CAREER/LIFE COACHING
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In this essay I want to lay out the approach I take to explain what being a
career/life coach really means. Along the way, I hope to touch on some of the
inherent dilemmas within that discipline, describe its overlooked value for
organizations, and provide some guidance for selecting the right coach for a
person’s individual needs.
Developing the Whole Person
Executive development coaching is a young practice still forming its identity.
Although it was born out of the leadership training movement, it shares many
of the same viewpoints as the adult development and human potential move-
ments. The coach is a teacher interested in the development of leadership po-
tential, but the subject being taught is the development of the whole person.
The dilemma of career/life coaching relates to the complexity of the
whole person approach. Executive coaching, much like psychotherapy, con-
fers the privilege and responsibility of helping people develop on their own
terms. That’s a significant point, in my view, because it says that the client is
the individual being coached, not the organization footing the bill.
There’s no doubt that coaching operates within the constraints of
contributing to the business. Typically, it is the organization that contracts with
the coach and provides compensation. So it’s understandable that the organization
should expect to see some kind of benefit from that expense. Coaches who are
concerned about continuing to be paid for their work rally around the
behavioral or organizational impact of what they do. Nevertheless, when a coach
finally talks to a coachee in confidence, the business concerns that were
discussed at the front end of the engagement become life concerns as soon as
the office door is closed.
If a coach teaches an executive to read a balance sheet or develop a strategic
plan, it’s easy to put a finger on the benefit of that work. If a coach helps a
manager become more authentic and lead from their strengths, how should the
benefits of that be measured? It can be done, but it’s certainly more difficult.
The reality is that many of the breakdowns in external behavior and
organizational performance are created by internal issues. The reason why a
manager can’t function well as a team leader, for example, may be because they
find it difficult to place trust in others. Although this might come across as an
interpersonal or leadership performance issue, the root cause of that distrust
may be an internal issue of personal authenticity.
The challenge to the career/life coach is in straddling that fine economic
line. The coach must focus on the wants and needs of the individual while
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