Coaching tales

The whole concept of coaching as a science, industry or vocation has become far more popular and widespread in the last few years. Many accreditation bodies have sprung up to train people to become life coaches. Many consultants, trainers and teachers are redefining themselves as coaches, life coaches, business coaches and executive coaches.

There is no shortage of information in the press and on the Internet for both the prospective coach and the client. The theory and practice of coaching can be found everywhere. What is missing is information on how coaching methods and attitudes have already been applied to help people like you.

Back in 1946, Dale Carnegie wrote a book, the title of which has entered our language as a phrase that lives on independently of that book. It is "How to win friends and influence people". The book is remarkable in that it doesn't really offer any specific advice and it doesn't instruct you in how to behave. Instead, the book is packed with stories. Stories about presidents, leaders, businessmen and ordinary people like you and I getting great results in their relationships with other people have a powerful impact on the reader.

A list of instructions is something you can agree or disagree with. You can remember or forget the six steps to success. Stories go right to the heart. They draw us irresistibly into the world of the writer and we find ourselves identifying with the characters, comparing their plight with our own. When they find a way to change their behaviour, to improve themselves, to grow, to develop, we identify with that too and we are carried on life's journey by the voices of past generations who shared all the troubles and opportunities that we face.

As I and my colleagues worked with clients over the years, helping them face and move past their problems and enjoy new opportunities in their lives, I realised that these stories were far more powerful than any six steps to success model or any list of things that you must do when you're coaching.

I can only presume that to read this means that you have an interest in the subject of coaching and in developing your own ability to help your friends, colleagues and clients get more from their lives. The essence of coaching is to provide a catalyst or conduit through which other people change their lives. Coaches don't give advice or instruction. At times, they may give their clients a hard time by telling it like it is. At times, they may give their clients what they need to hear in order to gain confidence and move on.

Great coaches give nothing and take nothing, yet their clients change their lives, solve problems and seize opportunities with vigour. We can only guess that a great coach works like a catalyst - giving and taking nothing, yet accelerating the rate of change in a system.

I hope that you will enjoy reading our coaching tales and that you will learn more about the workings of a great coaching relationship. You may even find yourself identifying with the characters in these stories and making the same changes as they made. In any case, I hope that you just enjoy the stories as much as we enjoyed working with the people who made them possible.

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