LIFE COACHING THROUGH DIFFERENT TRANSITIONS
LIFE COACHING
LIFE COACHING THROUGH DIFFERENT TRANSITIONS
Life Coaching and Transition
Earl R. Owens Jr.
LIFC 501
Liberty University
Abstract
Life coaching is a practice that provides a chance to make leaders and develop states of mental stability through several challenges as well as transitional stages. However, in order to achieve this, there is need for a working relationship, a form of partnership, between the client and the coach. It is the responsibility of the coach, based on the training acquired, to come up with the right path to follow to handle the problem, while the client is responsible in making sure that the coach receives all the details he needs to make therapy a success. Life coaching can leave a positive impact on the life of the client if all the conditions are adhered to or can leave the client worse than when they were should the client choose not to do what the coach requires of him. In section one, this paper talks about the types of life coaching and in section two, a reflection of what life coaching is all about and how to make coaching a success.
Section One
Life coaching is a practical form of counseling that therapeutically inspires, guides, and assists clients in making their own decisions based on choices they feel are essential to them contrary to what other people feel for them. As a result of this, it is expected that life coaching sessions should be a constant source that unfailingly forces inspiring the client to embrace a positive attitude towards life. There are various life challenges that make a client seek for the services of a life coach and clients who manage to go through a life coaching session come out stronger, more reliable, and positive minded. This is because they are taught to accept, embrace, and see beyond the challenge (Biswas-Diener 2009). These sessions are meant to give motivation that mends the client’s state of brokenness. According to Collin, life coaching is a relationship that calls for a partnership between the victim and the therapist to work together to overcome the immediate challenges and concentrate on what matters most to the victim i.e. their goals in life. Life is not a smooth ride from childhood to adulthood and because of this, there are several setbacks that must be faced, some of which inflict pain and render us weak. However, there is strength in weakness if the victim accepts the challenge and sees past the brokenness and low self-esteem. For every therapeutic session to be a success the client must have the self drive needed to overcome the problem and in order for this to happen, he must make the choice from deep within self to overcome the problem (McCluskey 2008). Upon accepting the problem, it then becomes the coaches’ call to help the client transition from victim to victor and are able to do this through a series of experimental learning that enhance the clients performance towards their life’s goals.
Life coaching comes in various types. First, leadership coaching is the type that deals with adopting life challenges and creating leadership through a transitional process by which the client embrace life’s differences. Leadership coaching navigates the clients mind to bring out the strong components that a leader must have. According to Robertson 2009, this type of coaching “requires a willingness to listen, to change and adapt, and to connect and engage others in the learning journey at which leadership is relational” where at the end, the client develops a positive attitude towards life and focuses more on their goals.
Second, career transition coaching is the type that deals with direction and guidance in making choices regarding career. In this, clients approach the coach when they feel the need to seek help in deciding what they should to do and what career choices they should make. The main reason that prompts the client to seek this type of counseling is the low esteem that people have that renders them afraid of change. Upon pointing out the problem, the therapist conducts sessions that navigates the client’s perspective towards the problem and teaches them to embrace the change, shun away from the fear, and make the right choice towards the problem. It should be clearly noted that, a person’s behavior needs not be determined by the state of fear he is in (Genova 2010). Fear can be controlled and therapists believe that when we concentrate more on our fears we tend to overlook opportunities that may be lying beneath waiting to be noticed. Older people are more likely to face careers related fears in a positive way compared to young people because as time goes, working experiences that people go through enables them to transition from one state to another. This makes older people have a developmental mindset compared to young people (Collins 2009). According to Bourgeois, “Spirituality in the workplace translates into leaders who are authentic, socially responsible, doing what’s right no matter what and respecting each other” and as such, it is very important to work positively with a spirit filled mind.
Another type of coaching is motivation coaching. In this type, clients are in need of help that can boost their esteem education wise. As a result of this, many people are on the run to empowering themselves and attaining that form of edge that will make them stand out from the rest as they look for success. According to words of Gelona, motivation coaching is “a collaborative process for enabling clients to better understands how to generate and maintain higher self- motivation for pursuing goals and desired outcomes”. The main reason for this type of coaching is to redirect people back to their goals after they lose their sense to establish goals because of lost interests or died passions to be successful. Clear definitions must be made by the client to help him understand what his profession requires of him and this can only be made possible if a life coach navigates the client’s view of his potential (Drake 2008). This type of coaching is triggered by the fact that there is need for a work relationship between the employer and the employee to help them transition from one stage to another in order to meet pressing demands. Harris, Winskowski, and Engdahl describe a positive relationship between an employer and employee as a remedy to a strong and positive organizational structure that meets work demands.
Gelona goes ahead to say, “a force which arises from within the individual, that activates and enables the individual to pursue a particular task, event, job, or goal”, is the most important reason why there is need for motivation coaching. This force is the reason why people are able to distinguish and serve their functions while pushing forward in understanding their reason for living. Natural motivation is there in every person but when this fails, motivation coaching becomes critical to restore an individual’s purpose in life. Various people require motivational coaching to redirect them to their goals and achieve their expected outcomes in life (Gelona 2011). The most important and underlying element that must be present for any form of coaching to be successful is trust. The client must be able to disclose to the coach without the fear that the coach will share with other people, the same element applies to the coach. By applying this element, a bond is formed between the client and the coach and the two are able to share freely. The client becomes the recipient of the coaches’ skills that helps him turn his thoughts around towards any situation while the coach gets a chance to guide, inspire, and assists the client in achieving the best that is in him. Through this, the client gets the motivation required, which in turn transforms the client to be a leader to first, him and then others (Robertson 2009).
