How is coaching defined?

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, coaching is defined as "to instruct, direct, or prompt as a Coach. This definition itself holds more relevance in professional sports and the athletic performance arena than it does in the world of professional coaching.

A more relevant explanation is provided by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), which describes coaching in the following way:

"... partnering with Clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential”.

Professional coaches honour the client as the expert in their own life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole. Their responsibility is to:

• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve

• Encourage client self-discovery

• Elicit Client-generated solutions and strategies

• Hold the Client responsible and accountable

What prompts someone to seek out a coach?

Most people engage a coach when they realise that it is time to take action towards achieving their goals. They often reach a point where they have a level dissatisfaction with their life as it is, and that and have developed an awareness that there's a more ideal situation and higher level of life satisfaction to be achieved. They also recognise that they need a skilled partner to help them create this change.

Often they are unsure of what the steps forward should be what is actually holding them back from living their best life. This leads them to seek out a partner who possesses the necessary skills to help them work through this and achieve a more ideal position in life as well as a greater level of fulfilment and happiness.

The coach - client relationship

Coaching is a relationship between the coach and the client, where the coach establishes and clarifies the destination (or goal), asks powerful questions, creates awareness, assists the client to design relevant actions and develops a system of accountability in order to help the client acquire personal insight. They support through sharing of relevant information, providing the motivation and revealing the steps necessary to move towards that desired goal.

The coach is there to contain, manage, inform and provoke a transformative experience in their client. They do this using a wide range of tools such as presence, trust-building, powerful questioning, active listening, positive challenging, and accountability. They cultivate curiosity, support the creative-thinking process, provide clarity and assist in building and developing their knowledge, awareness and resources.

What is the role of a coach?

A major misconception about personal coaches is that they give advice and tell you what you should do. This however is not the case. For those seeking to be told what to do, mentors, consultants and personal trainers are the kind of services that should be sought. Personal coaches are trained to get you to identify what it is you want and how you might achieve that.

Professional coaches will always ensure that there is a clear understanding of what coaching is and what it isn’t. This ensure that there is no confusion or disappointment if they do not help a client if various issues are present. When a client’s needs exceed the level of education, training or expertise of the coach, they will refer the client to a relevant professional. This is often seen when therapy begins to find its way into coaching sessions. At this point a client would be referred to a mental health professional and either halt the coaching until the client is ready to be coached or until they have a green light from their therapist, doctor or mental health professional.

Here is an overview of the common roles that are played by various professionals.

Human Potential Coaches bring a great deal of knowledge and expertise to their coaching relationships. They seek to hold the balance between their client being fully creative, whole and resourceful and understanding that the client cannot possibly know everything. As a highly trained coach they can provide the vital missing knowledge pieces, yet at the same time they work towards empowering clients to increase their level of resourcefulness, knowledge and also to cultivate curiosity and creativity. Guiding clients towards achieving their own independence and self-sufficiency is always at the forefront of mind.

There is incredible value in a client driving their own learning and growth. Always providing answers and solutions disconnects the client from the benefits of this developmental process. A balance is maintained between educating and facilitating client self-learning and discovery.

What training and certifications should a coach have?

One of the biggest bugbears from professionals with the coaching industry is the lack of regulation of coaching credentials and qualifications. Currently, anyone can call themselves a personal, life, health or personal development coach (or any type of coach really), with little or no specific training in coaching. For those seeking to employ a coach, qualifications and membership of a professional organisation are important indicators of the person's coaching credentials.

Here is an outline of the levels of coaching quality and qualifications, starting from the bottom and working our way up:

1. Someone calling themselves a personal coach without any formal training, qualifications, certifications, credentials or accreditations. Someone in this category may still be able to add value. It will always be hard to know the quality of coaching you are receiving if you have never worked with a coach before. What is the difference in value of the coaching you are getting vs the coaching you could be receiving?

2. Next you have someone who has done a course and achieved a certificate (e.g a “Certified Life Coach”). This training could have been anything from one week to one month to 12 months or more. The cost of these courses could range anywhere from $70 to $3000+. The person may then be advertising themselves as a coach yet be bringing little to no coaching experience to the table. There is often little quality control nor requirement to commit to ongoing education.

3. We then progress to certified coaches who are also members of, and certified by professional associations. Members of these organisations are required to meet certain requirements relating to skills, training and experience. This is in addition to possessing a recognised qualification in coaching. They are also required to abide by a code of ethics, which provides a client some recourse if the coach has acted unethically.

4. At the top end of the scale, you will have someone who has had Masters Level Postgraduate training through university level Psychology schools.

