Life Coaching
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Life coaches are professionals who, through planning and human interaction, assist people to navigate the jungles of life and career. They aid in the establishment and attainment of goals, helping a client to effectively deal with change and discover what he or she believes to be his/her life's purpose. Much as someone might rely on a personal trainer for tips on diet and exercise or on an athletic coach to improve performance in a particular sport, people from all walks of life—including blue collar workers, stay-at-home moms, middle managers, top executives, creative artists, teachers, and students—rely on life coaches to identify and achieve specific personal or professional goals.
According to the International Coach Federation (ICF), "Professional coaches are trained to listen and observe, to customize their approach to the individual client's needs, and to elicit solutions and strategies from the client. They believe that the client is naturally creative and resourceful and that the coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has. While the coach provides feedback and an objective perspective, the client is responsible for taking the steps to produce the results he or she desires."
Although some professional life coaches also are medical doctors, psychologists, or licensed clinical therapists, life coaching does not focus on diagnosing or treating mental or emotional disorders. Rather than dealing with issues from a person's past that may be causing life problems, life coaching concentrates on human potential, desired outcomes, and future possibilities. Skilled life coaches are adept at knowing when they must refer a client to a professional therapist to work through issues that fall outside of their expertise or capability.
During the early years of the first decade of the twenty-first century, there were more than 10,000 life coaches practicing on a part time and full time basis in the United States. Also known as life planners or life strategists, these individuals first appeared on the scene during the early 1980s. However, their popularity swelled during the late 1990s and early years of the twenty-first century's first decade. By this time, life coaches appeared on such noteworthy talk shows as the Oprah Winfrey Show. For example, Dr. Phil McGraw was a highly popular life strategist who used coaching techniques as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show and later on his own television program.
According to the International Coach Federation, personal/life coaching is one of four broad coaching categories. Other related types of coaching include career and transition coaching, which helps people to make decisions about staying in a particular job, changing careers, or adjusting to a new career. Small business coaching can involve working with budding, existing, or would-be entrepreneurs regarding new business ventures or offering assistance to business owners, private practitioners, and telecommuters. Executive and corporate coaching usually involves working with top-level executives and managers on various matters, such as strategy and vision development or burnout prevention. Coaches in this area also may help companies to implement their own internal coaching programs by training managers to coach others. While these are all distinct categories, considerable overlap can exist between them, and some life coaches practice in several or all of these areas. Within the personal/life coaching concentration, coaches may specialize in or prefer to work with certain types of people, such as women, minorities, or those with disabilities.
Many life coaches do not meet with their clients in person on a regular basis as clinical therapists do. Some meet in person for the first session and then conduct future sessions via telephone, while others meet exclusively by phone. In both cases, coaches frequently include e-mail and fax communication as part of their services. Many coaches and clients prefer this approach because it is informal and relaxed, not to mention convenient. Proponents argue that conducting sessions this way takes the focus off of the immediate physical environment and allows coach and client to concentrate more clearly on the matters at hand.
The life coaching process often begins with a simple inquiry. About 70 percent of life coaching clients result from word-of-mouth referrals. Inquiry is followed by an initial consultation regarding what a prospective client hopes to accomplish working with the life coach. At this stage, both parties must determine if a synergistic, mutually beneficial relationship is possible. Once a client agrees to move ahead, assessments may be used to help him/her zero in on his/her life skills and interests.
At this early stage, the focus is quite broad in scope, looking at the development of big picture, top level goals that vary considerably from person to person. Some individuals may wish to stop procrastinating, make more effective decisions, become better time managers, write a novel, or gain financial freedom. Others seek to discover and use their natural strengths, identify core values and limiting beliefs, increase self-awareness, or formulate motivational strategies. Still others might have goals that focus on diet, health, fitness, creativity, spirituality, interpersonal and/or family relationships, or organizational skills. Coaches may have clients rank major life areas by importance, including work, education, family, spirituality, and fun. As simple as it sounds, a big first step for many clients is to slow down and take time to think about who they are, where they are going, and what they ultimately want from life. This involves asking lots of questions, and the willingness to look at life from a different perspective.
From this point on, the coaching process usually becomes more specific, as coach and client focus on concrete short term and long term goals, the steps required to attain them, and techniques for staying focused. In addition to reflective verbal discussions, this process often involves journaling or writing goals down on paper, assignments that must be completed in between sessions, and even collage creation. Coaches may ask clients to identify three to five important goals...
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