Why more people are taking up coaching?

Is coaching yet another gimmick?

Even if you have been a "casual" follower of sports, you would have probably heard of coaching in one way or another. Although you may not know what exactly coaching does, but it is likely that you have at least a vague idea that it is being deployed to help sports people win the game they want to be victorious in. Thus, coaching is not something new. It is neither a hype, a fad, or a "passing cloud". Historically, it has been around for more than 100 years since the first Olympics in 1896 when winning gold medals was the yardstick used to measure the superiority of a certain race and nation. Over the years, coaches and coaching have become increasingly entrenched in the lives of sports people. Without their support, most sports people would feel helpless and lost almost like a sailing ship without its sails in the open sea.

When and how did coaching become available to everyone?

The "tidal wave" of coaching broke into the non-sports world some time at the turn of the 21st century. Its well-kept secrets and powers finally have become available to support anyone in every facet of their lives - be it for personal growth, relationships, business, leadership, spirituality and so on. The non-sports world realised that the key principles of coaching, which are close partnering, goal-setting, challenging, co-creating, game-planning, tracking and monitoring, etc are most relevant in this competitive and fast-moving world. People begin to see the value of having external partners to challenge, help and work "outside the box" for innovative ways to manage their lives more powerfully to attain higher success and fulfilment.

Behind the scene today, more and more forward-thinking organisations and people are increasingly working with coaches to accelerate their performance in many areas. It is a known fact that even famous and successful people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump work with coaches so that they can maintain their dominance in the field they are in.

Coaching has now become highly recognised for its powers and usefulness. Its growth is not only unstoppable but will continue to top the chart as one of the fastest-growing industries for a long time to come.

Why is coaching so powerful?

Primarily, the powers of coaching lie in its ability to help people remove their self-limiting beliefs, strengthen their self-belief and put a powerful game plan in place to drive the right behaviours that will result in them making bigger wins in any area of their lives they want. The uniqueness of coaching lies in its encompassing ability to support anyone; not only for poor performers to overcome their issues but also for high performers who want to achieve more in their lives. Coaching is, therefore, a way of life for anyone, and coaches are simply leaders in their own rights who want to get more of their lives.

Why do people take up coaching?

In the same vein, more and more people are entering the coaching profession either to become self coaches to help themselves, casual coaches to support their families and friends, workplace coaches to contribute to their organisational growth or professional coaches for the larger community.

The things they all have in common are: A love for people and a great passion to help people grow to their fullest potential.

How much did you learn from here?

1 Where did coaching first come from, and why?

2 Why is coaching here to stay?

3 Which aspects of sports coaching are also relevant in the non-sports world?

4 Why do people want to become coaches?

5 What other insights do you gain from this lesson?

Corporate Coach Academy is a coaching school in Asia to certify leaders of all backgrounds to become manager-coaches or professional certified coaches in this region. Log in www.corporate-coachacademy.com or email [email protected] for details.