What does a successful executive like Steve Jobs, an Oscar and Golden Globe winner actress like Jodie Foster and a sporting legend like Michael Jordan have in common?
Simple answer: Coaching!
They all had a professional coach who brought their careers to another level. What a coach did them for them, another coach can help you tap your potential as well. The worldwide popularisation of professional and executive Coaching in the recent decade is backed by the benefits it brings. These benefits range from impressive ROI on personal effectiveness, vastly improved employee engagement to effective leadership development and increased teamwork solutions. How does Coaching have such an impact on executives and organisations?
Ensuring Personal and Professional Development
The increasing demand for a holistic approach to work-life balance pivots on the understanding of the differences between personal and professional development. Personal development focuses on a realisation of a fulfilling life, while professional development focuses on the skills and areas which lead to a rewarding career path or work life.
The obvious advantage of having a professional coach is the overall functioning and satisfaction of a well-balanced and well-discovered life. The ability to find one’s motivation and passion has enormous implications on whether a client is a happy and passionate executive or an unmotivated and lacklustre one. Furthermore, life coaching brings forth the intelligence of a client, who has invested the time and energy into making personal and professional moves which align to his talents and interests. People are at their best when they can combine both passion and interest in their work.
Developing Emotional Competencies and Mastery
Let’s be realistic: a lot of hours and money are wasted dealing with un-cooperative or disengaged colleagues, who have their own agenda that does not necessarily coincide with that of the team or organisation you are a part of. While most people are capable of handling themselves under normal circumstances, their performance might seriously be compromised when facing extremely stressful situations. That is when being able to manage one’s own emotions becomes critical, not only for ourselves but also in our interactions with your colleagues (Consider Michael Jordan battling severe flu during the NBA Finals in 1997 and yet still found the motivation to get up, compete and lead his team to an impressive victory).
Professional coaches assist their clients to deal with challenging circumstances, through a series of techniques and strategies that impart emotional competence and intelligence. This leads to a more effective management and leadership of people as well as a blossoming of a client’s charisma.
Increasing Functionality and Performance
Many of my successful friends and clients admire their great coaches and mentors for providing some of the greatest growth periods in their lives. They play the roles of a confidant, a sounding board or a teacher, which are all extremely useful and supportive.
When clients can express themselves freely and without risk, they become more authentic with themselves (which is therapeutic in nature by itself), and will toy with creative ideas while having a supportive yet objective sounding board. Being able to bring up new ideas in a creative space allows for the idea to be challenged and improved by a set of objective questions. This increases access to deeper creativity and contributes to the real-world viability of their ideas.
Professional Coaching allows for a greater impact on the personal well-being and fulfilment of a client’s personal passions and professional ambitions. The impact on their management and executive abilities influences their roles and responsibilities positively. The holistic approach of Coaching allows for better work-life balance and performance. The functional building capabilities of the Coaching dynamic allow for greater professional impact and development.
Coaching works and is extremely useful for anybody who wants to tap into their true potential. Whether you want to be a CEO, an actress or an athlete, Coaching can help turn those dreams into reality, by making you realize what your true potential is and guiding you to it.
