As I talk to more and more people about the work I do, I realise that while the term coaching is well-known, most of us don’t really know when it’s useful to have a coach. (I didn’t either, but when I crossed over the fence to the other side, I forgot what I didn’t know, till very recently when I worked with some entrepreneurs and many expressed they were curious what it’s all about).
So to demystify, I’m highlighting a few situations here, with examples from our coaching practice, of when it’s useful to have a coach:
- You’re at the top and it’s lonely: Yes, it’s definitely true what they say, and it’s hard to know whom you can talk to for a neutral, unbiased perspective. In my practice, I work with entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, and senior non-profit and corporate leaders, who find the thought partnership in coaching useful in clearing their own heads, defining priorities, and continuing to grow.
- You’re preparing for / have moved to a bigger, more challenging role: This is the situation in my own life where I wish I’d had a coach. Sometimes we make transitions where we know eventually we can do the new role, but the beginning is just very hard. Or we are just within reach of something bigger, but we realise we need a little bit more. I’ve realised that so many of us suffer from self-doubt in these situations and wonder if we are good enough. Working with a coach can help us operate from our strengths, learn how to fill the gaps, and most importantly, keep the faith. In my coaching practice, I am working with clients who’ve recently transitioned to a CEO role, those that have changed companies and are adapting to a new culture, those who are preparing to move from a second-in-command to a founder role, and those whose organisations are seeing incredible growth and therefore their own roles are growing.
- You want to do something different, but don’t know what: Questions about life and career at the mid-life mark are natural, even more so in today’s world, where careers are no longer linear like they used to be. And this is something I’ve experienced closely myself – the sense of discomfort, sometimes loss, that ensues when you know you’re mostly done with the current path, but can’t see the next one yet. It takes time for clarity to emerge, but again a coach who helps you connect with your purpose and think through the possibilities can help with clearing the fog.
- You’ve lost your mojo and want to get it back: Sometimes, we follow a certain track for a long time without giving it much thought, and we find ourselves at a point where we wonder if it was even the right path. I work with entrepreneurs and corporate professionals who are seeking to re-discover the joy and purpose they had once felt for their work, which somewhere got lost along the way.
What’s common in our approach to all these situations is that we help those we work with to connect with their core self – their purpose, values and gifts, and through this connection, find energy, flow, success and fulfilment.
If you identify with any of this, do reach out for a conversation, and we can figure out if coaching is right for you. You can find me here.
If you’d like to know what others have felt about there coaching journey, you can read some testimonials here.
You can also read more about contexts in which coaching can help and how a coach can benefit you here.
