You may be drawn to coaching because you have always wanted to help people, or have experience of supporting others either in your personal life or at work.  You may even be trained in a helping or therapeutic profession and see coaching as a natural extension of your existing skills set and knowledge base.  Or, you may be drawn to coaching as you see it as offering a useful set of tools to work with others in your existing work or leadership role.

Coaching uses an advanced set of communication skills to facilitate client self-awareness and growth -  so you need to be open to develop your own communication skills in order to assist clients.

You may feel that coaching is for you because many of your acquaintances, colleagues, family or friends approach you for advice.

However, coaching is about assisting clients to find their own solutions rather than giving advice and information – and you need to be willing and able to let go of a consultancy approach in order to apply coaching skills.

So, do you have what it takes to be a coach?

People from all walks of life enter the coaching profession but effective coaches:

• actively enjoy working with other people
• respect others and other ways of thinking
• are open to learning and supporting others in their learning
• can handle complexity
• recognise and work on their own limitations and areas for growth
• value empowering others and assisting them in achieving their goals

So, if  you feel you have these characteristics – coaching may be a great fit for you.