Working with a professional coach has risen in popularity over the past decade with more people than ever seeking out the benefits that coaching can have in all aspects of life, career and business. In the same way that top sportsmen and women work with a coach to reach the top of their performance, people are turning to coaching to achieve their goals and reach their full potential.
But with so many types of coaching services and disciplines available, how do you identify which is the right type of coaching for you?
This guide to coaching will walk you through some of the main coaching disciplines: life coaching, career coaching, leadership coaching and business coaching.
Life coaching is a broad category of professional coaching because it covers pretty much anything connected to life goals. Life coaching is often used as a generic term, but it would be highly unlikely that a life coach would offer every branch of life coaching services. There are different types of life coaching depending on the focus of the goal you hope to achieve. Life coaches usually specialise in specific areas of life coaching, so to find the right coach, you need to know the type of life coaching categories on offer.
Personal Development Coaching
Personal development coaching covers a wide range of topics, such as improving confidence, overcoming fear, learning better time management or organisation, developing positive habits and much more! Anyone can benefit from getting personal development coaching services. It simply feels amazing and empowering to see yourself improving.
Transitional Coaching
As the name suggests, transitional coaching is designed to help you through big life transitions. These could range from moving to a new area or country, starting or changing jobs, graduating or returning to education, having your first child, divorce, older children leaving the nest, retirement or any other significant event. These are all changes that can be overwhelming to go through alone. Transitional coaching can help you put things in perspective and support you with the necessary toolkit to navigate life changes.
Family / Relationships Coaching
Relationship coaching can help you improve your communication skills, emotional intelligence understanding yourself and others, and navigate all types of relationships in your life. There is a common misconception that you only need a relationship coach if you have unhealthy relationships. But anyone can benefit because there are always ways you can improve yourself and make the most of the relationships with the people you care about in your life.
Education Coaching
Also referred to as a learning coach, education coaching supports students of any age who need particular help to overcome barriers to learning. An education coach will provide guidance, mentoring and support adapted to the needs of individual learners, and help set achievable, realistic targets to aid success.
Spiritual Coaching
Similar to personal development, spiritual coaching focuses more on mental and spiritual health and well-being. Whilst a personal development coach will help you develop yourself, spiritual coaching guides you to improve your mindset, become more mindful, overcome stress and anxiety, and can guide you in your spiritual journey as well.
Financial Coaching
Financial coaching can guide you through anything money-related in your life. Whether you want to learn how to budget, control spending habits, financially plan for big events and life changes, or need guidance on managing debt, finance coaching can help you reach your goals. It also benefits anyone who may need help change their mindset around money.
Performance Coaching
Performance coaching is an external process to help motivated individuals enhance their ability to do something. A performance coach will support you to set achievable goals on the way to a larger goal, to develop your self-awareness, identify and overcome any obstacles, to plan and prepare, and to help change belief patterns that can enable you to unblock your own path. Performance coaching is NOT giving advice or being the expert in the individual’s field; it is providing valuable, specific, and timely feedback to develop reflective awareness and help individuals find their way to the best level of performance possible.
Career Coaching
Career coaching falls both under life coaching and as a main coaching discipline in its own right.
Career coaching has links with both life coaching and business coaching. This is because our working life is not isolated from other areas of our life; and because careers can involve aspects of business.
Career Coaching
Unlike business coaching, career coaching focuses on helping you advance your career – or completely change directions with it. Career coaching can support you by helping you discover what your career goals are, understanding your professional strengths, navigating the job market, getting better at interviews, and supporting the decision-making process to help you move beyond career crossroads. It can also help you develop valuable skills, like leadership, so that you can have an edge in the market!
Leadership coaching has strong links with career coaching but can also link with business coaching depending on the focus of the goal you hope to achieve.
Leadership Development Coaching
Leadership Coaching is the conscious process of developing skills and competencies within individuals so that they can work more effectively with others. Leadership development often centres around understanding the impact of different leadership styles, communication skills, building or managing a team, and effective strategic target setting. Leadership coaching can have many benefits for individuals as well as the organisations they are part of, such as enhanced performance, empowerment, having a fresh perspective, increased confidence, and greater job satisfaction.
Unlike career coaching which focuses on helping you advance or change your career; business coaching focuses on the development of your business.
Business Coaching
Business coaching is ideal for anyone who either has a business they want to develop or who wants to start up their own business. Businesses have to establish themselves both physically as well as virtually by building their company website, marketing their services, and establishing strong client relationships. Even business owners who already feel successful can benefit from professional coaching. Business coaching provides a fresh perspective and a sounding board that can empower business owners to find new growth opportunities and motivation.
Now that you have an idea of the type of coaching services available, the next step is to find the right guide to walk that path with you.
If you still need help to find your right path, reach out and contact me for a friendly chat about your coaching options – learn more today.
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