Consider them best friends with benefits.Life coaches, like good friends, are there for you. They are confidants and cheerleaders, motivators and mentors. For a price, you can bask in their rapt attention, burden them with all your problems and map out solutions to any number of life’s dilemmas. In this relationship it’s all about you.These modern-day gurus, who provide a sympathetic, non-judgmental ear may be the ultimate selfish luxury in a culture that’s become remarkably comfortable about buying services.
A survey of Internet sites reveals there may be as many as 30 different kinds of executive, corporate and personal development coaches.
There are coaches who specialize in romance, parenting, business and career development, retirement, diet, fitness and divorce. There are coaches who assist people newly diagnosed with cancer. There are coaches for children, coaches for people and their pets.
Life coaches are variously equipped with the analytical, personal development and motivational skills required to keep their clients moving forward, on the right course and on an even keel.
Because the industry is not regulated, there’s no saying how big it is or how fast it’s growing. But the 12-year-old International Coach Federation estimates there are 30,000 coaches in the world (about 10,000 in North America) and about a third are federation members. This represents a 300 per cent increase since 2000. And according to the Business and Economic Review, “In 2006, PricewaterhouseCoopers found professional coaching to be a $1.5 billion (U.S.) global industry.”
Some coaches are in private practice. Some work in the human resources departments of big companies.
Life coaches are the new personal trainer.
And like the trainer who knows how to get those last few push-ups from a client, life coaches motivate with the same “you-can-do-it,” rah-rah attitude. “Unleash the leader within,” “Find your North Star,” and “Ready or not, here comes your life” are typical cheers.
Sometimes they are registered psychologists. Often they have entrepreneurial or career management experience or some history in behavioural sciences. Many cite professional coaching certificates and affiliations with coaching associations.
The bottom line is, anyone can call themselves a coach.
Elsbeth Tate is a Toronto-area coach with the letters CPCC and PCC after her name. That makes her a Certified Professional Co- Active Coach, a designation attained from the Coaches Training Institute, based in San Rafael, Calif., and an accredited Professional Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation.
“Most of my clients are professional people, dentists and certified accountants who are looking for balance in their lives,” says Tate. She believes a balanced life has many facets – work, family and fun, for example. And when one of these is lacking, it affects all the others.
Like many life coaches, Tate wants her clients to identify their “core values.” Many people, she says, lose sight of what’s deeply important to them as they mature.
“You can’t tell someone how to do this. But you can help them find out for themselves.”
Tate suggests the field is growing so fast because too many people are feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled, even though they are working very hard and have accumulated a lot of material goods. And in today’s service-oriented culture, asking for help is no longer a sign of weakness.
“Last year Duke University found that the number of people who said they had no one to discuss important issues with doubled to nearly 25 per cent from 1985 to 2004,” an Associated Press article reported.
Tate is encouraged that coaching is finally getting the recognition she believes it’s due. “I see teachers and company managers taking coaching courses to help them in their jobs,” she says. In fact, even some mental health professionals are taking coaching courses to augment their therapies.
Like Tate, most coaches communicate with their clients over the phone. Some charge by the hour. Others offer monthly packages, which include regular sessions and any number of emergency emails and phone calls.
For example, Tate asks for an initial three-month commitment, at $400 per month. Clients get three 40-minute sessions, plus the quick contacts. After that clients can go month to month or choose a “maintenance program.” Most coaches accredited by the International Coach Federation charge between $300 and $500 per month, she says.
Some clients are looking for a coach to hold their hands as they negotiate the nervous first steps of a business. Some feel invisible at work and want to figure out how they can sell themselves better. Others are already high achievers who are having trouble reaching the next level. Tate says her relationships with her clients are “partnerships.”
Paul Coputt, 46, of Dundas, Ont., is both coach and consultant. He calls himself a personal brand career coach. Before entering the field six years ago, he worked in executive and professional recruiting, specializing in sales and marketing. “About 70 per cent of my clients are women,” says Coputt. “I think women are more open to the process of coaching.”
He suggests the modern business climate is responsible for the growth in coaching. “Employees, for example, are rarely handed their next opportunity. For past generations it was normal to stay in one job for decades. But today the average tenure in any job is four to five years. They may end up having four to 12 employers over a career.”
But, says Coputt, a lot of people do not know how to clearly articulate their values and goals. A lot of people have trouble identifying what they are about, particularly younger people, who are not exclusively pursuing work for the financial rewards. For them it’s about engagement, not money and benefits.
“I try to accelerate results,” says Coputt, who has clients in Canada, Germany, Finland, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. He meets local clients both face-to-face and over the phone.
Most coaches, including Coputt, believe accountability is a key concept. “A coach will ask for updates,” he says. Sometimes people are too close to their situations to see what fixes are needed.”Sometimes it’s as simple as asking the right questions and then listening. Often clients resolve things themselves.”
Insiders stress that coaching is not therapy. Tate says she has turned down clients who she suspected required psychological or psychiatric treatment.
Tate offers new clients a free “sample session” to make sure they are going to click. As well, she instructs prospective clients to investigate other coaches.
After interviewing several coaches last fall, Tracy Currie, 47, of Stratford, finally approached Tate. “I was and still am working for a large IT company that actually offers coaching services. I needed someone to help me figure out what I wanted out of life. I wanted a change and I needed help making the transition,” Currie says.
“I could have just talked with my husband but I wanted someone who was not emotionally involved, a third party that was a cheering section, but could also be brutally honest.”
Currie has never met Tate face to face. Still, she feels she knows her coach, intimately.
And while she’s decided to stay with her job, and still chats regularly with Tate, Currie now wants to be a life coach. She’s seeking certification with the Coaches Training Institute in Toronto, a satellite of the international school, as well as the International Coach Federation.
“I’m learning that I have the power to make changes.”
![[Powered by iCopyright]](http://license.icopyright.net/user/images/toolbar-header-free.gif)
![[iCopyright]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif)
Copyright © 2008 Torstar Syndication Services. Displayed by permission. All rights reserved.
