Nature and Scope of Life Coaching
Emotional Problems
Some clients need support with emotional problems. Emotions can become heightened due to all sorts of factors; from relationship issues to illness and money concerns.
A client may approach a life coach for help to improve how they work, or for business coaching; but stress associated with emotions may be the underlying cause. If the coach doesn't see this; help in other ways will probably be compromised.
Significant psychological issues such as anxiety and depressive disorders are not within the scope of a life coaches responsibility; but the coach may be in a better position than anyone else to detect an issue and encourage the client to seek appropriate help.
However, those with mild anxiety issues associated with feeling unable to achieve goals, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, and so forth can possibly be helped by a life coach. Obviously, you need to determine the severity of any emotional issues to see whether it is feasible to work with the client.
Relationship Problems
Relationship issues are often (but not always) related to other problems.
People need relationships in their lives to be "balanced" and complete. These relationships can be with family, friends, colleagues (work mates), neighbours and others. When any of the relationships in a life come under pressure, this creates a stress that can impact upon everything else.
A life coach can help with repairing damaged relationships, creating missing relationships, teaching positive communication strategies and finding solutions to problems within relationships. Problems in a relationship may be caused by the client; perhaps by the other party; or sometimes simply by the circumstances. It may not be the fault of anyone.
A coaching session can help the client to identify and understand the problems they are having with relationships, what role they play in the problems, and what they can do to make positive changes. The life coach can provide an objective view to the clients’ relationships, giving a perspective that the client may not receive from their friends or family.
Physical Health
A client may come to a life coach for help with a range of physical issues, such as obesity, fitness, diet, fitness after disability, smoking, drinking, and so on. You might think why would someone who is overweight come to a life coach? Well most people who are overweight will have tried a range of fitness clubs, diets, and so on - but they have not worked or, if they have, they have not been able to sustain the improvements.
Therefore, they may come to a life coach to look at ways in which they can change their habits and lifestyle. Someone who is overweight might be set a number of minor goals such as:
- Walking up to the stairs (at home or at work - instead of using the elevator).
- Swapping unhealthy snacks or treats for healthier options
- Taking a packed lunch to work with them instead of buying fast food or canteen food for lunch (to ensure they stick to a set diet)
All of these can be simple steps to change how a person eats and behaves, but sometimes the client may not see how to make the changes, or they may need someone to offer them moral support - someone they can work with to help keep them on track. So, a life coach can encourage a client to swap their negative behaviours with positive ones.
Work Problems
Most adults spend a large portion of their time at work. There are many issues that can arise in the workplace that can make people unhappy or dissatisfied. A life coach’s role is to help the client identify the issues at work that are causing them grief, and developing strategies to improve the situation. For some people this may mean changing their attitude about their job, for others it may mean scheduling a meeting with their boss to discuss their future with the company and what their options for promotion or up-skilling may be. For other people examining their work life may lead them to the realisation that they are not happy in their career and would like to move in another direction, possibly engaging in further studies.
Other people may need support to find work. This may include direction as to what area they would like to gain employment in, confidence to apply and interview for a job, setting goals and action steps for gaining skills for their dream job, and so on.
Clients may also come to see a life coach seeking business advice. For life coaches that specialise in this area, they will be able to support their client with a range of advice, from business planning to time management, and marketing to personnel management. For the life coach that doesn’t specialise in this area, they may be able to help their client with setting goals, and managing their own emotions and behaviour around their business, but may refer the client to a coach that specialises in business for specific business strategies.
Financial Problems
Unless the life coach is renowned for their skills in this type of coaching, it is unlikely that a client will seek out a life coach solely for coaching in their finances, but this may be a contributing or related factor to other problems the client comes to see you for. Life coaches should have some knowledge about finances (in order to efficiently run and manage their own business), and therefore be able to offer guidance to their clients. They will however need to be careful to avoid specific financial management advice (such as suggesting investments) unless qualified to do so.
Generally speaking, the type of work a life coach could do in this area includes:
- Teaching basic skills such as keeping financial records or making a budget
- Determine a process to work through in order to get their finances in order
- Help clients connect with the experts who can help, whether financial advisors, sources of funding banks etc.