Additional Qualifications

Many professional coaches will have additional qualifications and this is something to look out for. It shows a commitment to their profession and also allows you to see the additional skills that they will be able to bring to the coaching relationship. You should look for alignment with the type of coaching you are hoping to receive and the things you are looking to learn more about.

International Coaching Federation (ICF)

The International Coaching Federation was founded in 1995, with the purpose of giving credibility to an emerging profession and give coaches a place to connect with one another. Since that time, the ICF has grown to become the world’s largest organisation of professionally trained coaches, and the leading voice for the global coaching community. The ICF is considered the Gold Standard of Professional Coaching. As mentioned earlier, anyone can call themselves a coach, but ICF-credentialed coaches are professionals who have met stringent education and experience requirements, and have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the coaching competencies that set the standard in the profession. Additionally, they adhere to strict ethical guidelines as part of ICF’s mission to protect and serve coaching consumers.

Holding a credential – especially an ICF Credential – is extremely important to today’s coaching clients. The 2022 Global Consumer Awareness Study found that 85% of coaching clients say it’s important or very important that their coach holds a certification or credential.

So what does it take for a coach to earn an ICF credential?

1. Education - Obtain coach-specific education aligned with the ICF definition of coaching, ICF Core Competencies and ICF Code of Ethics. Not all Coaching Certifications meet the standards and requirements of the ICF.

2. Experience - Provide evidence of minimum coaching experience hours which have been conducted after starting a coaching education program.

3. Mentor Coaching - Receive mentor coaching to strengthen skills within the ICF Core Competencies.

4. Performance Evaluation - Pass a performance evaluation that assesses the coaches coaching skills against ICF standards. A recording of a coaching session with a client (with their approval) must be submitted for this evaluation.

5. Exam - Pass a written exam designed to test the coach’s understanding of and ability to apply the ICF definition of coaching, ICF Core Competencies and ICF Code of Ethics.

As part of a self-regulating industry, the ICF also requires its credentialed coaches to continuously improve their professional skills and knowledge in order to provide the best value to their clients. In order to renew a credential, coaches must participate in continuing professional development activities and earn 40 Continuing Coach Education (CCE) units each renewal cycle.

The entire certification process takes a number of months and has a cost involved. In addition to the ongoing commitment required to continuing professional development, it demonstrates a commitment by the coach to their profession.

What to look for when selecting a coach

• The most important thing is that you find a coach that you feel comfortable with. Being guided along a journey of transformation can’t happen without trust. The best way to determine this is to schedule a Discovery Session with a coach you are considering (these are in general complimentary) and see how well you get on. This sessions is the opportunity for both coach and client to get a feel for each other. How well do you click and do you understand each other?

• Next look at the coach's coaching credentials? What additional qualifications do they have that may benefit you, and what relevant experience do they have? Look at their specialty area(s) and ensure that these aligned with your needs.

• Check if they are a member of either the ICF or another professional association as this will give you peace of mind that they have demonstrated skills, knowledge and are bound by codes of ethics.

• Enquire to the method of interaction that they use. Do they only work with clients face-to-face coaching or do they offer sessions over Zoom, Skype, telephone or email coaching. Many may offer a mixture of methods, but the key is to make sure that it works for you.

• Understand what your access to the coach is like between sessions. Are they readily available? Do they encourage you to contact them and what is their response time like? The last thing you will need is to be waiting days for a response when you need them the most.

• Consider international coaches. With so many communication options available with modern technology, you should be able to find a coach for your specialised needs regardless of where they live.

What happens if I have a complaint?

Generally speaking, there are relatively few complaints about professional coaches. Most complaints that received are generally about coaches who are not members of professional organisations like the ICF. Those who are credentialed with these organisations, generally act ethically and don’t step outside of their professional boundaries. Organisations like the ICF are able to take action when receiving complaints about their members and accredited coaches.

If you ever find yourself in a position where you need make a complaint, reach out to the professional organisation to which the coach belongs. This is a good reason to consider a coach with an ICF or professional membership.

Coaching with the Narcolepsy Life Academy

Coaching with the Narcolepsy Life Academy provides a blend of traditional coaching and a mentor/consultant relationship. Specialising in lifestyle optimisation for people living with narcolepsy and other sleep disorders, the journey of transformation often involves a greater amount of information and strategies to be shared than in a more formal coaching partnership.

Each relationship is unique and the level of knowledge and understanding of lifestyle strategies varies between clients. For this reason the ratio of education to the facilitation of conversations helping clients to gain insight and awareness also varies. What remains consistent is the support, motivation and cultivation of awareness for each client.

If you would like to find out more about coaching and how we can help you to start living your best life then please feel free to contact us. We would love to speak with you.

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