An athlete relies on his coach to guide and lead him to improve
and achieve in sport. The coach teaches the best methods
to reach and accomplish this goal.
And what about those of us who aren't professional athletes? We also use coaches
to sharpen our dancing abilities, change our eating habits, improve our swimming
strokes, and help us with our other interests and hobbies. So why not use a coach
to improve our quality of life?
What Is Coaching?
Six Questions Worth Considering
1. WOULD YOU LIKE to re-examine your career plan and redefine your goals?
2. DO YOU FEEL like you are not implementing your full potential?
3. DO YOU FEEL the need to confide in someone with your concerns and
inner feelings (and you can't
currently share with anyone at home or at work)?
4. DO YOU HAVE the impression that even though you are creative
and successful you could do even better?
5. DO YOU NEED assistance with improving
your management abilities, your methods of dealing with crisis moments,
or your techniques of balancing your family and personal life with your
career?
6. DO YOU FEEL the need to change your behavior in order to further
extend your achievements?
If you answered "yes" to any one of these questions, you
might want to consider looking for a personal coach.
Currently, in Israel there are a number of different approaches to coaching,
as well as various schools of thoughts. This article is based on the approach
of the International Coach Federation.
There
are a number of types of coaching (and coaches), each geared to a different
type of client, yet all focused on the overall goal of improving performance.
Life coaching is an ongoing professional partnership between
a coach and a client, whose interest is to enhance the quality of his or
her personal life.
Business
coaching puts the emphasis on the client's performance in his or
her professional life. It may be undertaken at the initiation of the
company's management for one or more of their managers, or by the individual.
Either way, the goal is to improve personal performance within the organization.
Executive
coaching is geared specifically to the problems facing senior managers
looking to enhance their own performance within an organization.
To achieve the goal of improved performance, coaches assist clients
in defining their personal vision, identifying their goals, and clarifying their
aims in order to learn their strengths and weaknesses in the search for methods
of improvement.
The final result of the coaching process is meaningful improvement of the clients'
performances and achievements.
The Focus of Coaching
The following are the typical focus of the
coaching process:
Improving communication with other people (employer,
clients, other managers, employees, or colleagues from other organizations).
Enhancing management behavior (facing staff layoffs and
cutbacks, telling the truth even when
the listener would rather not hear it, developing leadership skills,
encouraging participatory management practices).
Facing changes in the employment environment (moving
to a new location or new organization, re-organizing within the same
company, undertaking new projects or new technology, making staff
changes, adopting new operating methods, initiating creative thinking
and new methods of thinking and operation).
Planning one's career through five-year plans,
seeking the balance between family life and professional
career.
Coaching sessions are strictly confidential.
When a company initiates coaching for its
managers, the coach does not report back on any information received
in the sessions. For many employees, the coaching sessions are the
only time they can speak confidentially about
their work environment. Quite often the focus changes throughout the
process as clients are able to define (or face) the real problems
which impede their progress.
About the author:Tsafy
Simons is a qualified business and life coach, a graduate of the CoachME
College in Israel. Previously, she served as the head of education, culture,
and welfare in Kfar Vradim. She has more than 20 years' experience in education,
including teaching, project management, initiation of a high school for
drop-outs, lecturing, and training. Currently she has her own consultancy
in education, coaching, and training.
