Score Big with a Coach!
By Kelly Feathearingham
Have you noticed that coaches seem to be everywhere lately? Executive coaches, leadership coaches, career coaches…oh my! Well if you’ve ever wondered if they could be helpful for you, let me see if I can answer some of your questions.
Coaches provide value and support at many different stages of your career. You could decide to work with a coach on a continual basis, you may choose to work with a coach for certain critical career phases, or you might work with a coach for specific milestones or decision points.
There are different types of coaches offering a broad range of capabilities to individuals, teams, and organizations. Executive coaches support c-suite and senior level clients, leadership coaches often support formal and informal managers, while career coaches might focus on a broader range such as job search strategy, interview preparation, public speaking, etc.
Obviously, this is a very crude overview but the key is to determine what type of coaching you or your employees need and then interview coaches to find the one that fits for your needs. Many coaches offer a wide range of services from one-on-one training to group or team coaching and training.
For example, as an executive coach my clients are mostly senior leaders looking to build high performing teams. With that goal in mind it is very common for me to coach junior or middle managers on the teams or the team as a group to help them find ways to improve overall performance. I also conduct training programs that support this goal such as leadership development, communication, and time management.
Much like an athletic coach, a career coach will help you build tremendous professional capabilities and drastically increase your earning and success potential. However, also like working with an athletic coach you get out of it what you put in.
Coaching is a give and take between the client showing up open, honest, and committed to the process and in turn the coach will ask powerful questions to challenge your mindset, beliefs, and help you to tap into the best version of yourself and your instincts.
In my experience as a coach as well as being a coaching client, I have found that it is a service rooted in a deep passion for providing support to others on their journey. Many of the challenges we experience in our careers could benefit from a sounding board that is confidential, unbiased, and will not judge us. Not sure? Consider the last difficult conversation, team conflict, or important decision you had to make and how that could have gone differently with the ability to talk through your ideas, thoughts, and plan forward.
Working with a coach is an investment in you and your career. Whether you decide that you would like to focus on something very specific or more broadly over time, when you commit to the process you will see a return on your investment. Pro tip: Many organizations will reimburse their employees for coaching if they do not offer it internally, but often you have to ask for it.
Now that you know a little more about what we can do for you, the next step is finding the right coach.
Stay tuned for my next article where we’ll dig into the process for finding the best fit for you or your team. In the meantime, I truly welcome any questions or feedback and if you’d like a quick start guide to finding a coach please email me at kelly@kellyfeatheringham.com.
Written by Kelly Feathearingham
