Unless you are an elite athlete, where having at least one coach, and likely several, is considered a norm, for the rest of us the idea of having a coach may seem strange and relatively new.
But before we discard it as a fad, gimmick, or new age stuff, what exactly is a coach? Philologos, to the Dictionary alcove we go! The best definition for our context is adapted from Dictionary.com noun #8, as in baseball…. a playing or non-playing member of the team at bat who is stationed in the box outside first or third base to signal instructions to and advise base runners and batters.
A coach instructs, guides, and advises in order to improve the performance of the person who is actually doing the task, the man in the arena so to speak.
Heck, if that’s the case who wouldn’t want one?! Someone in your corner to encourage you, give a heads up for the turn in the road, and discuss strategy for the next round(s) of whatever life is throwing at you. So what’s the holdup? Well, more often than not it may be simply the cost. For professionals, who have degrees and training that requires oversight or certification there may be the additional aspect of validity of coaching.
So let’s start with who doesn’t need a coach and get that part of the crowd to relax before we tackle other concerns. In my estimation, you don’t need a coach if:
you are perfectly satisfied with your current professional situation.
you are disinclined to objectively tackle issues that hold you back.
you don’t want to put in any extra work toward achieving the next level in your career.
Everyone else, let’s look at the question from a different angle. First of all, if you are in a profession like medicine, you have already had coaches, more than one, as part of your training. And for anyone else who had a job that required any amount of supervision, training, or certification, the same is likely true. We are not asking have you ever been coached because many of us would have had athletic experiences as well. The question that we are really asking is… do you need a formal, profession or life coach, whom you have to hire in the sense of a contractual/payment obligation.
Informal coaches are part of our lives. Our parents, family, teachers, and good friends have walked us through many decision making processes. We have done the same for others. But in some circles, when entrepreneurs are starting out in pursuit of new avenues they are often told: get a coach. Because coaching is still not a common household idea there can be some misconceptions. While I am not a coach yet, I have been formally coached before and I have been studying the process quite diligently recently (to decide if it is something I want to pursue). What is important to understand and remember is that a coach is NOT your friend NOR your therapist. But they can certainly help you learn to better engage both of those avenues in terms of personal growth.
Three common reason one may seek a coach are:
You are a successful person who is feeling stagnant or having difficulty analyzing a particular part of your professional life, e.g. job change.
You have a targeted need that you feel is not amenable to other therapy or you’ve already tried therapy of other forms. Most common example is weight loss.
You think you are doing ok but don’t know what you don’t know. So you want someone who can understand your personal or professional background, and can help you navigate the challenges.
There are several types of coaches out there for both short and long-term needs. Just remember that a life coach is not your friend so you cannot assume they will know your style and nuances. To that end, you have to build a relationship fairly quickly to make the most of your time, for which you are paying. What works is to have some clarity in what issues you are trying to work on; if you don’t have a priority list of issues then the coach can likely work with you to sort that out. Also, a life coach will not (and should not) offer psychotherapy but instead aims to mentor the person being coached through their issues, without emotions or judgement, with the goal of being a capable sounding board for the coachee to overcome their obstacles.
To end, we must address the biggest hesitation that seems to come up for people considering hiring a life coach; that issue is the cost. Rather than looking at the actual cost this is one of the situations where it is far more important to assess the perceived value of the experience and then continue to reassess during coaching to see if that value is being delivered. The value proposition of coaching is that we can solve issues and streamline our life for a better outcome. If doing so allows us to create enough value to make up for the money spent then the question pretty much gets answered.
I wrote this post largely to think through several aspects of how one should approach the idea of hiring a life coach. This is a nuanced issue, and deals with an unregulated industry. But with some homework toward clarifying our needs and due diligence in searching for a coach (think testimonials from people we trust and initial sessions to look for fit) hiring a life coach sounds like a fairly solid value proposition.