The Role Of A Life Coach
A Life Coach is someone who makes a valuable contribution to the process of helping people to experience life (through a combination of listening, questioning, support and feedback) the way they want to experience it, by developing with them an appropriate, measurable plan of action.
A Life Coach demonstrates an open, honest approach towards the client and treats them with dignity and respect throughout the coaching sessions,enabling the client to address the situation within a trustworthy coaching relationship.
A Life Coach will make a client feel valued and understood and help them to tap into their imagination and resolve through effective questioning and listening. They are able to offer support,focus and objectiveness to help the client progress to achieving lasting results.
The coaching relationship is built on the foundations of excellent rapport and confidentiality allowing the client to express themselves freely and a coach will respect the clients values and beliefs at all times,always remaining impartial and non-judgemental.
The Life Coaches' competency and skills help clarify the thoughts and goals of the client, raise awareness and help to encourage and challenge them to achieve their short and long-term aims through the asking of powerful and thought provoking questions.
The role of a coach is to provoke insight, discovery,and action; use different perspectives to reframe and clarify the clients experience and to support the client's growing awareness of their situation.
Constructive feedback and the monitoring of progress encourages the client to be buoyant and optimistic about their advancements and the coaches support,attention to detail and emphasis on their well-being ensures the experience is shared and 100% positive.
A coaches role is to make a clear distinction between the content and the process of the client's issue, to always give the client more options and choices than they had previously and to make them accountable for mutually agreed tasks and actions.
The familiarity with the specialist vocabulary of coaching, attentiveness and working within the ethical guidelines of life coaching provides a service to the client that gives them a fluid, challenging yet structured system to find themselves,the answers they seek and create further opportunities for ongoing learning and improvement.
Ian Collins May 2005.
The Fundamental Similarities and Differences
Between Life Coaching And Other Therapies
Life Coaching is based in the present and future. A life coach, through effective questioning and listening, will be able to determine how the past has created the present of the client and in turn,work with this knowledge, to help determine specific goals and available options for them to move forward and achieve the future they desire, within an agreed timescale.
Mentoring is the guiding and teaching of someone to be able to do a specific task. The mentor will act as a role model and be expected to pass on their worldly experience and knowledge of the subject to ensure the task in hand is achieved to a satisfactory standard. Mentoring is not as goal focussed as coaching and may involve wide-ranging discussions that may not be limited to work content. A life coach's experience of a client's business is useful but not necessary.
Counselling usually works remedially on a client's problem. The client usually feels uncomfortable or dissatisfied with their life.
Therapy is for a client who seeks relief from psychological symptoms. The client is seeking emotional healing. A client's motive in counselling and therapy is usually to get away from their pain rather than moving towards desired goals and their issues are likely to be resolved through the understanding and working with their past experiences. Life Coaching uses an 'action' approach rather than an understanding one and is generative rather than remedial.
Training is the process of acquiring skills and knowledge by study and experience. The trainer is usually the expert and they know or can do something a student cannot. Training is usually one to many as opposed to Life Coaching which is primarily one to one.
Teaching is similar to training in that the teacher knows something that a student does not. The learner has the questions and the teacher has the answers. Training and teaching are similar to coaching in that they focus on skills but the approach is different. The student learns directly from the teacher or trainer, where in coaching the coach will ask questions and actively encourage the client to come up with their own answers.
Consultancy is the process where a consultant will use their expertise to solve specific or overall business problems. They are unlikely to deal with individuals involved in the business but may suggest the use of a life coach within the organisation. A life coaching approach is non-directive whereas a consultants is directive.
Ian Collins May 2005.
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