· Strategic Leadership Development International ·

Personal coaching obviously brings great benefit . . .

. . . because it is one of the fastest growing fields in America's vast personal services industry. Yet, because personal coaching is still relatively new, many people are unfamiliar with it.

For their benefit we've answered several frequently asked questions about personal coaching and executive coaching elsewhere on this web site. We've also provided a description of our approach to coaching.

Personal coaching takes a variety of forms . . .

. . . depending on the goals and needs of the client. Some of the more common forms of personal coaching are:

• Executive coaching and mentoring — aimed at improving the overall professonal effectiveness of managers, executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs

• Leadership coaching — serving to strengthen personal skills at mobilizing people around a desired outcome and motivating them to achieve it.

• Life coaching — targeted at helping the client clarify personal values, align their entire life with their most cherished values, create greater balance in all arenas of life, achieve life-transforming goals, and find a deeper sense of personal fulfillment

• Business coaching — centered on equipping business people to develop better strategic, business, and marketing plans and to make critical strategic decisions about the direction of their company or professional partnership.

• Skills coaching — focused on the mastery of specific management or life skills such as crisis management, personal financial decision-making, or communication skills related to public speaking, group presentations, or media relations.

Obviously, these types of coaching may frequently overlap, so that a single coaching engagement touches on two or more of them.

LeaderPerfect® Resources from Strategic Leadership Development International offer several of these coaching services, including executive coaching, executive mentoring, leadership coaching, business coaching, and communication coaching.

Why have a personal coach?

The reasons for having a personal coach are as varied as the thousands of people who have one. Coaches are "resource multipliers." They nurture your ability to multiply the options and resources already at your disposal. In addition, they provide resourceful insights from their own vast experience.

Personal coaches help you "rise to the occasion," whether it's to pursue a cherished dream, to overcome a frustrating challenge, or to realign your life with your deepest values and passions. Coaches double as confidants, mentors, and sounding boards. But they also prod you, stretch you, and "hold your feet to the fire." They take your aspirations as seriously as you do.

Unlike consultants, who offer specialized solutions to specific issues, personal coaches are generalists who work with you in multiple arenas of life. They aim not merely at career success, but at a satisfying life. They know that men and women with high levels of life-satisfaction usually have greater sustained effectiveness. Life-satisfaction, in turn, depends on such things as a clear sense of purpose in life, personal values that are carefully aligned, and relationships (especially with family) that are balanced and healthy.

So why have a personal coach? In order to do even better at the things you already do well. And to develop new skills and outlooks that will open new venues of promise for your career.