What is professional coaching?

Anyone can call themselves a ‘career/life coach’. You do not have to be a professional trained coach to market yourself as a Life Coach. In fact, many ‘Life Coaches’ are not trained coaches at all. Which is fine – as long as you understand the difference. A Professional, Certified Coach (a trained and credentialed Coach) is someone who has completed and passed a significant number of milestones – including considerable coach training hours, client contact hours, oral and written exams – with external examiners – and also who adheres to professional coach standards and ethics.

Counselling generally aims to solve problems by understanding what happened in the past. Coaching is almost exclusively focused on the present and future, how do you want to BE now and in your future.

To counsel means to give advice. Coaches do not give advice, Life Coaching believes in everyone’s own internal brilliance. There is no guarantee what is right for the Coach will be right for the Client. Instead coaches use various techniques to enable and empower the Client to find their best possible solutions for themselves.

Your coaching programme is designed for your specific needs.  Coaching sessions may be conducted weekly or as needed.  Each session ranges from 30 minute laser sessions, hour duration or even deeper 90 minute sessions. Sessions are either in person, phone or Skype. That means coaching is accessible to you, irrespective of where you are in the world.

Typically in the first couple of sessions, we discuss the biggest challenges you currently face and the specific goals you want to reach over time. In subsequent sessions, I support you in creating strategies to reach those goals and specific actions that you choose to take.

Honesty.

I expect you to show up for coaching conversations, make use of the resource that I am and take action on all that arises out of our coaching.

It depends on where you are, where you want to go, and how quickly you want to get there.

Some clients are able to achieve a specific goal in as little as 4 weeks.  Typically, I commit to clients working on 6 month to 2 year coaching programmes encompassing all key areas of life.  1 session is great however the benefits in each session will compound, enabling even more positive benefits.  Also having an insight is wonderful, however consistently applying the new habit, pattern, and behaviour will deliver the results you, the Client is looking for.

The coaching relationship continues as long as there is benefit to the client and a good coach’s goal should be to reduce your dependency on them as soon as possible.  This shows you’re becoming more resourceful and that you’re learning to more effectively deal with new situations as they arise.

I understand that you may have unscheduled work that can clash with a planned coaching session. As long as you keep me informed at least 2 full business days in advance, I can accept the rescheduling request. Having said that, I discourage us changing our coaching schedule too frequently because it upsets the rhythm of the process.

You can count on me to show up and be there for you. You can count on me to be neutral and non-judgemental. You can take it for granted that my coaching will revolve around your agenda, not mine and that Your Win is My Win.

Most people will never have someone that is totally objective, unbiased, who will listen fully, that will ask you a few questions, where you can actually speak and share your personal dreams.

Often our friends tell us what we want to hear, sometimes they have judgement, and sometimes they just want to say what’s going on with them.

A Life Coach is trained to fully listen at the deepest level, not only to your words but also to your emotions.  These sessions are 100% about You.  A Certified, Processional Life Coach will listen without judgement, offer fresh perspectives, challenge your thinking and have a range of tools available to equip you with new skills to face any challenge and to achieve your goals.

We will create a safe space with no judgement or blame. I will be 100% in your corner for the entire journey where I will be totally unbiased and objective to offer fresh perspectives, new ways of thinking and encourage your inner brilliance to shine.   Through insightful conversations we will empower you to find clarity and the solutions that are the best fit you.

You will have permission to be your authentic self while discovering your core values and passions, to create your life filled with confidence, happiness and success.  Through this process you will develop your own goals and plans to create the momentum to achieve the life you dream of.

I guarantee that as your Coach I will show up fully to say the things others don’t have the permission to say.  The Client always maintains accountability for their decisions and actions.

Pure Potential Life Coaching is aligned with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), which is the largest professional coaching organisation in the world.  Their Code of Ethics can be found here.