By Tony Davies
If you are anything like me, you may have noticed a tremendousincrease in the number of coaches that have appeared recently.
Traditionally, coaches existed primarily in the world of sports,but you could also find voice, acting and singing coaches.
Today however, this has all changed. Lifestyle, relationship,personal development, business, soul, life, leadership,executive, career and countless other types of coaching are nowwidely available. So what can these coaches do for us?
The dictionary defines the term “coach” as “someone whoinstructs or trains others”. From this definition, at least wecan draw a potential connection between the coaching professionand ourselves.
So how do you know if you need a coach? Basically, if there areareas of your life which you would like to improve or enhance,the opportunity exists to employ a coach.
The Dream Team
In everyday life, we all employ “specialists” to perform variousfunctions because we have neither the skills nor knowledge to dothe job.
You wouldn’t consider attempting to fill a tooth if you had atoothache - you would go to your dentist. Would you completeyour own tax return if your objective was to minimize taxexposure - no, you would visit an accountant. If you werefeeling ill, you wouldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) self-medicate- you would contact your doctor.
It all comes down to the fact that these professionals haveskills and knowledge that provide faster, better, safer and moresatisfying results than you could possibly achieve on your own.
I refer to this group of people as a “Dream Team” – a group ofprofessionals to help you achieve that which you want – in theabove-mentioned cases, a nice smile, more disposable income andgood health.
So why stop there? If there are other areas that you want tochange, the same principle applies.
For example, if you had a desire to improve your levels ofhealth & fitness, you could join a gym. The problem is that thenovelty quickly wears off and, unless you are incrediblydisciplined, it is difficult to keep going on your own. There isalso the dilemma of not knowing which equipment to use or whichexercises to do. In fact, a real issue is not having specificgoals at all, which will leave you lost. The result? You stopgoing to the gym and your membership fee is wasted. Even worse,you will feel like a failure which in turn will lower yourlevels of self-esteem, negatively impacting many areas of yourlife.
The solution? Get yourself a personal trainer! Make this personpart of your Dream Team. Your trainer (or coach) will help youdefine your goals, provide a specific program to follow and willalso give you moral support. This approach offers a much higherlikelihood of accomplishing your goals in this area, and at amuch faster rate.
Other areas that most of us want to improve, include our keyrelationships, levels of success or financial freedom. Timemanagement and career counseling are other potential areas forimprovement.
The problem is most of us don’t know how toimprove or make things better in these areas. We have our ownways of handling things, which of course, has us where we arenow! Remember Einstein's definition of insanity; "doing the samethings over and over and expecting different results!" If youdon't want to qualify as being insane, then somethingmust change.
The solution of course, is to change your approach, and thatcould mean finding someone that can help you in the specificarea you want to improve – in other words, a coach, to becomepart of your Dream Team.
But Whom Do I Choose?
As in all professions, it is a fact that not all coaches arecreated equal! Not every coach will be a fit with every client.
In order to select a coach, I would recommend spending some timeto identify your objectives, create some “interview” questionsfor potential coaches, define your budget and do some researchto compile a list of potential candidates.
There are a number of coaching organizations and associations onthe web, that have lists of their coaches names, complete withbiographies, qualifications, areas of expertise and contactinformation.
When interviewing your prospective coach, think in terms of howcomfortable you would feel working with the person. Are theysomeone to whom you would be comfortable sharing personalinformation? Do you like them? Do they seem to have an actionplan and strategy process that will help you achieve your goals?What is their fee and what can you expect for that level ofinvestment? Can you work with them? Is their interest andcommitment mainly around helping you or collecting their fees?
Interview 3 – 5 candidates. Once you are comfortable, make aselection and get started! You will quickly be on the road toachieving your goals.
Please note one thing; hiring a coach to help you improve thevarious areas of your life, requires commitment!The process is likely to take several months and you must beprepared to “do the work” that goes along with affecting changein your life. If you are not fully committed to the process, theresult will be frustration (for both of you) and failure, not tomention a bunch of money spent on nothing!
Affecting meaningful change will take time. Old habits will needto be broken and new, supportive habits created. It took youyears to get where you are today, so it is unreasonable toexpect that accomplishment of your goals will occur in just afew weeks!
Coaches are not miracle workers; they cannot do the work for youor wave a magic wand to make things easy. What your coachcan do is help you to define what it isspecifically that you want, work with you to develop strategicand tactical plans of action, provide guidance and moral supportin your quest and keep you accountable for following the plan.
With commitment, dedication and a good coach, you will be amazedat what you can accomplish
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