The impact of having a coach in one’s life helps transition the individual from a trouble minded to a goal oriented person who stands at a comfortable position to make right decisions irrespective of the challenge. Coaching also helps an individual to gain knowledge through the partnership formed between the client and the coach enabling them determine the important values of work as well as life (Robertson 2009). Through these transitions that results from coaching, an individual becomes the benefactor of change for the good of the families, school, and community at large. It is therefore the responsibility of coaches to help clients balance their lives and live a focused life (Collins 2009). Collins goes ahead to explain “coaching for balance begins with helping people figure out what they value most in life and then ordering their lives around in it” through this, a client is able to analyze and assess what is important in their lives as well as appreciating the different seasons in life.
Section Two
Coaches are professionals like others and most of coaching skills can be attained through learning. Anyone considered a coach must have specialized training as well as experience on the related areas (Brenna 2008). Just like any other profession, coaching too has a lot of challenges. The first and most important thing that must be emphasized is that coaching is a profession and the kind of seriousness required in other professions must be applied in it as well. However, coaching integrity can be attained through transparency. Applied science and psychology are two fields that are necessarily important in coaching (Hawkins 2008). These two fields help show the importance of social aspects of life that define the state of balance that an individual must have to be able to lead a positive life. These social aspects are recreation, religion, and work. It is very crucial how one relates to what he does because how one does what he does affects his life, this is true and makes sense the words of Drake “coaches need evidence that informs their awareness, shapes their assessment, and guides their actions”. It is the responsibility of every coach to comprehend what affects their clients, what they go through, and how to help solve the problem. By doing this, the coach stands in a position to inspire, guide, and assist the client by providing them with skills that redirects their way of thinking. Evidence is crucial in how coaches solves the client’s problems, and for better results, it is the duty of the coach to ensure that sufficient evidence is gathered. With adequate training, sufficient experiences, and evidence at hand, the coach is able to offer the best professional standards of services needed.
Every individual is at one point or the other in their life going through some changes. These changes can be in specified time or passage. It is expected that coaching, while helping solve these changes and other challenges in the client’s life, provide assurance quality to the client. Leadership, career, and motivational coaching opens up the broad scope of coaching to make one understand that there are various challenges in life that must be solved to help the client face life, after the challenge, in a positive way (Gelona 2011). The line being drawn out more clearly is that coaching is a process that inspires, guides, and assist clients through redirecting their thoughts from problem to solution oriented mindset that gives positive living as the outcome. As a result of this, coaching is fundamental in restoring the clients’ ability to focus on their goals irrespective of the challenges they face.
Palmer 2011, points out that problem identification is very important in solving a client’s problem. Upon identifying the problem, the coach directs the client on the most realistic way that can help the client make the relevant goals which must be worked on to regain control over the problem. For any session to be successful, the coach must enquire for details as evidence; revolve around it investigating the possible options that will give the right solution be it in a leadership, career, or motivational case (Palmer 2011).
Conclusion
Coaching is a therapeutic session that is aimed at inspiring, guiding, and assisting a client to find the best way to live life positively despite the challenge encountered. There are several types of coaching, leadership, career, and motivational coaching all described above and how important they are in solving a client’s problem. This paper has done a reflection on the research of coaching, what needs to be done to offer the best services to the client and the parts that the responsible parties must play in making a therapeutic session a success.
It is better to understand that there are some situations in life that we cannot force our way out and we are safe surrendering them to the higher power, God. This can only help us have the state of sanity that we cannot otherwise achieve working our things our way and only the words of Collins “I can’t change the wind, but I can adjust the sails” can help us understand.
Reference
Biswas-Diener, R. (2009). Personal coaching as a positive intervention. Journal Of Clinical
Psychology, 65(5), 544-553.
Bourgeois, T. (2006). The challenge of changing values, beliefs, and expectations. Leader To
Leader, 2006(42), 7-10. Brennan, D. (2008).
Coaching in the US: trends and challenges. Coaching: An International Journal Of Theory,
Research & Practice, 1(2), 186-191.
Collins, G.R. (2009). Christian coaching: Helping others turn potential into reality. Colorado
Springs, CO: NavPress.
Drake, D. B. (2008). Finding our way home: coaching’s search for identity in a new era.
Coaching: An International Journal Of Theory, Research & Practice, 1(1), 16-27.
Gelona, J. (2011). Does thinking about motivation boost motivation levels?. Coaching
Psychologist, 7(1), 42-48.
Genova, J. (2010). Our Stories: Leveraging Them for Career Transition. Vital Speeches Of the
Day, 76(5), 234-237.
Harris, J., Winskowski, A., & Engdahl, B. E. (2007). Types of Workplace Social Support in the
Prediction of Job Satisfaction. Career Development Quarterly, 56(2), 150-156.
Hawkins, P. (2008). The coaching profession: some of the key challenges. Coaching: An
International Journal Of Theory, Research & Practice, 1(1), 28-38.
McCluskey, C. (2008). A Christian-therapist-turned-coach discusses his journey and the field of
life coaching. (Clinicians’ Columns). Journal Of Psychology And Christianity Fall 2008.
Palmer, S. (2011). Revisiting the ‘P’ in the PRACTICE coaching model. Coaching Psychologist,
7(2), 156-158.
Robertson, J. (2009). Coaching leadership learning through partnership. School Leadership &
Management, 29(1), 39-49.