If you search the internet, you will find many life coach training courses on offer. Theoretically, anyone can become a life coach with the proper training. However there are a number of things that are important to being a great life coach. Both as a person and as actually managing a successful coaching business. Here are 5 broad facets of coaching that a good coach should meet.
Your life coach training should educate you on communication skills
Many people think that as a life coach, you must be a good listener. Learning to be a great coach is much more than being an agony grandmother or listening to people vent out. Listening is obviously a very important of coaching and the coach should be Best Life Coach Toronto listening much more than speaking. The 80/20 rule applies. Listen 80% of that time period and speak 20% of that time period. The coach must be able to listen to what the client is saying and not saying. They should notice what the client is saying verbally and non-verbally. The coach must be able to notice if the client is in-congruent. Meaning, saying one thing verbally and another non-verbally, or saying one thing and doing something else.
Asking great questions
Listening inside of it is only a small part of understanding the communication that occurs between the coach and the client. The coach must also be clear ad articulate in their questioning. They should be using questions that are open ended and exploratory. Asking questions that move the client towards what they want and not simply to meet up with their own fascination with the proceedings. The questions must be based on what the client is saying and the coach is noticing. Not merely questions that sound good and have no having on the issues at hand. The use of questions in coaching is an article inside of it and may be covered very well during a life coach workout.
A coach should be confident
Confidence is an important aspect in running any business and even more so in life coaching. You are not only making business decisions, but also working with people who are coming to see you to help with their problems. To become a great life coach, the coach should be able to with assurance deal with their clients. I often see in the life coach training that new coaches get a little flustered when the client presents them with a “big” problem. It is like the client does not know what to say to unravel the problem for the client.
This is interesting as it is not the coach’s job to unravel the consumer’s problem. In such the coach is there to help the client find their own way forward, with the possible solutions the client appears with. So the coach should be confident in their abilities to assist the client in exploring solutions for themselves. Do not get flustered by conditions that seem “insurmountable” to you as the coach.
A good coach should practice truthfulness and empathy
As you can imagine, clients come to coaching with various goals and issues. It can be very hard for some people to approach a life coach. If the coach is genuine in wanting to help the client, it will shine through. This will help the client feel more at ease and comfortable. This is much more approving that will get results than somebody who might feel they are being judged by the coach.
As the coach it is important to understand that the client might be stepping outside of their safe place and being stressed in moving towards their outcome. Having empathy and allowing the client to move at their own pace, will create much more union. Imagine a lgbt client who is in the process of quit to tell their family. Having a coach who is not sensitive as to the the client might be going through can create more stress for the client.