Having a coach is a popular success strategy today. Most successful entrepreneurs, executives, professionals, leaders, performers and sports people hire a coach. A coach helps them stay on top of their game and constantly improve on themselves.
However for those people who have never had a coach it can be confusing to understand what to expect when they hire a coach. Coaching often gets mistaken for a way to get good advice, counseling, mentoring or sometimes even consulting. Coaching however is none of these.
What you get when you hire a coach
- A place to voice your thoughts: A coach is your safe place to be able to review and reflect on your innermost fears, apprehensions and doubts. A good coach will be able to create a safe environment in a session where you can share your deepest thoughts without being judged. By giving you the opportunity to allow yourself to be vulnerable a good coach then opens up the path for you to delve deeper into your intentions and underlying beliefs that lead to the behaviours that limit you.
- A place to be heard: One of the biggest gifts a good coach offers you is the gift of being heard. By listening deeply to what you say and what you may not say but feel within you, a good coach is able to help you get to higher self- awareness and insights. These insights could be about your behaviours, the actions you need to take to grow as an individual and the clarity you need in your life.
- Help you get perspectives: A coach is not your friend. While a coach provides you with a listening ear she/he is responsible to help you see the complete picture and expand your view. In the coaching fraternity, the role of a coach is often described as “sometimes shining
a light and sometimes showing the mirror”. Our actions are often limited by our understanding and perspective. Having a broader view helps us to make more informed and clearer decisions. - Asking what no one else would ask: The good coach would also ask you questions which help you reflect. Sometimes these questions would also be those that you may never have thought of asking or no one else may have dared to ask. With this, the coach uncovers patterns of thoughts and beliefs that you may be subconsciously practising.
- Accountability partner: The biggest contribution that a coach has in your partnership is to help you get moving on your actions with accountability and focus. It is relatively easy to make plans but a lot harder to stick to them. A good coach will help you build a strong commitment to your plan and also call you out when you fail to do so.
What not to expect
- Quick fixes and ready-made answers: If you need tips and tricks to address your situation you are better off finding them either in books or on Google. A coach is not a repository of quick fixes. So do not expect to get expert advice. Coaching as a profession aims to unleash your inner potential and not to download advice.
- An easy ride: Success through coaching like anything else requires commitment, effort and focus. When you hire a coach you get a partner in success but the work still
need to be put in by you. The outcomes you get from coaching are directly proportional to your efforts,committment , regularity and focus