Want to make a difference in this world?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a professional coach? Coaches work with everyday people to help them gain clarity in their situation and needs, formulate a forward direction, get motivated to make the changes they know they need to make and feel so much better about their lives and work. Problems that seemed insurmountable become obstacles to overcome. Goals that seemed so far away get closer to being achieved. Clarity and self-awareness replace doubt and indecision. Action replaces inaction.

Coaching enables thinking about a situation from a different perspective, leading to behavioural change. However, before you can change your behaviour, you often need to change your mindset. This requires thinking positive thoughts every day, celebrating the “magic moments” again and again and avoiding thoughts, people and feelings that can drag you down. Coaching provides the uplift you need to transport yourself into a new reality and achieve your dreams.

Helping people see a better future for themselves and empowering them to turn this vision into a reality increases your self-worth and gives you deep-seated satisfaction.

As a coach you can change the lives of so many people for the better. Clients become more self-aware and gain insight into why they do the things they do. They recognise the need for behavioural change to benefit themselves and others around them. They grow personally by becoming better communicators, having more fulfilling interpersonal relationships and breaking free from old habits and ways of life.

Coaching is such a rewarding profession for coaches, as they give back to their communities and support others in their quest to achieve a more meaningful and expansive future. By helping others, coaches ultimately help themselves be better people — less judgmental, more accepting, more in control of who they are and what they are capable of. All this is possible whether the coach works with individuals, teams or an entire organisation to make a real difference to the lives of people in any community.

The Australian Institute of Professional Coaches offers a range of coaching programs suited to community, business and corporate settings. The four most common types of coaching programs are Life Coaching, Business Coaching, Leadership Coaching and Executive Coaching.

Life Coaching

Life Coaching is typically conducted in a community setting with individuals and groups of all ages and stages in life. For example, mothers returning to work, social workers wanting to develop better communication and assertiveness skills or professionals wanting to rapidly build rapport with clients. Life coaches may establish their own businesses and transition into it full-time as their incomes from coaching grow. Life coaching is also an ideal skillset for individuals wanting to offer an additional service to their current clients, eg personal training, hairdressing or family daycare operating. Life coaches explore various issues with clients relating to communication, relationships, motivation, assertiveness, stress, conflict resolution and negotiation.

Business Coaching

Business Coaching is typically conducted in a small business environment with the owner or manager of the business. Issues may relate to business profitability, viability or growth, client retention and staff management. The coach works with the client to understand the client’s situation, identify the best possible future and help the client gain insight into the solutions that are within them. The coaching sessions identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business, and develop strategies based on market research into customer needs and trends to determine business performance measures and compare business results with industry standards.

Career Transition Coaching

Career Transition Coaching may be conducted in community or corporate settings with individuals who wish to make a career change voluntarily or have to make one involuntarily. For example, those seeking a promotion or retirement (voluntary), as well as those who have had a career change forced on them (involuntary), like being “let go” or made redundant. Both groups need or want to find a new job. The coach works with the client to explore the emotions that surround their circumstances and develop a desired future moving forward. Next, the coach focuses on two important aspects that are critical to securing the client’s next position: their employability and marketability.

Leadership Coaching

Leadership Coaching is typically conducted in a corporate setting with middle managers and emerging leaders. The coach works with leaders to help them become more inspiring and motivational with their teams and others, manage change projects more effectively keeping the people aspects in mind, as well as navigate organisational communications more successfully, including their own visibility and influence within the organisation across all levels.

Executive Coaching

Executive Coaching is typically conducted with the CEO and senior executives and, at times, with members of the Board. The executive coach acts as a sounding board, helping busy and time-poor executives isolate their issues or concerns and gain clarity on a specific goal, before undertaking action-planning with them. Issues may relate to, for example, the performance of the organisation, strategic direction, relationships with colleagues, communication issues, assertiveness and influence.