Top 10 attributes of a good Life Coach or Business Coach
1. A coach must remain non judgemental and unbiased, to allow you the freedom of expression. This allows the coach to get a full understanding your situation, as the coachee.
2. It is essential for the Coach to believe in your ability to attain your goal – it is my belief that anyone can attain anything they set their minds to – as a coach, I must retain this belief or else terminate the coaching relationship as this could then impede the progress of my client.
3. It is the Coach’s role to foster an environment of trust and honesty where you feel comfortable and safe sharing true thoughts, feelings and limiting beliefs. This allows the Coach to ask relevant questions, unlocking the wealth of your mind and all your resources.
4. A coach should build rapport quickly and easily with you to allow good flow of communication and develop a bond between coach and coachee.
5. Motivation is key to keeping you focused and on track. A Coach must recognise achievements, regardless of how small they may appear to be, and provide positive feedback to you. This reinforces rapport between you and the Coach, building trust within the coaching relationship
6. Listening skills are key to a successful coaching relationship. Listening to both the said and unsaid provide key information to the Coach, to allow them to pin point limiting beliefs, or know when to challenge statements, ask pertinent questions or detect state changes within you. All this is key information for the Coach to assess the direction of the coaching session. The coach must listen with both their ears and their intuition to gauge a true understanding of what the client is trying to portray.
7. A coach must have excellent questioning skills. Questions are key to unlocking your true and full potential. Questions can shatter limiting beliefs and lead you into new areas of thinking which can create break through moments in your life.
8. A coach must always ensure that you are at cause, and not effect. You are 100% responsible for your success and actions – and accept full responsibility for any progress or non progress made. It is imperative that the Coach makes sure you understand this at all times as this is what will allow you to succeed.
9. A coach should keep probing and exploring. Often a coachee’s answers are at the unconscious level, and by challenging and sometimes pushing the coachee for more answers, it allows those unconscious answers to become conscious. Those answers are usually real “ah ha” moments that create change within your situation.
10. As a professional coach, I should have good business skills which allow my coaching practice to flourish, which will give me the time and energy to provide an excellent coaching service to the community. If I lack business skills and am not able to meet my financial commitments, my focus will not always be 100% client based as I would be concerned about my own issues.