What are the qualities of a Great Life Coach?
How To Become A Life Coach
To become a coach requires Recognised training, quality education, and a natural empathy. Empathy is not something that can be trained or taught easily!!
You should take a course to be able to certify and train others. The course you choose is the most crucial part of the process. Ensure it is recognised by a training/governing body and always look to the International Coach Federation (ICF) for their list of Accredited training organisations and look into the level of accreditation held.
Some training teaches you how to lead entire workshops for others within larger businesses.
Some certify you to teach others to speak in public.
Some teach you how to coach others to increase their sales.
However, many coaches start their careers offering a facilitation service to guide and hold their clients accountable for the goals they want to achieve or obstacles they want to overcome.
Folks that get into life coaching in this manner tend to have completed successful careers or want to add to their current position or create a lucrative, flexible secure income.
Coaches consultants don’t have patients – they have clients.
Coaches usually don’t try finding the reason for problems with success. Instead, they are people who think forward and aid people planning their future. We like to say Coaches are positive forward thinking goal orientated people.
10 Qualities Of A Great Life Coach
1. Maintain a Positive Attitude
Your positive attitude needs to be inspiring to inspire your clients by your belief in them.
2. Be Passionate
Be passionate and empathetic with a desire for helping others – this trait allows you to understand your client’s emotions and barriers to success.
3. Have Great Listening Skills
Listening to clients is what life coaching is all about. Understanding subtle tells and messages help in understanding your client’s issues
4. Be Non-Opinionated
As a coach, your job is not to give clients advice, it is to facilitate client’s finding solutions to barriers to success in their career or personal life.
5. No Judgement
The world is filled with people who hold different opinions that you don’t agree with. But, in their view of the world, these opinions might be accurate.
6. Cultivate Curiosity
Curiosity fosters your ability to ask questions of your clients that help them understand their own feelings and how they impact their success. It encourages answering difficult questions and having those “light bulb” moments
7. Be challenging
The very best coaches challenge their clients so they gain a deeper understanding of their issues. A coach challenges clients in a way that causes them to face the reality surrounding them with clarity, focus, and honesty.
8. Be Observant
Great coaches learn much by observing clients and sort out the subtlest signs of worry, uncertainty, and trepidation. This doesnt need to be done in person either, video coaching sessions give you the same opportunity.
9. Communicate With Clarity
To be an excellent coach it is vital that you communicate well on many levels such as body language, vocabulary and more.
10. Stay Honest
Preserve your integrity. Your coaching relationship with clients depends on trust.