Life coaching has exploded as a powerful profession especially in the last decade. Nowadays, it’s relatively easy to find life coaches online through Google searches or on social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Life coaches of all stripes (e.g., wellness, career) especially those dedicated to supporting women, are setting up “shop” to help willing clients achieve their goals.
But what is life coaching?
The International Coaching Federation (ICF), the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to professional coaching, defines life coaching in this way:
In life coaching, “the emphasis is on the client as the designer and creator of his or her life. From this perspective, the client is viewed as the expert on his or her life and is believed to be competent, capable, creative, and resourceful. At the same time, the coach is the expert on the coaching process only. This means that the coach’s responsibility is to ‘discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve, encourage client self-discovery, elicit client-generated strategies and ideas, and hold the client responsible and accountable. Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life’ (IFC Code of Ethics)...”
When looking for a life coach, it’s a good idea to inquire about background and training. Coaching is a profession with certification expectations.
Key Takeaways:
A Transformational Conversation.
The biggest surprise for first-time clients is realizing that the coach isn’t there to give advice. Instead, powerful, incisive coaching questions stimulate you to examine the things in your life that matter most from new angles. A coaching conversation can transform the way you look at life.
A Transparent Relationship.
A coach is a friend and confidant . . . and someone who knows you well enough to call out the best in you. A transparent relationship with your coach frees you to go to places you’ve never gone before.
A Support System For Change.
With support, encouragement, and accountability from someone who believes in us, we can do far more than we’d ever accomplish alone. A coach helps you stay on track, overcome obstacles, and convert your “want-to’s” into concrete steps that are put into your schedule.
Continuous Leadership Development.
Coaches don’t give solutions; they help you solve your own problems. Coaching is helping you learn instead of telling you what to do. By leveraging every situation to build your capacity as a leader and a person, coaching prepares you to conquer much bigger challenges in the future.
– Courtesy of Lifeforming Leadership Coaching
Ready to Get Started?
You can feel it in your gut—something is off in your life. Perhaps there’s no flow. No sustained happiness or clear direction. You sometimes feel “lost” or “stuck,” hopeless even. Or, maybe you’ve grown restless with familiar spaces and roles.
Perhaps you’ve been wanting to . . .
- be more self-confident
- invest in yourself after a lifetime of caring for others
- learn more about who you are and bring forth a deep yearning that’s seeking expression
- become the woman you’ve envisioned but are unsure how to do so
- figure out what’s next—new job, career, or role
Whatever your specific need or desire, the bottom line is, you’re ready for something more—a bold transformation!
We’re here to help. Our specialty is (re)connecting people to their strengths and greatness, and the truth of who they are. Together, we’ll partner to identify your goals, clarify your life vision, and develop a measurable plan of action. You’ll be challenged to stretch and to try on new ways of doing things and looking at your life. But don’t worry, you’ll be supported along the way, both of us fully invested and committed to your transformation.
The Coaching Session
Setting the Session Goal(s)
Identifying Measurable Outcomes
Digging Deeper
Designing an Action & Accountability Plan
Self-Reflecting & Closing
Listen: Sample Coaching Session with peer client from Vienna
The one-hour life coaching session is your time and space to explore topics that matter to you, and to partner with your coach to achieve your goals. Each session begins with you, the client, setting the goals for your session and ends with a plan of action (e.g., concrete steps) towards your goals.
Throughout the course of the session, you’ll be engaged in a coaching conversation where you will do most of the talking and problem-solving. Your coach’s role will be focused on the coaching process—e.g., deep listening, incisive questioning, and direct communication—to guide you towards your desired outcomes. This is the essence of the “Coaching Agreement,” which governs and sets the parameters for each coaching interaction.
Coaching Style
When you partner with Glenda, you experience right away that her coaching style is warm, engaging, and direct. Among her signature character strengths include authenticity, curiosity, and love; these ways of being impact how she hold a trusting coaching space and engage with you as a whole person. You are free to be exactly who you are (and aspire to be) without judgment and to experiment in service of your forward movement. You can expect to be inspired, empowered, and more aligned with yourself along your brave, new journey.
Desired Clientele Profile
Glenda’s ideal clientele is reflective, has a growth mindset, and is committed to doing the inner work required for transformation. This work can sometimes feel uncomfortable and uncertain; this is where learning to trust yourself and the process really pays off!
Clients who fit this profile tend to respond well to her life coaching, which has a heavy emphasis on the client’s self-directed learning. Unsurprisingly, these clients tend to more readily experience critical shifts in perspectives and learning, which are prerequisites for the transformation they seek.
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It’s helping them learn rather than teaching.”
– Sir John Whitmore, Pioneer, Executive Coaching