10 benefits of Personal Coaching

You have probably heard about the growing popularity of personal coaching for the modern professional. Maybe you are curious to see what the potential benefits could be for you? Have you ever felt that it could be something you may want to explore? Well go on, go on, go on ! Why not grab a cuppa, have a read and let me know what you think!

What is personal coaching?

The academic debate continues to try and differentiate between coaching, mentoring and other personal development interventions. My favourite definition of personal coaching is, “Unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance (Whitmore, 2009).

Using coaching as a personal development intervention has significant positive impact. Coaching is now ranked equally alongside leadership development and management skills programs for career and personal development.

What the researchers say

Indeed, more than 70% of HR professionals have found personal coaching more effective than training courses as a means of behavioural change and performance improvement for colleagues, (Training strategies for Tomorrow, 2003).

With increased focus on experiential learning in the workplace, as opposed to traditional classroom training, the use of coaching provides an attractive alternative. Proven to be effective in improving the contribution of under performing workers, accelerating talented performers and developing leadership capability (CIPD, 2016).

As the trend for using personal coaches continues, what actually motivates people to embark on this type of personal development path?

10  Benefits of Personal Coaching

Maybe it’s the plethora of proposed benefits that may be obtained from such relationships. As more people embark on personal discovery journeys, the benefits of have become better known. According to recent research, (Passmore 2016) they can include:

1.   Increased personal performance.
2.   Higher quality of work-life balance.
3.   Clarity of purpose and meaning.
4.   Personal growth.
5.   Improved communication and relationships.
6.   Better self-awareness and reflection.
7.   Higher motivation and commitment.
8.   Better leadership skills.
9.   Efficient implementation of acquired skills.
10. A sustainable form of personal development.

With such a range of effective and desirable potential benefits, it’s hardly surprising modern professionals are finding coaching attractive. Given the  pressure to maintain and improve workplace performance, while attempting to find a feasible work-life balance.

Is Personal Coaching a Good Investment?

It has been suggested that the return on investment (ROI) of personal coaching can be between 100% and 500%, (Johnson, 2004).  It has been quoted as high as 2000%, (Dembkowski, 2005). If the proposed benefits are actually realised then it seems there is significant support for investing in personal coaching. However, we need to be cautious as it is often difficult to measure coaching effectiveness – Read more here. A  CIPD report even suggests 25% of organisations utilising coaching interventions have no method of measuring their effectiveness.

Real time personal feedback

Perhaps the best way to determine if something works and deserves further investigation is to speak with someone who has used it. There are numerous client feedback quotations on our website, sharing their experience and transformations achieved with NLP coaching. I thought you may like to hear my about my own experience and the impact coaching had. I will explain how it motivated me to become a certified coach so I can help others have the same experience.

What coaching did for me…

I am a specialist NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) coach and a beneficiary of the coaching process. I have had the benefit of several coaches for over 20 years, so likely to be positively bias in my views about coaching. My hope is that you will find it useful and motivational nonetheless. What better way to find out about something than from someone who has used it successfully and gained measurable results from it.

I was a person who lived with a lack of confidence, fear of failing and feeling less than adequate to everybody else. I expended vast amounts of energy mustering enough confidence to overcome my destructive self talk or mind chatter, whatever you like to call that inner voice we all have.

The early years

I lived with what seemed to be an electric storm in my stomach 24/7 from around the age of 12. I describe this as being similar to the electric spheres that make your hair stand on end when touched. That’s exactly how it felt. The power switched to high whenever I was asked to complete a task that was slightly out of my comfort zone. The intensity of the electrical activity would sky rocket causing pain and discomfort for days at a time.

Negative and often abusive self-talk…

Then the self-talk would kick in and start reminding me, “ you will be awful at this!” , “ how are you going to do this?” , “you are going to be the laughing stock!” , “now this is where it all falls down, you will be exposed as the idiot you are” etc, etc…… Then I would initiate my energy draining, rebuilding regime which went something like, “You can and you will do this” , “you can do this just chill, focus and get started”. Despite this I like to think I have been relatively successful in my career, reaching the majority of my career and life goals. Starting 2 businesses, gaining 2 degrees, chemistry and business as well as a distinction at Master degree level in Leadership & Management. Despite all the negative self talk!

Then NLP Coaching changed everything…

My achievements were not significant enough to impact my limiting beliefs, so they remained untouched. Encountering NLP  enabled the identification of the negative and limiting beliefs that had impacted me for over 35 years. Then, to my amazement, NLP was also responsible for removing these beliefs and installing positive self talk.

Replacing all those destructive commands and demands I made of myself completely changed my thought processes. This has improved the relationship I have with myself, increasing my confidence because the conversations I have with myself now are nurturing and supportive.

There is now a calm and tranquil energy that resides in me, no longer subject to the pain that sphere of negative electricity provided. I am really looking forward to a fruitful and content future. All thanks to specialist NLP coaching.

Jeff Kidner
Director & Principal Coach

Want to explore coaching? Get in touch.