Are you ready for coaching?

We all know there are times where having someone objective to talk to helps tremendously.  Those moments when, through skilled conversation, complications and confusions begin to become crystal clear.  How do you know when you’re at one of those moments?

There are many reasons why you may choose to engage with a professional coach. It could be because you are stuck on something, and just can’t find the answer. Or because there is something important you want to say, but can’t yet find the right words. For some of us, the need for coaching comes at a time when we simply want to be listened to, but the space to create that opportunity seems elusive. 

Whatever the reason for engaging with a coach, knowing when you’re ready is really important. So, how do you know when engaging with a coach could be useful for you? 

As an experienced coach, I have noticed some common themes which help us to understand when a person is ready to engage fully with the process, thereby reaping the full benefits of the experience. Here are the factors that seem to make all the difference to success. 

• You are ready to engage with those ‘less comfortable’ thoughts

Let’s be honest – working with a coach can be an energising and enlightening experience, but it can also be challenging and uncomfortable at times too. Our commitment as professionals is to provide a safe space where thoughts and behaviours can be explored carefully and with respect. For coaching to really work for you though, it’s important you’re ready to engage with these less comfortable parts of yourself and your thinking too. It is in this space is where the positive changes and answers often lie.

• You are ready to hold yourself accountable for past and future choices

We work with an important core mindset, which is that we only ever have direct control over ourselves and our behaviours. As far as other people are concerned, it’s indirect at the very best. So, to be ready for coaching, it’s really important you are prepared to take responsibility for your learning. For actions to date, and for choices you make to move forward. We aren’t in the blame game, coaches will work with you to say ‘what can you do about that, what is the role you play in this?’. Therefore to be ready for coaching, we ask that you are also open to being held accountable for your past, present and future choices. 

• You are ready to learn 

If you are thinking of engaging with coaching, then your mindset is really important. Ask yourself if you are really willing to learn? To test, try out and experiment with new ideas and ways of thinking. See if you can persevere when things seem tricky, or new behaviours appear to be reluctant to ‘stick’. Are you really ready to challenge your own assumptions, to turn the mirror onto yourself and to grow from what you see? If you are, then you could well be ready for coaching. 

• You are willing to give it enough time

This can be considered a tricky one, as there’s rarely enough time to do what needs to be done for most people, so taking the time to focus on yourself and your own growth might seem a luxury, or a stretch. However, learning does require patience and time. Answers aren’t always found immediately, so a commitment to giving yourself space and time to think and to learn is really important. When you are ready for coaching, you will be in a place where you know you and your learning matter, and you are ready to prioritise that. Sometimes it can help to ask yourself how much time you spend worrying or thinking the same things over and over again. If you add this time up, you might be surprised, and will realise that a few hours spent on space for yourself to think with a coach may not actually be that difficult to find after all.  

These four factors in our view are really important, and worth considering if you are thinking of engaging with a coach. If you work them through and think ‘yes now is the time, and I am ready’ then you are far more likely to have a successful outcome from the coaching relationship. 

If you’d like to find out more, or talk to us about whether you are ready for coaching, then please contact us in complete confidence