"Suppose you're having trouble riding a bike and want help," says Gent, a Madison-based life coach. "A therapist says, 'Let's talk about your past experience with the bike.' A consultant says, 'I'm going to ride the bike and become an expert so I can create a model for others to follow.'
A coach says, 'Tell me where you want to go and how you want your ride to be.'"Gent likes to keep the focus on the future and empower her clients to believe they are capable of achieving their goals -- some might want help determining their next steps in life, for instance, or overcoming fears of rejection and failure.
Although life coaching, which has been around at least since the early 1990s, has a touchy-feely reputation, the profession is growing.
One reason for life coaching's increased popularity is the state of the economy, says Jay Loewi of Madison human resources firm the
QTI Group. When a recession hits, he says, companies pull back on leadership development to save money. As business improves, they begin investing more in employee growth initiatives like coaching.
The increasing number of people starting their own businesses is another factor. According to a
2012 study commissioned by the
International Coach Federation (ICF), there are approximately 47,500 professional coaches worldwide, with the industry taking in nearly $2 billion annually.
A
report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that two of the fastest-growing industries between 2010 and 2020 will be “individual and family services” and “community and vocational rehabilitation services.” Life coaching could fit under either category.
Individuals are hiring coaches to help with everything from improving time and task management to navigating a career change.
Madison is becoming a hotbed for startups, and that creates a need for leadership, says
Sarah Young, who worked at Epic Systems for seven years before she became a leadership and life coach in 2013.
Young says 70% of her clients are either full-time entrepreneurs or considering starting a business. While these individuals are full of ideas and exuberance, there's a seldom-discussed "dark side" of entrepreneurship that can reveal itself when things hit a rocky patch.
"The life of an entrepreneur can be lonely. It opens up a whole new world of potential burnout, stress and sabotaging thoughts," Young says.
One of Young's clients is Brian, a UW graduate student and entrepreneur who did not want his real name used; his startup develops tools to provide personalized heath cost estimates. Brian met Young through
100State, a downtown co-working space; they started working together earlier this year. He was feeling inert and didn't always have a good reason for doing something a particular way.
That's changed. Brian says coaching has made him more productive, assertive and confident. He likes being able to use Young as a sounding board, and that sessions are his time to reflect.
"It's good to have somebody to bounce ideas off of and who allows you to get out of your own mind, set goals and think about how you're doing things," he says. "Making decisions used to be paralyzing, but if you start to trust yourself, it becomes a lot better."
Source: http://www.pickthebrain.com/
Laura Gleisner, who has worked as a coach in southern Wisconsin for over a decade, says workers today have a different concept of career than previous generations.
"It used to be people found their jobs and stayed there even if they weren't happy," she says. "Now there's a mindset that it could be different and there's someone out there to help me create the life that I really want. Many millennials have jobs that require them to be creative problem-solvers. That's a natural fit with coaching, because you're working with a thought partner to figure out what you want."
There's even a UW-Madison program that trains and certifies new coaches. In 2013, the school's Division of Continuing Studies began offering a
Professional Life Coaching Certificate (PLCC). Lead instructor Darcy Luoma, a life coach herself, says she and program director Aphra Mednick saw the program as a way to make the university a regional pioneer.
"As we started to do market research and created a spreadsheet of coaching programs, it became clear there was a huge gap in the Midwest," Luoma says.
The timing has proved fortuitous. The UW now has the Midwest's only academic program that meets certification requirements for the ICF, the industry's biggest accrediting organization.
The UW's nine-month program is marketed to aspiring coaches, current coaches seeking extra polish and professionals who coach their direct reports and others in their organizations.
So far, life coaching's barriers to entry have been low. Anyone can start taking clients and charging them, so certification can be a marker of legitimacy. Abby Heverin, communications coordinator of the ICF, says just under one-third of coaches are credentialed by the group.
The cost of the UW's PLCC program is $8,500. Throughout the program, students work with their own coaches. Mednick says this role reversal especially benefits students considering starting a coaching business.
"It forces you to think about why people should want to sign up with you," says Mednick. "That first contact is especially important. How did the coach make you feel at ease? How did you know this is the right person?"
Students learn to take a holistic approach to coaching, looking for patterns across clients' work and home lives. Luoma believes the two cannot be separated. "Who you are and how effective you are in a professional setting is impacted by your other relationships," says Luoma. "You could be a hotshot lawyer or vice president, but be having a divorce and your kids hate you. Is that a definition of success?"
Mednick says students, who range in age from 20-something to 60-something, learn the "pure coaching model": Coaches ask clients questions without offering advice or solutions.
Pam Peterson, one of the first students to complete the program, says adhering to the pure coaching model was her biggest challenge.
"I learned I need to go into conversations with no judgment, be completely open and let the client drive everything," says Peterson, director of human resources and organizational development at UW Credit Union.
Peterson is one of two certified coaches on staff at the credit union, which she says has a "coaching culture" that permeates all management ranks. Coaching is available for entry-level workers all the way up to executives. Most employees seek coaching voluntarily, though "sometimes we nudge or strongly encourage someone," she says.
Peterson says since the credit union developed a formal coaching framework four years ago, it has been able to fill more management openings from within: 83% last year, compared to 77% in 2012 and 50% in 2011.
Other large employers in the area are also bullish on coaching, says Dan Loichinger, who has eight years' experience coaching executives. He says American Family and CUNA Mutual Group both groom employees for future management positions by having them work with coaches.
The 2012 study by the International Coach Federation found that 47% of all coaching engagements last between four and six months.
When a client and coach have worked together to achieve a specific goal, like getting through a career transition, it often makes sense to schedule sessions less frequently or stop them altogether.
But some, like Brian, the graduate student and entrepreneur, just want to keep on rolling.
"I think I would like to always have a coach," he says. "Even when you're doing well, the same thinking and bad habits can come back to you. It's good to have someone there to talk through issues or anxieties you may be having."
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