Why choose a professional life coach?

We've all been "coached" at some point in our lives. Sport, work, career, life, the list goes on. However, all coaching is not equal. Sometimes what we refer to as coaching is not actually coaching but more of a consultancy or a reflection of advice from an expert. The old adage of give a man a fish and feed him for a day or teach him to fish and feed him for life has never been truer for what coaching should be. This blog series will explore this idea from my experience in industry and as a professional coach.

What is coaching?

The origins of the word coaching is centuries old and first referred to the concept of the horse drawn carriage. The name itself originating from the Hungarian village of Kocs, a place renowned for the manufacture of high end carriages. The purpose of these carriages was to offer a service to take people from point A to B. A journey. In this case a physical journey. And yes, it was a service delivered by an expert. However, the key word is journey and in the world of life, career, executive or sport, coaching is fundamentally a journey.

That journey begins with the coach meeting you where you are today. This idea of meeting you where you are today is fundamental to the world of professional coaching. How often have you been coached, or advised, on where to get to and how to do it but been lost because you couldn't truly grasp that first step of the journey to where the coach had started the journey from? Think of arriving at a strange airport and your Google Maps gives you the turn by turn instructions from the car rental lot to your destination, but your lost as to how to get to the car rental lot from the airport, and the signage is poor or even in a foreign language.

We also need to be clear on the destination, or we could drive around endlessly and pointlessly, other than having had a scenic drive. As per the original coaching service, it is you the client (coachee) that sets the destination, not the coach driver. You have to know where you want to get to, have a vision or a goal, or an objective. Your coach is then ready to help you get there.

As per our Google Maps directions, there are way points and intermediate destinations. There are road intersections. There are alternate routes to choose from. This is true of any coaching journey. All but the simplest of coaching journeys have these intermediate decision points, or rest points along the way. Your coach will encourage you to break down your journey into attainable parts and to reflect on the journey to that point and how it impacts where your next part of the journey.

Both the physical coaching journey in our analogy and that of professional life coaching will help you find the way from your starting point to the destination. The difference is that a professional life coach will help you navigate the journey and you will learn how to navigate yourself for future journeys.

The coaching journey

So, what have we learned about coaching? It is a journey. You must know the destination or work to establish it, most likely with intermediate stopovers. Your coach must know where to pick you up from, or the journey can't ever take place. Your coach is here to help you navigate the journey. In summary, coaches help you build a roadmap from where you are today to where you want to get to in the future and support you in successfully navigating the path.

To discover what coaching can do for you, book your discovery session today.

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