What is Life Coaching

According to Zenger and Stinnett (2010), coaching consists of: “Interactions that help the individual being coached to expand awareness, discover superior solutions, and make and implement better decisions.”

Whatever the area, coaching should move the coachee forward, whether in thought or in action, in relation to the coaching issue being discussed.

 

Coming to life coaching it is there to guide and inspire people to bring about a clearer understanding of their aspirations, goals and life purpose and to effect the necessary changes in their current and future behaviour to ensure the realisation of those goals and aspirations. It is a solution-focused approach that can help people to make profoundly positive and lasting changes in all areas of his/her life.

The premise is that people are capable of achieving far more and leading more fulfilling lives than they would if they can be effectively coached.

 

Who are the potential clients?

 

  1. Teenagers and young adults who are starting out in life;
  2. Newlyweds embarking on life together;
  3. Stay-at-home mothers;
  4. Career minded people;
  5. Business executives craving a work-life balance;
  6. People facing redundancy or some other form of significant life change;
  7. People preparing for retirement.

 

 

Scope of work for life coaches

 

The major areas for life coaching are:

 

  1. Self and identity, confidence, self-worth & self-esteem;
  2. Love relationships;
  3. Career change;
  4. Living a meaningful and purpose life;
  5. Managing anger, upsets, frustration, stress, loss, sadness and change;
  6. Parenting;
  7. Creativity and artistry enhancement;
  8. Self-care, food, nutrition, & optimal health (including smoking, alcohol and drug quitting).

 

Basically, life coaches facilitate people to reconnect with whom they truly are and what they are here to do, allowing them to discover real meaning, fulfilment and joy in life.

The life coach normally focuses on the present and help the coachee to bring about positive changes in a his/her current beliefs and behaviours in order to help him/her grow a more exciting, fulfilling and rewarding future.

The life coach embarks the coachee on a process that generally involve the following:

 

  • Clarify the outcome for the coaching interaction, and agree to the goal of the conversation or the overall process;
  • Listen deeply to what is said (and what is not said);
  • Ask nonleading questions that expand the coachee’s awareness;
  • Generate multiple alternatives or paths forward;
  • Explore the consequences of actions or decisions;
  • Elicit and describe a desired future state;
  • Negotiate performance goals and expectations;
  • Recognize potential and possibility;
  • Inspire the coachee to stretch for goals beyond what they think is possible;
  • Solve problems collaboratively;
  • Provide ongoing support and encouragement;
  • Follow up to measure progress and continue the change process;
  • Hold the coachee accountable for agreed-upon commitments.

 

During the course of the above process, the life coach will:

 

  1. most importantly help the coachee to look forward to what he or she truly wants from life in the future;

 

  1. help the coachee to take personal responsibility by assisting him/her to move away from justifying and blaming behaviour, in favour of taking full personal responsibility,

 

  1. impart to your coachee techniques that he/she could apply to develop a clear and balanced mind to dealing with issues that may, in the past, have hurt him or her badly.

 

empower the coachee to take pride and celebrate achievements, personal growth and development.

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