Why have a career coach?

For senior and aspiring leaders, plotting and enjoying the desired career path to achieve one’s personal, career and life goals has never seemed more complicated. Post-COVID and with the ever-increasing encroachment of AI, professionals have been turning increasing to career coaches to help them make sense of the work environment, their place and direction within it.

Coaching is about helping the client achieve positive and transformational change. The fundamental basis is that the client has the potential to achieve such change and the coach works with the client to help them identify and achieve such desired changes through unconditional positive regard and appropriate challenge. The coaching relationship is in which the client and coach are on an equal footing and the only agenda is that of the client. The coach is there to work through the client’s agenda to help the client look at their values, purpose and future goals set within the context of their current situation.

A career coach is completely independent and fully supportive of his/her client, in this case in the consideration of the client’s career. A person’s career impacts inevitably upon their personal lives and vice versa. So, whilst the coaching relationship is primarily about the client’s work-related experiences and future plans, it is important (provided that the client is willing to share) that the client brings his/her whole person to the conversation.

But why should a high potential or high performing individual engage a career coach?

There is a myriad of reasons to consider such an approach, including:

• To consider your overall values and purpose by which you want to pursue your career and life​

• To help you consider and set out your career goals and plot an actionable roadmap to achieve those goals

• To help you maintain or improve your peak performance through considering your strengths and considering how to identify and address areas for development

• To help you consider your current career situation, measure it against your values, purpose and goals and consider options for positive, transformational change. This can include a period when perhaps a career seems to have stalled and of course in periods of career transition

• To help you increase mental toughness, confidence, personal resilienceTo help you address realities, options and plans prepare for the next stages of leadership development and gaining career progression, including moving into C-Suite roles

• To help you refine key skills such as communication and effective networking.

Career coaches differ from, for example, mentors in that the basic principle is that the client knows the client best. Coaches are not advisors (advice roles follow more mentoring or advisory lines). They are engaged to support the client, enable the client to decide the agenda and the desired change and then work with the client to help him/her to attain that desired change.

Finally and above all, engaging an executive coach provides the opportunity to work with and be listened to non-judgmentally by and ultimately helped to enable you to achieve your potential and goals by an experienced coach who is completely on your side.