What is Professional Coaching and how it can help you?

Professional Coaching is a rapidly growing industry, largely due to the demands, expectations and pressure society is putting on all of us these days.  It often comes with different names depending on its application.  Some other names are Life, Business, Career, Executive, Performance, Personal, Work/Life Balance, Retirement coaching and so on.

​

Like a Personal Trainer, a Professional Coach is someone independent who will listen to your situation and your goals, help you put a plan in place, then encourage and hold you accountable to doing what you say you will do to achieve these. 

A Professional Coach will also help you to view your situation from a different perspective.  They will ask questions that will challenge you and help bring clarity of thoughts, set goals and small targets within your larger goals, enable you to get the best out of yourself and steer life or work in the direction you want it to go. 

​

So often in business, sports, farming, school, work or life in general, we tend to get bogged down with overload, distorted perceptions of what’s happening/not happening, or where we want to head.  This is particularly so if we have big goals and ambitions, if we’ve hit a bit of a stalemate or crossroads, or if things aren’t going as we’d like. 

​

This can cause us to lose focus on the things we can influence or that we did want to achieve, and how, which in turn leads to negative thoughts and feelings, lower productivity and general dissatisfaction.

In turn we get frustrated, make rash decisions, work less effectively, and we make less time for ourselves or the things we really enjoy or really should be doing.

​

A coach will listen and let you talk.  Sessions are confidential, non-judgemental and can be conducted face to face, over the phone or via internet, depending on your preference, location and time. 

​

Coaching is very much a "top of the hill" type of help empowering healthy, motivated people to put things in “Perspective” and set or reset their compass.  This as opposed to waiting too long and needing more "bottom of the cliff" type help.  A Coach is not the expert in your field, I'm not an advisor and I won't tell you what to do. 

​

Coaching is not therapy or counselling and does not treat illness or pathology.  Clients need to understand that as a Coach I am not a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker or other medical or mental health professional.

​

Coaching is a partnership focused on developing your awareness, thinking, and abilities in order to help you identify and achieve your goals.  In coaching conversations, the Coach will be direct and honest and encourage the client to do the same.  Much of the success of the coaching engagement depends on the client’s commitment and openness to the process.

​

If the client believes that coaching is not working as desired, the client agrees to communicate this to the Coach; we are far better to end the agreement/relationship than to let it drag on frustratingly and unproductively.