Why (& Why Not) to Hire a Life Coach:
Benefits, Cautions & Tips
Are you considering hiring a life coach but are unsure where to turn next? Are you curious about what it is exactly that life coaches do? In this article, we explore the role of a life coach and the benefits of life coaching, including improved well-being and long-lasting behaviour change. Despite the researched advantages of coaching, the life coaching industry has its issues and controversies, and we highlight some of those and suggest how to navigate them. We also provide tips for selecting a reputable life coach appropriate for your needs.
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What is a Life Coach?
Like other personal coaches, a life coach partners with clients to identify and reach their personal and professional goals. What sets life coaching apart is its holistic approach to change. Instead of focusing on narrow areas such as career advancement or wellness goals, a life coach will encourage clients to integrate their objectives, new skills and behavours across the different facets of their lives.
What does a Life Coach do?
Life coaches are skilled listeners who also ask plenty of questions. The first question a life coach will ask their clients is fundamental: What do they want in life? They encourage answers beyond what a client wants out of coaching and even past what a client may feel is “practical” to want. Most coaches will invite clients to think big and talk about their vision and sense of purpose. When do they feel most happy, most at ease?
Once this motivation has been established, a coach will ask questions about their clients’ current situation. They don’t just get into the surface details of the client’s current reality. Instead, a life coach will work with clients to examine their present-moment perceptions as deeply as possible, including their feelings, beliefs, and values and how they drive how the client makes sense of it all. A life coach will often challenge a client to question the conclusions they are making, especially when they are impacting their forward movement.
Through this process, the coach and the client will begin to understand what may be impacting the client’s progress, but something even more positive starts to happen. With the coach’s help, the client will begin to see some strengths and inner resources they had taken for granted before, and together, they explore ways of using these to the client’s benefit.
From this space of increased awareness, the coach will ask the client to design a plan for how they want to take these insights forward. They discuss the client’s next steps, and they design action plans. In the beginning, the coach and client may create mutually agreed upon methods of accountability; however, over time, as the client becomes more confident and sees their own progress, they’ll rely on this less and hold themselves accountable. This self-accountability supports long-lasting change by setting the client up with tools and resources they can use after the coaching relationship has ended.
What are the benefits of life coaching?
Why should you consider hiring a life coach? While the most obvious benefit of life coaching is achieving the specific objectives for which one has hired a coach, the advantages of life coaching extend far beyond this. Here are some additional benefits of life coaching, along with supporting research.
Developing a vision
Life coaching encourages individuals to do something many may not naturally be inclined to do. Instead of dwelling on current problems, it guides a person’s attention towards envisioning life the way they want it to be, focusing on desired goals and outcomes, and creating a plan to achieve that vision. Many theories of happiness have goals at their center, and studies have shown that the successful pursuit of goals typically correlates to increased well-being. Recent research indicates that life coaching can effectively support setting and working towards goals, thereby increasing well-being and hope, with these positive changes lasting over time.
Building self-trust
By establishing trust, a life coach creates a safe space for vulnerability between coach and client. This trust can only happen if the coach is authentic and vulnerable, cultivates unconditional positive regard for their clients, and shows complete support and acceptance while believing in their potential. This space of trust and safety also enables the client to increase their self-trust.”A strong coaching relationship requires a safe environment, in which clients are inspired by coaches to be courageous and take risks while making decisions and designing actions.” (Pearson, 2011).
Increasing emotional resilience
Life coaching supports the development of emotional resilience by exploring a client’s present-moment emotions in a safe space. This distinction of present-moment emotions is important, as coaching is not an appropriate modality to analyze the emotional past: explorations of past traumas sit squarely within the purview of therapy. However, a life coach, employing a whole-person approach, can and should hold space for a client’s emotions about current issues and future goals. With the client, they will examine how these feelings may be impacting their growth or even what deeper messages these emotions may be alerting them to. As a result, clients begin to see their feelings as signals rather than fighting them or being engulfed by them. They also learn to be more receptive to feeling their feelings, which helps them cope with challenges outside of coaching sessions, enabling them to stay with a feeling instead of getting triggered.
Most importantly, coaching also holds space for positive emotions like inspiration, hope, peace, excitement, and love. By travelling through various emotions and balancing them all, clients increase their window of resilience. Research indicates that while positive emotions play a significant role in resilience, especially during high-stress situations, it’s the balance of experiencing both positive and negative emotions that truly contributes to well-being. In fact, individuals who experience negative emotions alongside positive ones demonstrate heightened resilience, suggesting that embracing both types of emotions can be transformative for one’s well-being.
Cultivating courage
Contrary to some popular beliefs, a life coach shouldn’t tell a client what to do or pass on their toolkits for a client to adopt. Rather, life coaches, through asking questions and sharing observations, help their clients identify and develop their individual strengths. This focus on the client as an unlimited source of resources is one of the most empowering things about coaching. Research from various sources, such as Curtis & Kelly (2013), Grant (2003), Green et al (2006 & 2007), and Spence & Grant (2007), shows that life coaching is effective in building qualities like courage, hope, well-being, and resilience. At the same time, it helps reduce negative emotions like fear, anxiety, and stress.
