Executive & Life Coaching at Edora Asia Coaching Page 11.

• What is life coaching? • How did life coaching come about? • What are some categories of coaching? • What are life coaching clients like? • Where can life coaching be conducted? • What can we expect about the way it is conducted? • What is “evidence-based” life coaching? • What is the difference between coaching and therapy? • What are some sub-areas in life coaching? • References What is life coaching? Life coaching has its roots in executive coaching. It is a collaborative process between the coach and client that helps the latter get from where they are to where they would like to be in their personal life. It focuses on assisting clients set and achieve goals in aspects of their personal life. People choose areas of their life to improve, such as obtaining a personal goal (e.g. overcoming a financial or physical challenge), successfully making changes or transitions (e.g. career planning or relationship changes), or helping them manage a part of their life better (e.g. stress or time management) (Underhill et al, 2007, pp 12-13). Clients may also want to improve their ‘whole’ life e.g. living a more balanced, less stressful, honest and authentic, or a meaningful and purposeful life. The process is solution-focused, result-oriented and systematic which enhances the work performance, life experience, self-directed learning and personal growth of the client. Back to top How did life coaching come about? According to psychotherapist and business coach Lynn Grodzki (2002), traditionally executives seek guidance from more senior executives who act as mentors. However, in the early 1980s, the corporate culture of in-house mentoring relationships gradually disappeared as a result of relentless corporate downsizing, and the mentoring function was substituted by external executive coaching services. As the coaching relationship matured, coaching became more personal and executives became more receptive to help with their personal lives. Enter life coaching. Back to top What are some categories of coaching? The Association for Coaching, UK (2011) categorises them this way: • Personal/Life Coaching - to enhance personal growth, life experience, self-directed learning, and work performance • Executive Coaching - as in personal coaching except that the coach deals with senior management and are expected to be comfortable with business topics as well • Corporate/Business Coaching - focus is on supporting the employee either individually or as part of a team to improve their business and/or operational effectiveness • Specialty/Niche Coaching - focus is on a particular aspect e.g. career or stress management, or a specific population e.g. doctors or youths • Group Coaching - the coach works with a group to achieve a common goal I offer life coaching where I can leverage on my training and experience in psychotherapy, and my challenging personal life experiences including parenting, career and marital. I sub-specialise in couple relationship coaching. Back to top What are life coaching clients like? Clients who seek life coaching are the “worried well” who usually see themselves as OK and looking to enhance their personal lives. They are self-sponsored and, nowadays, often self-referred. Back to top Where can life coaching be conducted? Life coaching can be conducted in a physical consulting venue, through the phone, or online (email, chats, video conferencing, etc.). It is usually conducted outside the corporate environment. As Singapore is geographically small and I work only with clients in Singapore, for now, I offer life coaching on a face-to face basis. Back to top What can we expect about the way it is conducted? Different life coaches work differently. But the coach is usually active and the process is action and goal oriented. They focus on the present and the future although some may also take a peep at the past but only to understand better the client’s present situation and to identify their strengths. The coach facilitates the purposeful coaching conversations that may be incidentally motivational. Some may use workbooks and various assessments tools while others prefer conversational interventions. Some may be directive while others are less. The coach may use psychological and/or non- psychological interventions. Examples of psychological interventions include neurolinguistic programming (NLP), solution- focused, cognitive-behavioural, and positive psychology methods, and non-psychological ones include the “GROW“ model (and variations of it) and other proprietary models. The coach is likely to have SLE (significant life experiences). I use mainly cognitive-behavioural, solution focus and positive psychology methods and work within a goal and action oriented framework. I also use some existential ideas. I am generally non-directive and use mainly conversational interventions but will adapt to the client’s situation including relevant assessment tools. Back to top What is “evidence-based” life coaching? Evidence-based life coaching is rooted in empirically validated methods, psychological or otherwise. Examples of validated psychological methods include cognitive-behavioural, solution-focused coaching, and positive psychology approaches (Green, Oades, & Grant, 2006; Palmer & Szymanska, 2007; Biswas-Diener & Dean, 2007). I share the view that moving towards empirically-based interventions and solid theoretical frameworks for practice is in the best interest of the individual practising coach and the coaching profession (Biswas-Diener & Dean, 2007). Back to top What is the difference between coaching and therapy? In general, therapy focuses on clinical clients and coaching on non-clinical clients. There are overlaps between therapy and coaching methods. Traditionally, therapy or psychotherapy is based on the medical model and focuses on diagnosis and then treatment. But that has changed and many therapy models have shifted towards the health model that views the person as well, whole, and resourceful. They also focus on the present and the future. At the extreme ends of the therapy-counselling-coaching continuum, therapy is associated with the more severely disturbed clients while coaching with the “worried well”. Coaching is based on the health model, as mentioned, and tends to be action, solution and goal/results oriented. An analogy of the link between them that I find helpful is to think of a person, a weak swimmer, half drowning in the middle of a murky pond. Therapy helps the person clear the murkiness and surface to breathe. Coaching helps him/her get (swim) as fast as possible to the edge of the pond. Back to top What are some sub-areas in life coaching? Some sub-areas in life coaching include career, life purpose, relationship, assertiveness, ontological, transformational and parenting, to name a few (only a few). Back to top References Association for Coaching UK (2011). Coaching definitions. Retrieved from http://www.assoociationforcoaching.com/about/about03.htm on May 24, 2011 Biswas-Diener, R. & Dean, B. (2007). Positive psychology coaching: Putting the science of happiness to work for your clients. NJ: Wiley Green, L.S., Oades, L.G., & Grant, A.M. (2006). Cognitive-behavioural, solution-focused life coaching: Enhancing goal striving, well-being and hope. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 142-149. Grodzki, L (2002). Overview: The new private practice. In L. Grodzki (Ed). The new private practice. NY:Norton Palmer. S. & Szymanska, K. (2007). Cognitive-behavioural coaching. In S. Palmer & A. Whybrow (Eds.), Handbook of coaching psychology. Hove: Routledge Underhill, B., McAnally, K., & Koriath, J. (2007). Executive coaching for results: The definitive guide to developing organisational leaders. CA: Berett-Koehler Back to top Psychotherapy Counselling Coaching/Mentoring/Consulting Less emotionally/ psychologically challenged clients Clients usually see themselves as ‘OK” More emotionally/ psychologically challenged clients