Are You Ready For a Coach?

Maureen Cullen
Cullen Coaching and Consulting
203-876-7242
http://www.cullencoaching.com
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The world of work is changing, and fast. Having a successful career means continually learning and adapting to rapidly evolving environments.

You can't do it alone. Coaching yourself is like the blind leading the blind: You can't know what you don't know.

The age of customization has brought us the personal trainer, personal shopper and personal computer. Now, there's a proliferation of personal development services available to help you reap more from your career: the executive coach.

Coaching occurs all the time within an organization as a management or leadership style. But what we are referring to here is coaching from an executive coach who is professionally trained and hired externally, and whose sole job is to provide development opportunities.

The trend to engage personal development coaching services has grown steadily for more than a decade. While there is no definitive count of the number of coaches practicing in the United States and abroad, their ranks have swelled.

While coaches were originally assigned to those experiencing difficulties or in danger of derailment, there is now wider acceptance of hiring coaches for even the most successful managers. Organizations recognize that people can grow and change. Having a coach assigned to you often signals career advancement.

Who Needs a Coach?

A coach can be most useful at particular career points:

  1. You are transitioning into a new career stage. You are being promoted to a management or leadership position that requires new skills.
  2. You lack fulfillment in your present position and are considering a career change, within the same company or externally.
  3. You are experiencing stress and sense you may be on the road to burnout.
  4. You want to improve your ability to manage and influence others by understanding how to navigate office politics.
  5. Your relationship and networking skills have become more pertinent as you increase career responsibilities and want to learn better "people skills."
  6. You want to improve your emotional intelligence and learn to better manage your inner experiences so you can manage others more effectively.
  7. You are dealing with global issues: long-distance responsibilities or actual relocation.
  8. You are experiencing diversity challenges that you'd like to handle better.
  9. The strengths and talents you brought to your job are not the ones that will guarantee future career success.