Everyone Needs A Coach

"Everyone needs a coach. It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player." These are the words of Bill Gates, one of the worlds most successful CEO's of all times. Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Executive Chairman of Google during an interview with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, agrees with Gates. Here is how Schmidt puts it; "Every famous athlete, every famous performer has somebody who is a coach." In other words, top performers all have a coach, someone who can help them explore possibilities and put things in proper perspective. You need a coach too!

What is Coaching?

Coaching is the process of effecting meaningful change in one’s personal and professional life, through the candid exploration of ideas with an unbiased and confidential thinker. Just as how athletic coaching helps elite athletes in enhancing their performance towards the achievement of their goals, professional coaching seeks to help people accelerate the achievement of their goals in a constantly changing world.

 Difference Between Coaching, Counselling, Consulting and Mentoring

Coaching is not counselling, consulting or mentoring. The focus of counselling is on the past as a way of resolving difficulties. Consulting on the other hand is advice driven with a diagnosis and solution focus, while mentoring is the process of supporting and encouraging people to manage their individual learning. Coaching therefore, differs from counseling, consulting and mentoring in that, coaching focuses on the present and outcome creation for the future.

Benefits of coaching  

The benefits of coaching are far-reaching and significantly enhances the economic achievements of individuals who engage in the process.  Coaching is known to have created clarity and accountability in goal setting. It will provide you with the insight and strategies you need to overcome your fears about pursuing your dream and helps you make an actionable plan that gets you there. On the path to achieving your goals, a coach will hold you accountable and give you objective feedback along the way. 

The coaching partnership will therefore draw out and develop your inherent abilities, enabling you to solve problems, overcome barriers, conquer challenges, achieve goals, perform at optimal levels and achieve massive success.

So whether you are a manager in an organization trying to improve the performance of an employee, a team leader attempting to build the proficiency of your team, a parent who wants to provide the best parental outcome for your child, or just an individual who wants to be more competent in what you do, coaching has the potential of providing you with just the result you need.