Success as a Life Coach

As the strapline on the weekly Blog alert proclaims, the featured articles are intended for a broad audience – people who want to get the most out of life!

However, from time to time the articles I post may be of more direct relevance for readers who are already life coaches or in training to become life coaches. This article is one of those.

Nevertheless I would hope that this post may also appeal to others by imparting a deeper understanding of what life coaching is.

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Success as a life coach (continued)

 

So what are the cornerstones of success for a life coach?

The answer is that this is not an exact science. ‘Different strokes for different folks’ as they say!

Having said that I would like to offer a synthesis of some of the reflections that I hear most frequently from our most experienced and successful life coaches.

Here are ten pointers, not in any particular order:

Invest in comprehensive, high quality training.

It is simply not enough to have life experience and a desire to share that experience with others. If that’s what you want, then become a mentor, not a coach.

If you want to become a great life coach (and let’s face it, who wants to be a mediocre life coach) then you will need to be prepared to expose yourself to numerous ‘new insights’ and the substantial personal development that comes with comprehensive broad-based life coach training.

Know your own purpose in life and know with clarity how being a life coach is aligned with that

The life coaching process may revolve around setting and getting goals, but ultimately (certainly in the case of New Insights coaching) the aim is to help the client uncover his or her life purpose – a thoroughly powerful and liberating exercise.

It’s difficult to do justice to this if you are still struggling to understand what you are here to do!

Choose your clients carefully

This may sound surprising to some, especially trainees and newer coaches who are keen to fill their practices and happy to take on anyone who expresses an interest in coaching.

Yet ask any top coach and they will tell you that they have invested a great deal of time carving out a ‘niche’ in which they feel best equipped and most comfortable to operate their practices.

A niche is simply a specific target market.

It could be defined in many ways, for example by demographics, life style stage or lifestyle interests. You will be at your most effective when you are seeing clients who fit a certain mould that you feel most comfortable with – whether that be retired people, young adults, health enthusiasts, career minded types, stay-at-home mothers or any number of other possible niches.

Develop structure to your coaching without being a slave to structure

One thing clients will want is to know is where they are going with coaching. They need to feel assured that you have a method and process that is going to benefit them and a coaching programme that they are going to grow and develop with. If your coaching degenerates into a simple talk shop every couple of weeks clients will find a reason to back out.

Whereas structure is important, it has to be balanced with the necessary flexibility. Every client is unique and one size does not fit all … so know when to adapt the structure to meet your client’s specific needs.

Deliver results – again and again

Some life coaches make the mistake of thinking that their most important form of advertising derives from the various accreditations, affiliations and certifications that they can lay claim to.

Whereas membership of a relevant representative body, and a suitable coaching accreditation can help reinforce one’s reputation it will do very little to build it. What really builds credibility and reputation is the consistent delivery of results for your clients.

Life coaching is a word-of-mouth business. There is nothing more valuable for a life coach than a good client testimonial. And good testimonials come from clients who feel that coaching has delivered great value to them.

Grow with your clients

To be honest, it’s difficult not to enjoy continued personal growth when you choose life coaching as a career. But, ideally, you also need to invest in your continued development outside of the coaching process.

It’s really important to keep an open mind and expose yourself to new thinking and new approaches to human development, if you want to keep sharp and keep motivated to be the best coach you can.

Leave your ego at the door

This one is easy to say but not always easy to execute.

Like it or not we all have our own values, beliefs and opinions. As experienced coaches it is tempting to think we know what’s best for the client and slip into teaching and/or advisory mode. Tempting though it may be this is not effective coaching.

Nobody knows what’s best for the client better than the client. The secret to great coaching is to be able to put yourself into your client’s shoes and in so doing help your client find his or her own answers. This requires patience, tolerance, understanding and compassion … but also a certain firmness and a resolve not to tolerate mediocrity.

Embrace and exude total professionalism

Life coaching may not officially be recognised as a profession but there is absolutely no question that helping empower people to become the best they can be requires total professionalism in both attitude and action.

New Insights requires its trainees and coaches to commit to a simple yet powerful code of ethics in coaching, where the interests of the clients, including their right to confidentiality, are paramount.

Beyond commitment to a code of ethics it is beholden on coaches to be totally focused on their clients and to give of their best in each session.

Professionalism will always be rewarded and will always translate into more clients.

Let your creative juices flow

This point carries on from where the point about flexibility left off.

Life coaching is ultimately more about the heart than the head. Taking an overly academic approach to coaching is likely to put your clients on guard. They want to know that you connect with them and are firmly on the journey with them – not just going through the motions.

Therefore, it is necessary for you to be able to introduce creativity into your coaching and to ‘go the extra mile’ for your clients. This comes with experience but it can ensure that your coaching retains an appealing freshness and presents you as someone who is actively looking for new ways to add to your client’s experience.

Make coaching fun

Part of what makes life coaching so different from counselling and therapy is the forward looking, solution focused approach that is used.

There will be times when coaching explores the past and times where unhappy memories are brought to the fore but the whole idea of life coaching is to build a happier, more fulfilling life by learning to appreciate and harness your own abilities.

Being able to see the funny side of life and injecting a sense of humour into your coaching will help position you as a positive role model for your clients and it’ll ensure that you and your clients derive enjoyment out of your coaching.

After all, Isn’t that what the ideal career is all about?

 

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This is the official Blog for New Insights Life Coach Training.

Find out more about life coaching and becoming a life coach here:

SA/Africa: http://www.life-coach-training-sa.com

UK/Europe: http://www.life-coach-training-uk.com

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