How to find a life coach

The ability to accept feedback from your coach and speak honestly and openly with him or her is absolutely essential.

Your coach must be able to confront you as needed yet remain non-judgmental. They need to call you out in a gentle yet honest way when they see you impeding your own progress. A successful life coach walks the line between trusted confidant and professional consultant. You need to be able to open up with your coach, but they need to maintain clear boundaries.

Your coach must possess excellent listening skills, but they must also be able to formulate meaningful follow-up questions to ensure that you think about your process in the right ways. They are not there to hand you all of the answers; their task is more acute, and it includes helping you explore your problems to find the solutions yourself. As you begin your life coaching journey, look for someone with a complementary communication style. If you learn best by hearing, for example, make sure you’re paired up with a great talker. More importantly, make sure your coach knows what your style is and what you need from them.

Great life coaches also balance making you feel comfortable with keeping you challenged, and this is largely a matter of personality and style. Look for someone who makes you feel at ease and safe, but not bored or unchallenged. Don’t be afraid to follow your instincts in this department, either. If you just don’t feel good about the match, you are probably right!

All good coaches should embody certain qualities. These include, but are not limited to:

1. Accountable: your coach should feel responsible for your success. You should be able to trust your coach to follow up with you and monitor how well you’ve applied what you learn during your sessions.
2. Strategic thinker: You and your needs are unique, and your coach should be able to help plot a path that addresses your limiting beliefs and the outcomes that you seek to achieve.
3. Good listener: Life coaching is about you, your goals or outcomes, and your path towards making them a reality. Only a coach who is willing to listen can truly know and understand you.
4. Goal oriented: It goes without saying that the point of coaching is to achieve lasting change. How do you know whether you’ve accomplished this? The only way to measure your progress is to establish goals — what we refer to as outcomes —, so it’s important to have a coach who can help you set the right metrics for success.
5. Has high expectations: You are capable of incredible things and your coach should recognize that, otherwise that person will not be able to maximize your potential and guide you towards a truly fulfilling life.
6. Always up for a challenge: Achieving change and attaining a state that will allow you to do anything you dream of will put you out of your comfort zone. Your coach should always challenge you to change, to do things that you otherwise would not, and to improve.

via tonyrobbins.com

How to combine Coaching and Mentoring

According to Lois J. Zachary, president of Leadership Development Services in Phoenix, “The mentee or protégé has gone from being a passive learner—where the mentoring is done to you as you sit at the foot of the master—to an active learner who directs the process. It’s much more collaborative now; there is more precision and structure.”

Many companies do not choose between implementing a coaching or mentoring program. They often implement both programs to meet different employee needs. When Jack Welch, former chairman of General Electric, stated that a strong mentor/mentee relationship is the basis of forging tomorrow’s leaders, I suspect that he recognized this as an outcome of both internal coaching and mentoring programs.

The chart below demonstrates some of the differences between coaching and mentoring.

	COACHING	MENTORING
GOALS	Improve job performance or skills	Support and guide personal career growth
INITIATIVE	Coach directs learning	Mentee is in charge of learning
VOLUNTEERISM	Protégé agrees to accept coaching; may not be voluntary	Both mentor and mentee are volunteers
FOCUS	Immediate problems and learning opportunities	Longer-term personal development
ROLE	Focus on telling with appropriate feedback	Focus on listening, behavioral role model, making suggestions and connections
DURATION	Short-term needs; “as needed”	Longer term

Source: http://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/

Top Emerging Coaching Trends

Another emerging trend that is likely to continue into the future is the specialisation of coaches.  Coaching is frequently a ‘second career’, and many come to the profession with significant experience that they now want to share.  Globally, and in South Africa, this has led to new innovations in the field as qualified coaches carve out career niches because they have particular expertise, experience and interest in coaching people facing specific challenges.  “Most coaches I know are in the profession because it is not just a career, but a vocation.” says Executive Coach, George Phipps, “I think it is essential for the coach to choose their areas of specialization and use all their experience, education and skills to support their clients in their chosen field of practice. Most people who want to work with a coach are looking for coaches with a specific skill set to best support them. For example, someone struggling with a weight problem might best benefit from working with a nutrition coach or a wellness coach, whereas a new CEO of a technology company might best be supported by a leadership or business coach with a different skill set.”

The result of this diversification is that both the perception and the practice of coaching have moved away from the exclusivity and elitism of just serving high performance athletes and business executives, which is an encouraging direction for those interested in coaching as a career.  With a growing body of scientific research attesting to the benefits and effectiveness of coaching in ever more fields, it is becoming more evident that being coached can be an advantage, and be relevant to a wide variety of human endeavour.  Coaching is heading into a future where it will become common for any person wanting to change behaviour, get additional support during a life-changing time or to reach a personal goal to seek out a coach with the specialist expertise that they need.

According to Svea, the rise of coaching can make a real impact on the country in the following way:  “Coaching by definition is looking towards what people truly want, rather than providing explanations for how or why people find themselves where they are. It encourages people to build solutions to achieve the better futures they desire, rather than trying to only solve problems. This forward-looking, design-thinking way of navigating everyday life and business, encourages the valuing of all ideas, efforts and activities which are focused on where we are heading. South African society continues in its journey to recover what we are known for – Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a wonderful concept; it is not as easy to consistently demonstrate or cultivate it in your workplaces and relationships. Coaching provides a way because of its focus on partnering, co-creation, and a keen respect for how diversity contributes to social fabric and business success.”

With the demand for coaches on the rise, far more options for coaching education are now available in the country.  As the coaching field becomes more competitive, those wanting to enter the profession are becoming increasingly discerning about the coaching education they invest in. It is important for aspiring coaches to train with credible providers, who offer accredited training. Both private, coach-specific institutions and universities offer coaching courses.

SACAP (The South African College of Applied Psychology) prides itself on being a provider who is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training and whose qualifications are accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE). SACAP’s Graduate School of Coaching & Leadership offers aPostgraduate Diploma in Coaching (NQF Level 8), which along with the School’s other coaching courses, also meets the requirements of the International Coach Federation (ICF), and of Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA).

First published in http://www.sacap.edu.za/