Does coaching REALLY work? Coaching best practices

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   28 Aug 2023
   Nikhil Dey
   All about working with a coach

What happens in a typical coaching session?

I ask questions and create a safe space to enable my clients to go deep within themselves. I support them to see things they have forgotten about themselves and the worlds they live in—enough about me. Maybe a better way to explain this is from the client's viewpoint.

 

The REAL magic happens in them.

They often find answers to some of the questions they have not been asking themselves. They find a space to explore and discover and get in touch with who they really are and what they really want. The most important word here is REAL. They get an opportunity to be real. To take off the masks and let go of the cloaks that society, workplaces, and families have covered them with. Some cloaks may have been worn in celebration and some to protect. Others to hide or camouflage. In the safe space of a coaching conversation, the REAL often emerges. What do I really want? Who am I really? What do I really fear? What do I really love? What do I really want to be and do?

The REAL comes out to play in a coaching conversation. In a world of fake news and artificially created demand. In a world of always-on social media pressure to show up in the best light possible, adding filters and showing only part of the story have been normalised. But there is nothing normal about it. REAL life is messy and difficult and joyful and beautiful all at the same time.

 

Enabling people to find their own answers. In a world where information is plentiful but insight is hard to find. Looking within to find out what is really going on is what coaching provides. REAL is really hard to find. Getting a client to that place where they go silent. When they catch a glimpse of the real is really what coaching is all about. Really it is that simple and that difficult at the same time.

 

One of the most interesting ways I have heard coaching explained is as follows “Coaching is a conversation between two people about one of us. It’s collaborative and future-focused. Another that I quite like is “Coaching = raising awareness to enable conscious choice”.

More than any definition or description for me it’s the lived experience of being supported by a coach that makes me a believer. I know how much my life has changed for the better because of coaching and for that, I am forever grateful. I can say with absolute certainty, that coaching really works, for me.

 

The growth of the global coaching industry seems to be an indicator that people around the world find coaching useful. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) earlier this year released its 2023 ICF Global Coaching Study, the finding of which demonstrates the coaching profession's growth not only continued from prior surveys but accelerated between 2019 to 2022. As a result, coaching now surpasses the milestone of 100,000 practitioners worldwide.

 

This increase in coaching practitioners indicates 54% growth worldwide. This expansion is also reflected in total annual revenue for the industry, which grew to $4.564 billion (USD) — a 60% increase since ICF's 2020 study. Growth was especially strong in Asia (+86%), the Middle East and Africa (+74%), and Eastern Europe (+59%).

 

The survey, conducted by PwC, engaged over 14,500 participants in 157 countries.

 

Nikhil Dey is a certified ICF coach and founder of soul2sole coaching. He is the first recipient of the ICF India coaching excellence rising star award.

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