Adapting to uncertainty
We all navigate times that feel more uncertain than others, whether it’s due to changes beyond our control, like losing a job, a relationship ending, or a health issue, or from our own decisions, such as changing careers, moving to a new city, or starting a new business. Whether these transitions are something we are initiating or thrust on us, negotiating change can be overwhelming. One theory, the Status Quo bias, describes the human preference to avoid change and maintain the status quo. However, staying in our comfort zone is often not the best thing for us. A study by Dr. Russo-Netzer and Geoffrey L Cohen encouraged people to take up activities outside their comfort zones and found that even people who otherwise had relatively low life satisfaction experienced boosted levels of happiness and self-reported growth. One key aspect of this was that people chose their activities for themselves. By encouraging clients to weigh the pros and cons of various decisions and how they align with deeper values and long-term goals, life coaching helps people make informed choices. Clients design their own action plans and next steps, with a coach there as a supportive partner who, while gently challenging clients to take things a step further, always leaves clients in choice.
Long-lasting behaviour change
A great life coach will coach in a way that encourages clients to get in touch with their value systems and align their actions with these values. Behaviours that are in sync with our values feel better than those that aren’t. Research shows that this positive feeling and the positive outcome that follows reinforce these behaviors in the brain, which, over time, will help future positive behavior occur more effortlessly.
What are some issues with the life coaching industry?
Although the professional coaching industry is worth billions and rapidly growing, life coaching is not regulated. While there are reputable certification bodies, such as the International Coach Federation (ICF), and European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), which mandate professional coaching education and coaching hours before awarding credentials, there are no government regulations that stipulate that coaches need these credentials to offer their services.
Here are some things to watch out for when looking for a coach:
Financial pressure
Beware of coaches that pressure their clients to sink a lot of money into their services. Some will even pressure potential clients to do so by saying they won’t be invested in their results unless they make a significant financial investment. Pouring one’s life savings into a coach won’t guarantee results – just look at the studies described earlier; none say anything about money spent. Coaching fees range significantly, with some coaches charging a high price for their time, and this in itself isn’t a red flag if a client is willing and able to pay, with the caveat that an ethical coach will be transparent about their fees and won’t try to manipulate potential clients into paying more than they afford.
Coaches who act as role-models for success
Be careful of coaches who tout their lifestyles as the reason you should hire them. The coach’s success may have been influenced by multiple factors, including their privilege, connections, timing and resources. Every person has unique circumstances, dreams, aspirations, values and strengths. Each client will have their own vision and journey to get there, and an ethical life coach will work with their clients as a discovery partner, not a role model.
Encouraging dependence at a cost
It is not within the scope of proper coaching to encourage a client’s dependence on a coach. Coaching is an empowering process that encourages autonomy. Although it is standard for coaches to offer some inter-session check-ins, beware of personal coaches that offer high “subscription” type pricing in return for being reachable to the client around the clock. One challenge some coaching clients seek support for is with boundary setting, so why would a coach blur their own boundaries with clients?
Coaches who overpromise
A scrupulous life coach will communicate the difference between coaching and therapy and not promise to help clients overcome anxiety, trauma or addiction. Also, be cautious of any coach who promises quick fixes or extravagant successes. Every client’s journey is different, and coaching is not always the appropriate intervention for all clients.
How do I find a reputable life coach?
Check for credentials
Look for coaches credentialed by reputable organizations such as the International Coach Federation (ICF) or the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). Checking credentials will ensure your coach meets specific education and experience requirements.
Ask for referrals
Ask your friends and colleagues if they’ve had, or know people who have had, positive experiences with a life coach. Remember that life coaching will be unique to every person, so what might have worked for them may not necessarily be the right fit for you. However, this will also provide you with an opportunity to find out more about their experience of life coaching sessions and what did and didn’t work for them.
Book discovery calls
Meet with a few coaches to get a sense of their coaching approach, personality and the chemistry between you. Go into the interview with questions about their experience, credentials, focus areas and how they work with their clients.
Look for testimonials
Check to see if potential coaches have testimonials or reviews from previous clients. Not only will this help you ascertain credibility, but it may also give you some insight into that coach’s approach.
Be upfront
Communicate your expectations, goals, and current situation to potential coaches. Be as transparent as possible. A reputable coach will also be transparent about their approach and what you can expect from the coaching relationship.
Listen to your gut
Trust your gut! Coaching is too significant an investment of time and money to ignore that inner voice telling you something isn’t right. If something feels off about a particular coach, keep exploring your options until you find the right fit.
How do I make the most of life coaching?
- Be future-focussed. Coaching is not about problem-solving or healing the past. You may be clear about the changes you want to make in your life but also spend time considering what you want your future to look like.
- Be honest. Vulnerability is necessary for the coaching process. The first ethic of coaching is unconditional positive regard for a client, so your coach should never judge you. If you don’t feel safe enough to share the negative aspects of your life with a coach, you may need to reevaluate the coaching relationship.
- Be open. A good coach will encourage you to challenge your perspectives and to be open to expended ways of thinking and feeling.
- Be ready to work. Coaching requires effort and commitment from both the client and the coach. If you’ve committed to taking actions or reflection between sessions, follow through with them to ensure progress.
- Be patient. Change takes time, and there will be setbacks. Learn from your challenges and have faith that continued effort will lead to eventual results.
- Be celebratory. Even the most minor successes deserve to be celebrated. Small steps add up to a long journey, and acknowledging them can help your motivation and energy.
Ready to take the first step?
Ready to take the first step towards achieving your goals with life coaching? Contact me to schedule a free, no-obligation discovery session.
