In order to formally identify the skills a professional coach must have, the International Coaching Federation has come up with a list of core competencies. Discussed below are the four major competencies, but all of them have sub-competencies that need to be considered. There are a total of eleven core competencies for coaches.
The first competency is setting the foundation. This involves considering professional standards as well as ethical guidelines. Next is co-creating the relationship. Here, trust and intimacy are crucial to be able to establish a good relationship between the coach and the client. The third competency is communicating effectively. Active listening, powerful questioning, and direct communication are needed here. Lastly, we have facilitating learning and results. It is not enough that the client is understood as this competency requires designing actions as well as planning and goal-setting.
It is very important that we realize that there is a big difference from personal coaching and giving advice. The former focuses on the client while the latter is biased by the coach’s opinions and beliefs. A good coach never lets his biases get in the way and makes sure that he gives the best possible support to his client.
For a personal coach to succeed in helping his client realize his potential, he must first understand the needs of the client. Empathy is a fundamental concept and the coach must be able to see the world from the eyes of his client. The goal of a coach is to help his clients realize their own solutions, and not to ask them to follow a prescribed to-do list. In this regard, a coach is definitely not an advisor.
It is very easy to advise people. All you need to do is look at his or her situation and come up with suggestions on how you think he or she will be able to improve it. But this is not the essence of coaching; coaching requires a relationship between the coach and the client wherein both are in the same place and move towards the same goal together. Here are a few qualities I feel a good coach must possess, but my list is not at all exhaustive.
Communication and listening skills are obviously necessary so I won’t be discussing those two. An important quality of a good coach is the ability to build rapport. By doing so he is able to get to know his client personally and is able to seamlessly move from small talk to actual coaching. A good coach must also be able to inspire and motivate his client. I feel that the only way this is possible is if the coach has a genuine desire for the betterment of his client. Lastly, coaches must have confidence—the belief in themselves and the effectiveness of their methods which will surely rub off on their clients.
I was able to find an article on the internet that lists down the principles good coaches have in order to achieve successful coaching sessions. I chose the best ones among the list and here they are—a sort of mantra that can be recited by coaches before each session.
Talking is not more important than listening. Past is past; it is not necessarily indicative of the future. Understand what motivates the client. Everyone can achieve more. A coach must provide full support without criticism, and without bias. A coach does not provide answers and the needs of some people can’t be met by coaching. Above all, everything said during coaching is confidential; nothing gets out.
There are a lot of reasons why people choose to become personal coaches. Some do it for the money while some have a genuine desire to help others. Whatever reason coaches may have, there is no doubt that one of the most compelling reasons why these people decide to do what they do is the fact that it is an on-going learning process.
The objective of a personal coach is to help his client achieve his full potential, no matter what area in the student’s life it may be. However, it’s not only the student who learns but the teacher too. Coaching is definitely a two-way street and is a give-and-take relationship. To become an effective coach one has to empathize with his client. Because of this fact there are a lot of discoveries for coaches from their experiences; at times even more than what their students learn.
To become an effective personal coach it is necessary that one possesses excellent communication skills. It must be an innate talent for coaches to be able to articulate their thoughts and relay them appropriately to their clients. However, what makes a good coach is his ability to listen.
A good listener does not only hear what is being said, but also understands that which is not said. A good coach also listens with empathy. When his client is speaking, he listens intently and is not thinking of what he will say to respond to what the client is saying—he gives his 100 percent attention to the speaker. This is not an easy skill to master and patience, as well as practice is needed.
In everything in life, failure is inevitable. For all of us, we experience failure in at least one point in our lives. What makes us better persons is our ability to bounce back from these failures. This is the very essence and perhaps the biggest challenge for personal coaches—realizing failure and making the most out of them by learning from them.
It is important for coaches to let their clients understand that it’s alright to fail or to make mistakes. In the long run what we learn from our mistakes is what makes us ultimately successful. A good personal coach is able to instil this mentality in his clients to ensure that they are never afraid to dare to fail greatly.
It is a fact that personal coaching has become a very lucrative business. A lot of coaches take up the profession because of the financial rewards the lucrative job brings. However, like anything else in life, what determines one’s performance is his motivation. And for a personal coach to be truly successful, he must be motivated by his desire to help others.
For a really effective personal coach, he makes the success of his clients his own. He feels an actual joy when his client is able to achieve his goals. These types of coaches take pride in being able to make a difference in other people’s lives. So if you’re looking for a personal coach then I suggest you look at his or her background first and see if he has this desire.