ABOUT COACHING
 Having a life or business coach can change your life to allow you to be the person want to be, to achieve the things in life you aspire to and to reach those goals that you may have thought were unachievable. . Coaching is a practice of assisting clients to determine and achieve personal goals. A coach will use a variety of methods, tailored to the client, to move through the process of setting and reaching goals. Coaching is not targeted at psychological illness, and coaches are not therapists (although therapists may be life coaches). Most coaching supports people to reach individual goals. Life Coaching can help people to enjoy better relationships with parents, partners and children, or with team members and managers. Coaches in life should be selected for their proven skill in a given area which would match the area in which a person would like to improve. This will maximize the effectiveness of coaching. Just as a successful sports team would hire a professional coach to improve team performance, an individual or company would seek a professional life or business coach who has demonstrated leadership in the specific coaching niche you are looking for improvement in. It is important for an individual seeking a life coach to research the life coach's experience in a given niche: business, family, personal, relationship, etc. Coaches tend to specialize in one or more of niches or specialties: career coaching, transition coaching, life or personal coaching, health and wellness coaching, parenting coaching, executive coaching, small business coaching, systemic coaching and organizational or corporate coaching. The user-friendly People Coaching People search option allows you to find the life or business coach in any particular niche. A second approach to life coaching involves finding a coach with whom you personally connect. A coach should be able to give clear, concise directives which stimulate creative ideas by which you can move forward to achieve your goals. If this occurs, then the specific background of the coach may not be as important or relevant as their ability to facilitate focus, maintain hope, and build motivation. The most important thing is to find a life or business coach who will “connect with you” and our People Coaching People Forum gives you just the opportunity to be able to ask questions directly to a registered coach before you decide that this is the right coach for you. Many of the registered life and business coaches who have connected with People Coaching People are members of the International Coach Federation Australasia. What the International Coach Federation says about coaching
Professional life coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Life coaches help people improve their performances and enhance the quality of their lives.
Life coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The life coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has.
The International Coach Federation is the professional association of personal and business coaches that seeks to preserve the integrity of coaching around the globe.
The ICF supports and fosters development of the life coaching profession; has programs to maintain and upgrade the standards of the profession; conducts a certification program that is the gold standard for life coaches worldwide; and conducts the world's premier conference and other educational events for life coaches.
ICF is the largest non-profit professional association worldwide of personal and business coaches with more than 5000 members and over 191 chapters in 36 countries. They exist to build, support and preserve the integrity of the Coaching Profession.
The ICF Philosophy of Coaching
The International Coach Federation adheres to a form of coaching that honors the client as the expert in his/her life and work, believes that every client is creative, resourceful, and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:
 Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve |
| Encourage client self-discovery |
| Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies |
| Hold the client responsible and accountable |
What the International Guild of Coaches says about coaching
Life coaches facilitate change. However, often people resist change and many would prefer to stay well within their comfort zone. One of the reasons people engage a life coach is that it is often difficult to see ourselves objectively. If you have ever had a friend ask for advice you will know that most issues are quite simple to solve if you are not the one in the middle of it (usually in chaos). We have friends or family for support. However, those people have certain attachments to us or see us in a certain way depending on the relationship. Life coaches give an objective and impartial view of the situation and can provide useful tools, suggestions or challenges that can provide a path-way from where we are, to where we want to be.
Good coaches will also facilitate self-awareness within their client. For example, if someone wants to loose weight and get fit and no matter what they try the results are not forth coming, a Coach will assist you to get you to the "core belief" that may be holding them back. The core belief may be "I am not good enough" or "I am unlovable". Once people are made aware of thse (often unconscious beliefs), the client can then question how these beliefs may have held them back or sabotaged them in the past with the intention of embracing more powerful beliefs such as "I am OK as I am" or "I deserve to be happy".
The best outcome is finding "balance". This is often a challenge in a materialistic and busy society. However, each of us has to choose to re-assess what our inner values are and what may not be serving us in our lives. (For things to change, I must change).
If acquisition is more important than time with our children then we all suffer the consequences. If power or control is more important than healthy relationships, then we may end up alone. If achievement is more important than balance, then we may win the prize but loose our health in the process.
This process moves beyond just positive thinking and into the realm of creating a powerful reality for ourselves. IGC coaches will become your guide as you take this journey. They cannot and will not, do it for you, but they will point out the pot-holes and shine a light on the pa6th so that you can see clearly the direction ahead of you.
They will always say "You can do it".
For more information on the International Guild of Coaches and how to become a member, please visit www.lifecoachguild.org
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