Life coach

Life coaches help clients set clear objectives for their personal development and help them achieve their goals and personal vision. They provide counseling and guidance and establish progress reports in order to keep track of their clients’ achievements. Their areas of intervention include topics related to family, career, finances, relationships, living environment, health, and spirituality.

The duties of a life coach include, but are not limited to:

• Gauging clients’ requirements and how coaching might best address these.
• Delineating clients’ goals through ongoing discussions thereof.
• Identifying internal and contextual roadblocks, and then devising plans to ameliorate these.
• Teaching useful emotional and behavioral regulation techniques.
• Collaborating with clients to develop action plans that center on the actualization of their stated ambitions.
• Evaluating clients’ advancement toward goal actualization.
• Encouraging continued and sustainable progress.

Life coaches may work for a business or organization assisting employees with career development or other relevant personal development. Others may work for a wellness organization that offers life coaching services. Many life coaches are self-employed and run a private practice.

Their physical work environment may depend on their employment status. Those who are self-employed may have an in-home office, office space or meet clients at designated public locations. Those who are employed by an organization may have their own office space or be required to travel to meet their clients elsewhere. Also, many life coaches conduct sessions virtually through video conferencing or instant messaging, while others may have meetings over the phone.

The following job titles also refer to life coach:

• personal development counsellor
• life coaches
• life mentor
• personal development counselor
• career coach

No formal educational credential is necessary to work as a life coach. Many famous life coaches have no college degree at all. However, an advanced degree, such as a bachelor’s degree in psychology, social development, or similar is recommended to become a life coach, especially to coach high profiles clients such as corporate firms, business executives, CEOs, CFOs, or equivalent profiles.

Some institutions deliver coaching certifications that can improve the credibility of a life coach. Examples of such institutions include:

• the International Coaching Federation (ICF)
• the International Coaching Council (ICC)
• the International Coach Guild (ICG)
• the International Association of Coaching (IAC)

More than certifications or degrees, it is the ability to listen, communicate, encourage, being empathic and amenable to change that are crucial for such role. These qualities are mostly gained through experience.

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

• the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
• the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
• the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Life coach is a Skill level 3 occupation.

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to life coach.

wedding planner
body artist
employment agent
talent agent

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of life coach. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of life coach with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

recruitment consultant
public speaking coach
employment and vocational integration consultant
career guidance advisor

These skills are necessary for the role of life coach.

• Help clients make decisions during counselling sessions: Encourage clients to make their own decisions related to their problems or inner conflicts by reducing confusion and allowing clients to reach their own conclusions, with no bias whatsoever.
• Communicate with customers: Respond to and communicate with customers in the most efficient and appropriate manner to enable them to access the desired products or services, or any other help they may require.
• Maintain relationship with customers: Build a lasting and meaningful relationship with customers in order to ensure satisfaction and fidelity by providing accurate and friendly advice and support, by delivering quality products and services and by supplying after-sales information and service.
• Give advice on personal matters: Advise people on love and marriage issues, business and job opportunities, health or other personal aspects.
• Use consulting techniques: Advise clients in different personal or professional matters.
• Evaluate clients’ progress: Keep track of clients’ achievements by reporting on their progress. Monitor whether goals are reached and barriers or setbacks overcome. If not, consult with clients about their issues and offer new approaches.
• Analyse problems for opportunities: Identify and anticipate problems in order to choose a course of action, come up with appropriate solutions or even identify opportunities for further development.
• Maintain customer service: Keep the highest possible customer service and make sure that the customer service is at all times performed in a professional way. Help customers or participants feel at ease and support special requirements.
• Assist clients with personal development: Help clients determine what they want to do with their lives and assist in setting personal and professional goals, by prioritising and planning the steps necessary to reach these goals.
• Listen actively: Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.
• Show social competences: Ability to interact effectively with other people.
• Counsel clients: Assist and guide clients to overcome their personal, social, or psychological issues.
• Coach clients: Actively help clients to improve their strengths and confidence. Propose courses and workshops or coach them yourself.

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of life coach. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

• Rhetoric: The art of discourse that aims at improving the ability of writers and speakers to inform, persuade or motivate their audience.

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of life coach. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

• Teach communication to clients: Provide clients with tips on how to communicate verbally and non-verbally and teach them the appropriate etiquette for different kinds of situations. Help clients attain more effective, clearer or more diplomatic communication skills.
• Perform lectures: Present lectures to various groups.
• Manage a small-to-medium business: Manage the organisational, financial and day-to-day operation of a small-to-medium enterprise.
• Use different communication channels: Make use of various types of communication channels such as verbal, handwritten, digital and telephonic communication with the purpose of constructing and sharing ideas or information.
• Identify training needs: Analyse the training problems and identify the training requirements of an organisation or individuals, so as to provide them with instruction tailored to their prior mastery, profile, means and problem.
• Facilitate job market access: Improve the chances of individuals to find a job, by teaching the required qualifications and interpersonal skills, through training and development programs, workshops or employment projects.
• Assess character: Assess how a certain person will react, verbally or physically, in a specific situation or to a specific happening.
• Maintain professional administration: File and organise professional administration documents comprehensively, keep customer records, fill in forms or log books and prepare documents about company-related matter.
• Administer appointments: Accept, schedule and cancel appointments.
• Keep personal administration: File and organise personal administration documents comprehensively.
• Promote yourself: Market one’s own strengths in terms of skills and knowledge.
• Give constructive feedback: Provide founded feedback through both criticism and praise in a respectful, clear, and consistent manner. Highlight achievements as well as mistakes and set up methods of formative assessment to evaluate work.
• Develop professional network: Reach out to and meet up with people in a professional context. Find common ground and use your contacts for mutual benefit. Keep track of the people in your personal professional network and stay up to date on their activities.
• Provide career counselling: Advise beneficiaries on future career options through counselling and, potentially, through career testing and evaluation.

3412 – Social work associate professionals

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References

1. ESCO
2. Learn About Being A Life Coach | Indeed.com
3. Life Coach Job Description – Betterteam
4. Life Coach – Salaries, Coaches, and Goals – StateUniversity.com
5. Featured image: Photo by Julian Jagtenberg