achieve clarity and confidence to work through issues that are holding you back from enjoying a challenging and harmonious life. Life coaching is not about making simplistic judgments about someone’s life and telling that person how they ought to live it. The majority of coaches set out to fix what is wrong with people. I don’t believe in that approach at all.
Personal experience and social science research have shown that people are the sum of their genes, their cumulative experiences and the circumstances in which they live their lives. I believe, therefore, that successful personal development of people has to be based on an understanding of all these factors and not just focus on superficial
The life coaching process is the only human improvement process that focuses completely on you! Life coaches are equal partners who assist you to improve and grow as a person as the means to achieve your goals.
Life coaches assist you to become the World’s Leading Expert on YOU! They can also assist you to execute the actions necessary to achieve your goals. You will have virtual control over the results you achieve through coaching, because you set the coaching goals, and the whole process assures that you will achieve them.
As far as I am concerned, effective, authentic coaching is based on the following five principles:
i) a shared feeling of trust and empathy between client and mentor;
ii) a relationship of equality between client and mentor;
iii) a desire on the client’s part to focus on the future, while acknowledging the effects of the past;
iv) a willingness by the client to work through challenging issues towards empowerment, self-confidence and a happier, more productive life; and
v) a belief in people’s ability to accept themselves and yet make changes that will improve their lives.
Life coaching, or personal coaching – different terms are used – is effective for all situations, whether in personal life, career, sales or corporate and business life. But whatever term you prefer to use, coaching is different different to traditional training.
Coaching draws out rather than puts in. It develops rather than imposes. It reflects rather than directs.
Effective personal development is a form of change facilitation -it enables people, rather than trains them. Personal mentoring is reactive and flexible – it allows for personal transition on an individual basis. It makes no assumptions – it’s not judgemental, nor is it prescriptive or instructional. Empathy is central to the coaching process.
Good personal coaching seeks to help the other person’s understanding of himself or herself. The personal opinions and preferences and needs of the coach are irrelevant – good coaching is about helping other people to understand themselves, where they want to be, and helping them to get there.
In summary, coaching is a modern and rapidly growing method for helping others to improve, develop, learn new skills, find personal success, achieve aims and manage life change and personal challenges.