Who needs coaching? (1)
You cannot travel on the path until you become the path itself” (Gautama Bouddha).
“Who needs coaching?” That was the bold title on a pamphlet advertising a coaching programme, which seemed to deal more with personal and life skills development. I was handed the advert and invited to the event by an acquaintance who believed that I would benefit from the course and convinced me to register for the course. For interest sake and also because I felt I had nothing to lose, I signed up for the programme, which was to take place in Randburg, the northern suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. This was in August 2003.
As it turned out, that programme was my first real encounter with ‘coaching’ as a professional personal development engagement. More than a decade later, I can reflect on my own personal journey and adventure as a business and organisational coach, especially the privilege of coaching individuals, teams and businesses in particular. Even more pleasing has been the personal joy of facilitating coach training programmes for other people, particularly those interested in coach-leadership engagements.
From my personal experience, interactions and studies, I have found that the answer to that question (“Who needs coaching?”) is a very simple and definite one. The answer is: everyone needs coaching. While it is a fact that each one of us may have specific areas of strength where we can demonstrate our abilities, knowledge and expertise, there are also areas of obvious and not so obvious weaknesses for everyone. One of the most beneficial attributes of coaching is that it helps us to identify and to deal more realistically with such areas of perceived personal strength and weakness.
Essentially, coaching engages the hearts of people (through personal inspiration) to effect desired changes and/or compel transformations. As a result, it provides the personal energy, passion, enthusiasm and drive to perform most appropriately. In this regard, there appears to be the unlimited scope of coaching applications, whether carried out formally or done informally.
The corporate executive may need coaching to support or guide decisions and actions that would compel incremental and permanent improvement in transformational leadership performance. With specific regard to business growth for instance, a small business owner may desire coaching to achieve the twin goals of increasing the value and impact of the business as a worthwhile investment, as well as being solution provider to the target market. In the same way, an individual may need coaching in order to enjoy a more positive lifestyle and attain more in the journey of life.
We all need some form of coaching at one point or the other at certain stages of our life, career, endeavour or aspirations. It is all about having a partnership or collaboration with a strong, independent, confidential and non-judgmental person, who will be a reliable, but impassioned sounding board. Coaching in this wise describes the notion that “two heads are better than one” and “collaboration brings multiplication”. Definitely, at times like these, with so much uncertainty in virtually every realm of our lives, we do not want to go through life and experiences just on our own. It is simply too risky.
Today, to reach the top one percent of achievers, going it alone is simply not an option anymore. As a matter of fact, a study of great individuals throughout history shows that they at one time or the other served as an apprentice to other great men. For most of them, sharing ideas with their mentors in the process of coaching and mentoring or coach-mentorship positioned them to unlock their own potentials and attain new heights. Such still holds true today and will hold true for much longer.
Surely, we all need people or someone that can support us along the journey of life. We all would be happy to have someone that to inspire and encourage us to strive and reach for greater performance especially when there is the tendency to falter. Just having someone to help boost our confidence, personal energy and remain focused on the goal can go a long way for many of us. Having such a person, especially someone who has possibly gone through what we are going through is of tremendous benefit.
The sharing of experiences and knowledge to inspire better decision-taking and motivate actions definitely go a long way in raising personal confidence levels. Actually, transformational coaching does not get better than that. You can read more about the transformational power of coaching at www.ceedcoaching.com
Emmanuel Imevbere