Over the last few years, "having a coach" has become more and more popular. And as in all professions in the world, there are professionals and the others. Focus on a profession that is clearly not well known!
There are many different coaches: sports coaches, career coaches, color coaches, life coaches, diet coaches, school coaches, love coaches... How to find oneself in the jungle of terms that can mean everything and its opposite?
Find out about your coach's training and experience
You want to change your job and you are looking for a coach on the internet?
Make the difference between a coach who is certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the largest federation of professional coaches in the world, and a coach who has a good feeling with people. The first has followed training with certified professional coaches, has been coached during his training, is supervised, continues to train - a sine qua non condition to renew his certification - and above all he commits himself to respect a code of ethics protecting you from the excesses of charlatans who claim to be coaches.
Professional coach, it's a profession!
All certified coaches have completed a minimum of 60 hours of training, have passed an exam to prove their skills and continue to learn new techniques. During your first appointment, your coach will explain to you that a coach is neither a mentor, an advisor nor a therapist. On the contrary, his role is to support you in reaching your goal and to do this he will ask you questions that will make you think. He will take you out of your comfort zone, challenge you, check that your goal is still under your control and achievable. If, on the contrary, your "coach" spends this first session giving you his opinion all the time, giving you a flood of advice and putting you down: run away!
Coaching... is magic?
There is no magic in it, just a relationship of trust between a person who wants to change and another who supports him/her on the path of transition.
How do you know if the coach you've chosen is the right one? Meet him! Talk to him, ask him questions, challenge him. If the answers you hear and the method he proposes speaks to you, then trust can be established between you and he will be able to accompany you on the path of transformation. If not, tell him that you are not hooked and look for another one.
Whichever coach you choose, if it is an ICF certified coach, he will establish a coaching contract with you at the beginning of your journey. This contract will include the coaching objective, indicators to measure the achievement of your goal, number of sessions, frequency of sessions, location, amount of sessions, the ICF code of ethics and any other points you consider important. This is because the coach is responsible for the means and framework of the coaching. You, as the client, are responsible for the progress as well as the end result of the coaching.
A whole programme and above all a beautiful journey of self-discovery!
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