Who is a life coach, how to choose one and what to expect
A life coach is a coach who helps to achieve results on the path of life. We at Megaplan became interested in this direction when it turned out that several of our former colleagues had chosen this new profession for themselves. Together with them we will try to figure out what it is.
I came to coaching gradually. I was helped by David Yang, the founder of ABBYY. I then worked as a product manager, and he noticed that I structure processes well and bring order to chaos, I can “straighten out what is confusing”. Then my friends recommended me to Sberbank for the position of an Agile coach and I realized that this was mine. Then there was Avito, where I already have 100 teams. And at some point, I just thought that my knowledge and skills can be applied not only in business processes, but also in life. I decided to test this hypothesis by working one-on-one with 20 people, and after the first successful results, I realized that there was a very strong demand.
For me, coaching is a second profession. Behind him is a great experience in journalism, writing, leadership. I came to coaching through a personal change: there were health issues that forced me to rethink my attitude to life and what I do. I began to study spiritual practices, psychology and neuropsychology, began to get to know myself better, and only when I figured out my questions did I start working with people.
Training program
Coaching is the art of assisting the development of another person. If you want to achieve certain results in your personal and professional life, then it’s like in sports: you need a coach who will help determine the vector of movement and suggest the right training program. Officially, a life coach does not teach life, cannot give advice. It helps to look at the life path from the outside , asks the right questions and helps to choose direction of movement.
In 1974, Timothy Galwey rethought his skills as a tennis instructor and developed the concept of coaching in business. A couple of years later, Thomas J. Leonard noticed that the clients who came to him for advice on personal finance planning were actually looking for personal and professional growth. Both of these events were the starting point for the emergence of life coaching.
Although there are international associations and accredited programs for life coaching, it is quite difficult to define its professional boundaries. The Higher School of Economics believes that life coaching should be based on psychoanalysis. Erickson University coaching trains its graduates to work with problems in the present and not look for the cause of failures in the past. As a result, many specialists develop "rules of the game" based on their life experience.
Mikhail:
— I generated my program based on the business processes that I have been working with in teams for over 15 years. I use Scrum, strategic frameworks, Objectives and Key Results and many other business techniques. At the first stage of work, I help the client formulate a personal strategy for a year, three and ten years. At the second, guided by the strategy for the coming year, we formulate the goals of the quarter. On the third, we go into rhythmic work on weekly sprints, starting with planning and ending with a review of the sprint with a retrospective.
Dina :
— I developed my base through Ericksonian coaching and hypnosis, spiritual practices, body-oriented therapy. I work with a person in a complex way: not only with a specific problem, but also with his attitudes, inner world, body. My approach is about deep motivation, I am not one of those coaches who drives the client to the goal with a shovel. I help a person to understand what he really wants, what is his unrealized potential.
Professional standards
According to the standards of the international association of coaches ICF, a coach must have eleven key competencies. Among them are active listening, asking strong questions, designing actions, and others. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) has its own career growth: depending on the number of hours of practice and disciplines taken, you can get an associate, professional or master coach diploma. But this is the hierarchy of just one of the official schools. Each coach can choose the direction of his development and decide for himself how to measure professional success.
Mikhail :
- I hope to coach all my life. I like to work with business and people, leaders of teams, organizations. I like that I see growth points and can help people become happier, become the best version of themselves. I love my role in the supportive profession. In the future I want to expand the contexts
