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Can career coaching & mentoring help? Coaching is becoming increasingly popular as a career choice as well as an option for people who need help developing their careers or their future in a more general context. Some coaches may be making a living, some may be struggling. Like all the services offering one-to-one support, there is a limit to what price the market can bear (often depending on whether you are reaching clients through businesses or privately), how much activity you can realistically keep up and how much competition you face for clients. Why coaching? Individuals who engage in a coaching relationship can expect to experience fresh perspectives on personal challenges and opportunities, enhanced thinking and decision-making skills, enhanced interpersonal effectiveness, and increased confidence in carrying out their chosen work or life paths. Appreciable results in achieving personally relevant goals, productivity and satisfaction both at work and at home are also consistent with a commitment to improving personal effectiveness. Successful people can become even more successful with expert coaching, so it’s not reserved for those who feel that they are starting from scratch. It sounds great doesn’t it? So, what’s the catch? Well, there are countless books on coaching, training organisations who offer to turn people into coaches and coaching companies/individuals who specialise in one-to-one client work. Coaching is a self-regulated industry and there are a lot of confusing claims and information when it comes to choosing a course or a coach. Prices vary, as well as methods and the track records and efficacy of the coaches and coaching organisations themselves. That said, like most things, done well coaching really can be a highly rewarding experience so we’ll try to offer a little guidance – but caveat emptor (buyer beware) applies! Tips for buying coaching services There are a number of questions that can be asked to assess the competencies of a coach and they can be useful whichever side of the fence you’re on. For example:
What is coaching? What is it not? Coaching can sometimes get muddled up with other forms of support or guidance (and the first four are usually offered by people who have had years of professional training) so, to help you to understand the difference between coaching and other forms of support, here is a list of key definitions.
* Teaching, therapy and counselling have state recognised qualifications, some requiring a medical background. Most require several years of practitioner study.
The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as: ‘an ongoing partnership that helps clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance and enhance their quality of life.’ Becoming a coach Coaches can come from many different walks of life. High-level coaches are often former executives; there are official and unofficial coaches in the workplace; some business schools offer forms of coaching; there are ‘gurus’ like Jack Black of MindStore and Anthony Robbins; and numerous individuals or freelancers working as associates by themselves or through dedicated coaching firms. The prices they charge vary enormously from £30 to £250 per hour, or in the range of £150 to £500 per participant per day for seminars. The bigger firms in the career counselling business can charge up to £3,000 for 3 months help and up to £7,000 pa per per person. When it comes to finding business (or being on the receiving end of coaching), HR departments may need coaches who can be useful in a variety of situations: assimilation coaching (for those new to a job), performance coaching (becoming better at certain aspects of a job), career coaching, coaching during projects, coaching during mergers and acquisitions, coaching to non-executive directors and coaching during outplacement. So, if you really want to follow the career path into coaching, and you are sure that you have the right skills (listening and facilitation being two of them) and motivations, when choosing a course you may want to consider the following differentiators: what are the entry criteria? How is the programme structured? How much supervised practice does the programme include? Does successful completion lead to a recognised qualification? How many people will be on each programme? What is the ratio of trainers to students? Who are its alumni and faculty? Does it represent value for money? Essential Resources
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