What is Coaching all about?
By John Fielder
A simple yet effective form of personal development.
Coaching is a simple yet effective form of personal development where client and Coach create an alliance that promotes and sustains the client's personal growth and competence.
This powerful relationship enables the client to give up who they are for who they want to become. Those aspects of the 'present' person that the client might want to lose include doubts and fears, and any other thoughts, feelings and beliefs that stand in the way of living a free and purposeful life.
Many of us have big plans about who we want to be and what we want to become, yet never actually do anything about it. Some of us are successful in our own terms but still find a feeling of emptiness inside ourselves. Life without purpose is hardly a life at all. Hence, that feeling that something is missing, or the big question of why we are here.
The Coach aids the client in finding what is important and helps to create a purposeful life that promotes those qualities or ideals, enabling the client to live a fuller and richer life.
Benefits for Individuals
It is natural to want more from your life.
It is a natural human instinct to want more from your life. Yet many of us are afraid of reaching out, afraid of more disappointment. But we cannot turn away from our desire to be happier, have more money, better relationships, more success and a more deeply satisfying life.
Most of us believe that we are better off doing it on your own; it's part of what we understand and accept about being 'grown up'. However, we pay a price for this belief. As we struggle, stress and strive to achieve what we want, we find we have sacrificed the time to enjoy the fruits of our success. Our health suffers; our relationships with others become strained as we become more and more stressed. And even when we achieve 'success' it often isn't quite how we had imagined it and we are not really fulfilled by it.
Yet some of us reach out to someone, a guide or teacher or mentor or coach, to help them sort out their lives, assist them in setting achievable goals, to uncover their real needs, and work with them towards obtaining their dreams and aspirations. Athletes and musicians, for example, hire a coach or teacher.
And so can you. The role of a Life Coach, like that of a personal trainer, is to improve the quality of your life. The way it works is that you have your own, personal Life Coach who helps you design a path towards a desired goal or set of goals. The client has a unique relationship with their Life Coach.
The only thing you, as client, bring to the coaching relationship is the desire and determination to improve your life. Your Life Coach will walk with you, guide you and advise you, helping you to stay focussed on your goals and finding the best route there. Your Coach has only one aim: to help you find a more satisfying, successful and worthwhile life.
A personal Life Coach is your ally and partner in becoming the person you want to be and living the life you want to live, both personally and professionally. How does this work? Your Coach will listen to your aims and dreams and, although remaining non-critical and non-judgmental, holds you accountable for your life, challenging you to take control and guiding you to make use of your potential.
How is this different from what friends and family do?
Your Coach does not have a vested interest in you, is not emotionally attached to you and does not have any hidden agenda for you. The Coach certainly wishes to see you succeed, because that is what you came to the Coach for in the first place. But the Coach's integrity is total and their views are entirely impartial, enabling them to help you see your problems and design your way forward more clearly and be with you every step of the way as you progress towards your goals.
Benefits for companies
Develop effectiveness in working with change.
Successful coaching works with executives and others to develop their effectiveness particularly in working with change. It helps them identify when teamwork is important and to use their skills to foster it. Coaching builds skills and abilities for effective working relationships.
Coaching - implementing and modelling coaching competencies - paves the way for decision-makers to create higher levels of organisational effectiveness through dialogue, inquiry and positive interactions that create awareness, purpose, competence and well-being among participants.
Imagine a situation where people in your organisation:
Knew the vision of the organisation and their part in creating its success. Were committed to giving their best and did not hold back because of fear of failure. Freely contributed to the organisations success and did not worry about who gets the credit. Valued each other's thoughts and ideas and treated everyone with respect and compassion. Sought out and responded to performance feedback. Were willing to listen. Operated from clarity and not from resignation. Made the distinction between knowing and learning. Freely admitted to not knowing and were open to learning.All these conditions are found in high performance teams and can be present in your organisation through coaching.
©John Fielder
John Fielder is an experienced and accredited Master Coach (MECI), certified NLP Coach, NLP Trainer, NLP Master and Master TimeLine Therapy practitioner.
He is also a Chartered HR professional (MCIPD) with proven expertise in coaching, training, transition management, assessment centres and career development.
You can contact him at 01344 303370 or johnfielder@btopenworld.com
This article was posted by John Fielder
