A long-term relationship isn’t working and you aren’t sure what to do, or you’re entering the job market and realizing you’d rather change fields. You might have health and mental fitness goals but aren’t sure how to fit them into your life.
You can’t overcome all of life’s hurdles on your own. Sometimes, you might need help from a professional who can bring clarity and a new perspective to your thinking. They’ll transform an uphill challenge into an achievable goal-oriented process.
Working with an effective coach can give you the support you need to solve problems and thrive. Life and career coaches help you feel grounded and create pathways for self-improvement, whether you’re in the midst of a crisis or just want a helping hand.
There are thousands of professional coaches out there, and making a choice on who to work with can feel overwhelming, even if you’ve used a coach before. Learning what makes a great coach, how to ask the right questions, and how to choose between different coaching specializations will help you find the right match for you.
What’s a coach?
A coach is a trained professional who works collaboratively with clients to guide them through personal and professional transitions or issues. Depending on your needs, you may meet with your coach weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
Coaching is flexible, and there are several options to be coached in person or virtually, whether over the phone, video conferencing, or text chat. There are several types of coaching out there for different personal and professional challenges, including (but not limited to):
What does a coach do?
A coach will meet with you regularly and help you work through issues and make action plans to achieve your goals, whether that’s in life, at work, or in any other area. You may want to hire a coach with specific goals in mind, like earning a promotion or improving executive communication skills.
Other situations might require more general guidance, like if you’re broadly unhappy at work but can’t pinpoint why. A coach can help you find your bearings and articulate specific problems and objectives.
Coaching is a non-directive experience, which means a coach will ask you questions and build strategies to help you achieve your goals independently. Think of coaching as accepting a guiding hand. Instead of telling you what to do, they help you reach a conclusion or build a plan on your own.
Benefits of a great coaching experience
Successful coaching experiences teach you to take a step back and look at your decisions and problems more clearly. A coach’s support gives you space for honest self-reflection that empowers personal growth and learning.
According to research by BetterUp, 55% of employees are languishing, meaning they aren’t doing well but they aren’t suffering, either. If you’re languishing, it can be hard to identify what exactly you need to change, or that things can get better at all. You’re somewhere between thriving and burning out.
Coaching is a well-being improvement tool that can help you close that gap. Instead of languishing, you’ll identify the steps you need to take to thrive. You can learn better habits (like proper exercise and sleep), create your definitions of success, and build skills like time management.
After three months of individual coaching, many people see a 38% decrease in languishing. Likewise, a positive coaching experience has long-lasting benefits.
Coaches help you plant the seeds for core skills like self-efficacy, resilience, and confidence that contribute to greater mental health long after the coaching relationship ends.
What’s the difference between mentoring and coaching?
Mentoring usually occurs between two professionals in the same field or organization. Mentors draw from their personal know-how and life experience to give general career advice, an insider’s perspective, and access to their network.
Ultimately, the mentee must decide what to do with that information and contacts and build their own strategies to advance their career. Only 41% of mentor relationships define a specific set of goals, meaning in a mentorship, you need to take your own steps to set objectives and improve yourself.
Mentorships can be part of a short-term training program at your organization, or they can be a long-term or lifelong relationship. However, the higher up the mentor, the more difficult it could be to get a piece of their time when you face a challenge.
A key difference between mentoring and coaching is that a coach focuses on implementation. Their job is to help set goals and identify the right solutions to alter behavior or develop a skill.
They place attention on overall self-improvement techniques throughout the whole process, and since they meet with you on a schedule, they’ll always have time to talk.
Questions to ask when hiring a coach
Working with a coach is a vulnerable experience. It requires someone who makes you feel at ease and comfortable sharing difficult parts of yourself. Every coach has their own background and coaching style, and it’s normal for one to be a better coach for you than others.
During your first one-on-one meeting with a new coach, prepare some questions ahead of time to understand more about them and their coaching process. Here are a few examples:
-
What are your specialties as a coach?
-
How did you become a coach?
-
What makes your approach unique?
-
How do we create goals and strategies together?
-
How do you measure results for your clients?
-
How has your coaching style changed over time?
-
How do you conduct coaching sessions? How often?
-
Are you accessible between our sessions?
If you don’t feel like the coach is a good fit, let them know at the end of the session and continue looking for someone who meets your needs. A coach is a professional, and they won’t take it personally if they aren’t the right person for you.
What to look for: 6 characteristics of a great coach
It requires a mastery of several soft skills to be a coach. A successful coach works hard to empathize with you and create a safe, constructive space where you can share your problems.
To make sure you’re getting the most out of your coaching relationship, pay attention to these six characteristics:
-
Openness: How open to the coaching experience are they? Do they ask you open-ended questions so you can draw your own conclusions, or do they direct you to act in a certain direction? The best coaches are good listeners and patient guides so you reach conclusions on your own.
-
Enthusiasm: A good coach will celebrate even the smallest improvements and victories. They read your strengths and weaknesses and create frameworks that encourage, excite, and motivate you.
-
Empathy: An important part of your partnership is nurturing a safe space to bring your authentic self to every session. A good coach gets to know you beyond your immediate goals. They understand and respect your triggers and motivators to create a support system that lets you break out of your comfort zone.
-
Self-awareness: In a coaching relationship, the spotlight should always be on you. A cornerstone of good coaching is clear boundaries that keep you focused on your own journey. Coaches who constantly discuss their own experiences can distract you from your journey or create biases in your decision-making.
-
Commitment: High-performance coaches work with you even when you feel like giving up. They motivate you and lend support through the good, bad, and ugly parts of the problem-solving process.
-
Trust: Seeking change puts you in a vulnerable headspace, regardless of the situation you’re in. A coach should establish a space that’s judgment-free where you can trust that what you say is confidential.
Coaching in the workplace
Although coaching can benefit you in any area of your life, it's especially helpful in professional contexts. American workers want to use their strengths in the workplace, and engagement increases when managers use employees' strengths. But not everyone knows their best assets or how to use them. A coach helps people find their strengths and use them to participate better and thrive at work.
Remember that a coach doesn't have to be a formal, external career coach. A manager or supervisor can act as a coach in their management style. This is known as a learning-forward leadership style — encouraging employees’ professional development while supporting the team.
Think of the coach of a sports team. They work with individual athletes to push them to their full potential without losing sight that the player is part of a larger team. A sports coach and an athlete have a friendly and personal relationship that revolves around a common goal: to improve their performance. A good manager-employee relationship does the same thing.
Keep in mind that even a great manager — whether you have one or you are one — doesn’t replace coaching. If you’re seeking guidance in the workplace, a manager can help, but they also have their own job to do. An external coach has more experience with coaching skills and won’t have unconscious biases about your workplace or coworkers.
A great coach takes you the extra mile
If you want to hire a coach for you or your business, it's important to understand what makes a great coach. A good coach does more than deliver encouraging pep talks to their clients. They understand where you are on your journey and help you find the best way to reach your goals.
Finding a professional coach that makes you feel safe and comfortable is key, and building that supportive relationship will carry over into your long-term wellness.
-1.png)
