You want…
Improve your self-confidence?
improve your relationships?
Evolve into the highest and best version of you?
Reach your goals faster?
Improve your work-life balance?
Then life coaching could be for you.
The benefits of using a coach extend far beyond acquiring a new lens to view challenges. Coaching clients gain deeper awareness and new levels of understanding. These are not one-time events, but life-changing insights that become embedded in the customer’s mindset. Coaches enable their clients to create a mindset necessary to sustain change. Successful trainers help their clients maximize effectiveness and drive results.
“The training is designed to help you stay focused, to practice ‘planned abandonment’ of opportunities that would simply serve as distractions.” — Laurie Beth Jones in her book
Jesus, life coach
According to the Global Coaching Client Study commissioned by the International Coach Federation (ICF), coaching clients experience the following benefits of coaching:
80% experience increased self-confidence
73% experience improved relationships
70% experience an improvement in work performance
67% experience a better work-life balance.
What is most revealing is that 99% of all companies and individuals who hire a trainer are satisfied with the experience. Additionally, 96% said they would repeat the process. “Coaching generates learning and clarity for future action with a commitment to measurable results,” according to ICF.
The ICF survey also shows that the vast majority of companies (86%) say that they at least recovered their investment. Furthermore, the survey indicates that professional coaching provides a very good return on investment (ROI) for clients. According to the study, “median personal ROI indicates that those seeking financial gain can expect a return in the range of 3.44 times their investment.”
“When a society is rich and successful, its people begin to wonder not only what can I get out of life, but how can I live a life worth living.” — Dr. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association and author of
authentic happiness
What exactly is life coaching?
ICF defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a creative and stimulating process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his life”. and work and believe that each client is creative, resourceful and complete. On this basis, the responsibility of the coach is:
Discover, clarify and align with what the client wants to achieve
Encourages customer self-discovery
Obtain solutions and strategies generated by the client
Hold the client responsible and accountable
This process helps clients dramatically improve their outlook on work and life, while enhancing their leadership skills and unleashing their potential.”
The Coaching Institute, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, defines coaching as “a process of change that mobilizes strengths and realizes the potential of individuals and organizations. The practice of coaching incorporates a unique set of skills designed to optimize performance of an individual or organization in a variety of fields, including leadership, health care, and public service.
In what areas do most people seek life coaching?
Individuals as well as corporations and organizations hire trainers for a variety of reasons. Trainers are often hired to determine the root cause of a problem quickly and effectively. Coaches then guide their clients to create a new mindset that sustains the change. This new mindset allows customers to maximize their effectiveness.
Interestingly, 58% of ICF respondents participated in life, vision and improvement coaching, followed by business coaching (36%), leadership coaching (33%), executive coaching (30%), career transition coaching (25%). %) and relational coaching (17%).
Additionally, a recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article, “What Coaches Can Do For You,” defines the top 3 reasons why coaches are engaged: (1) develop high-potential people or ease transitions for people, (2) act as a sounding board, and (3) address derailing behavior.
Life coaching versus therapy
Life coaching and therapy employ different methods and tools. The most frequently cited difference is that coaching focuses on the future while therapy focuses on the past. According to ICF, “professional coaching focuses on setting goals, creating results, and managing personal change.” A key differentiator between coaching and therapy is that coaching is viewed as a plan of action versus an exploratory process.
As famed leadership guru Warren Bennis observes: “A lot of executive coaching is really an acceptable form of psychotherapy. It’s still hard to say, ‘I’m going to see my therapist.’ It’s okay to say, ‘I’m getting advice from my coach.’ “.
According to the HBR article, “What Coaches Can Do for You,” authors Coutu and Kauffman state that while there are obvious overlaps between consulting, coaching, and therapy, there are also clear differences. More specifically, coaching focuses on the future, fosters individual performance in a business context, and helps executives discover their own path. While the therapy focuses on the past, dysfunction and psychological disorders.
Still not convinced that you need a life coach?
It’s not just professional athletes who hire life coaches, but also highly successful entrepreneurs, executives, authors, and the like. Still not convinced that you need a life coach? Then hire a life coach because former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Microsoft founder Bill Gates say “everyone needs a coach.” Watch this short video where Gates and Schmidt discuss the benefits of life coaching.