Comments on: What Is A Life Coach?

By: Guy Farmer

Guy Farmer — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:39:55 +0000

Excellent ideas. I’ve found that there really is no one way to coach all people. Some find the way more easily than others. Some require more structure than others.

A good starting point for me seems to be to begin where the person is. My job is to help them build the confidence to make decisions on their own. For the most part, I get out of the way but make myself available to provide feedback if they ask.

When people do ask for feedback I provide a couple of general ideas and then put it back on them as in, “Some people do this, others do that. What do you think would work for you?” The idea is to be available if people ask for advice but not allow the client to generate her own ideas. I probably do that simply because people tend to follow through much better on ideas they’ve generated themselves.

Take care,

Guy

By: Tess

Tess — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:42:45 +0000

I resonate with what is written so clearly here. I applaud your courage to speak up even if it might go against main stream understanding.

By: Life Coach

Life Coach — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:58:00 +0000

Tim, I am a Life Coach as well, and I deal with the same issue. Things seem to move so much faster if you give thoughts or suggestions, I just couch them by saying this is just a thought or suggestion and please let me know what you think. This way they get the thought, but they also know I am not telling them something to do, merely putting something out there for them to chew on and give their thoughts. If they like it, they can take it, if they want to take it with a modification or even reject it, that is fine, but it usually helps them along to give them some new thoughts or concepts to play with. Best of luck! Life Coachs last blog post..Career Counseling vs Career Coaching, What’s the Difference?

By: Stefanie Hartman

Stefanie Hartman — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:20:15 +0000

Great post. You do a great job in explaining what a life coach does and how it benefits people.

By: Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome

Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:21:43 +0000

This post explains exactly why I refer to myself as a Someday Mentor not a Someday Coach. I suggest and I prod and I kick butt (gently). In my hands-on Professional Organizing practice, I learned that the let-the-client-figure-it-out-for-themselves approach just ended up costing them a lot of money. Much better to show them while doing it along side them, then set up self-guided (or assisted) maintenance systems to keep it going. Alex Fayle | Someday Syndromes last blog post..Addicted to Downloading: Procrastinating with eBooks

By: Tim Brownson

Tim Brownson — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:56:30 +0000

@ Carbine – Thanks a lot. I’ve been a bit surprised that there has been almost zero objection. I really expected that some trained coaches would disagree with me. You see, I can’t even be controversial any more!

As for the question: Hmm, not sure, but I’m tempted to say no. Having said that, I have had one or two clients where I’ve thought they’d be better off hiring somebody else because I didn’t feel I was helping them and told them so. Maybe that is the same thing.

By: Carbine

Carbine — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:36:46 +0000

Whoops; I meant, in an adding-to-your-repertoire sort of way, not as a single method, because in that case, you’re just the same, but just opposite. I also meant to say that “coach” is like “mother,” — I think it’s the kind of word that implies subject and object, 2 people, so each definition would be unique to the combination; and the verb in the relationship would be “to help.”

By: Carbine

Carbine — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:29:19 +0000

Good for you. I remember there used to be T-shirts that would riff on the old “There are 2 kinds of people in the world…” and it’s only recently that it’s really hit me that that’s always the way it is, with everything. Maybe it creates balance in the world, who knows? But anytime you try and use one approach for everyone, you’ll fail half the time. So if someone is offended because you’ve given them direct advice, they might decide to make a decision and a movement elsewhere, which is probably a good step for them. Perhaps they’ll complain to someone who is looking for just that sort of forthrightness, they’ll seek you out, and once again, balance is restored. But I wonder: I know that a patient can outgrow his coach, but can a coach outgrow his patient?

I agree with Alex that the buzz words and acronyms are kind of hokey, and a little embarrassing.

Thanks