Business Times - 31 Jul 2009
Life coaching industry is growing as an increasing number of professionals look to executive coaches for guidance amid job losses due to recession, reports MELISSA LWEE
TORN between an outstanding job offer that wasn't quite his thing and the possibility of a dream job on the horizon, investment banker David Lloyd's first instinct was to ask what his closest friends thought.
But little did he expect that the answers - from 10 friends who were professionals in their own right - would be split right down the middle.
'Half of them told me it would be crazy not to take the job given the economic climate,' he recalls. 'And the other half told me they simply could not see me taking up and enjoying the job that was on offer.'
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Mr Lloyd decided to seek professional help in the form of a life coach, or executive coach as they are sometimes known.
'What I needed was someone to sit down with me, go through my own analysis of the situation and help me make a decision,' says Mr Lloyd, who hired Katherine Warner from Triple E! Coaching to help him with his problem.
'What she did in my two-hour session was to help me clarify my thinking. Good coaches don't give you the answer. But by asking the right questions, they help coax you into making your own decision.
'After speaking to Katherine, I realised that although I had no job offer from my dream job yet, my instincts were telling me that my chances of getting it in the near future were high, and so I held out. True enough, I just started work last week at my dream job,' he declares.
Having had a positive taste of the benefits that a coach can bring to his life, Mr Lloyd is now looking to re-hire Ms Warner to prepare him for the possibility of becoming the head of the firm. He believes that she can help him improve the skills that are necessary to give him the best possible chance of winning that top position.
Mr Lloyd belongs to a growing number of professionals who are looking to life coaches for guidance, especially in the advent of the global credit crunch.
Self-help
'There's definitely been a lot more interest in the industry since the economic crisis,' observes Ms Warner.
'We're looking at an increase in the number of clients who have been made redundant and don't know how to proceed; or working professionals who are starting to question whether they are in the right job or career path, particularly if they are fearful of their own waning job prospects or job security.'
Agrees life coach Wendy Chua, founder of Wand Inspiration. 'What the economic crisis did for some of them is to trigger questions such as 'Is making money the only thing in life? Am I happy in my job, life, relationship? How can I create more balance?' Some of them may feel so stressed that they look for coaching to manage their expectations and find solutions.'
Motivational speaker and corporate trainer Zaibun Siraj similarly remarks that there has been a resurgence in interest with regard to the self-help industry. But he points out that this interest is not just from individuals, but also from corporations looking to improve the quality of their staff.
'Many companies now face the problem of having staff who are stressed out and unhappy thanks to these tough times. They are now seeking help from professionals like us because they understand that unhappy workers make unproductive staff,' he says.
On the flip side, life coaching is also being applied for those who are already motivated - in being groomed for higher posts. Kenny Toh, founder of The Coaching Academy, notes that there's a marked interest now in corporations which are looking at life or executive coaches to help them groom their high flyers.
But what exactly do life coaches do and how do they help you?
Industry players explain that life coaching is a methodology that directs or trains a person with the aim of achieving a particular goal or acquiring a particular skill. It's usually applied in the career or professional sense.
'We help our clients gain clarity - to understand and acknowledge the problems that they have,' explains Ms Warner. 'Our job is to show them that it is their responsibility to take the appropriate steps towards making positive changes in their lives. We guide them from there but we never tell them what to do.'
Ms Chua adds that she seeks to understand the client's goals, obstacles and strengths, support them to take actions that would effectively overcome their challenges and reach their goals.
Jean-Robert Strele, a former head of a US start-up company in Singapore, hired Ms Chua late last year when he was feeling frustrated with his previous job.
'In my last job, I was facing communication problems with the head office in America. They wanted me to move back there but I wasn't keen. However, I did not want to face up to it. I simply thought I'll cross that bridge when I come to it,' he recalls.
'What Wendy helped me to do was to properly analyse and understand the situation so much so that I was prepared for their request before it actually came my way and I knew how to deal with it. Imagine being able to see the light prior to it being switched on. A large part of Wendy's coaching helped me to do that.'
One industry source, who declined to be named, pointed out however that it's good to look for an organisation that puts you in touch with several coaches rather than just one. She chose a specific leadership development course back in 2000 because it made several coaches available to her in the course of her programme, each specialist in his own field.
'So that was excellent because it's not like one coach can help you with everything,' she notes, who says she had access to specialists who coached on work relationships and even on health issues. 'Life is all-encompassing, it's not just about your career,' she adds.
The more cynical among us would view life coaching as a load of hullabaloo, but could it be the next incarnation of the motivational training or personal development industry?
According to a spokesman from the International Coach Federation (ICF) - the leading global coaching certification body - coaching in general is certainly more recognised today as compared to a decade or even five years ago. In Singapore, there are 120 IFC members to date, up from 66 three years ago.
Greater acceptance
One possible reason for the rise in numbers is greater acceptance for the industry, as Ms Chua points out.
'Before, very few had heard of life coaching or even coaching. Hurdles include stigma that clients may face from others, thinking their lives must be so messed up they need a life coach,' she says.
'Nevertheless, the self-aware clients just ignore this and know they are seeking coaching to make their good lives great.
'Also, organisations are now asking me to train their managers and leaders in coaching skills so that they in turn can coach their teams to better work and life performance. This shows that coaching is now embraced by forward-thinking businesses who see that employees with more positive attitudes towards life will bring more benefit to the workplace,' adds Ms Chua whose clients include organisations such as RBS Coutts and Merrill Lynch Global Services.
Coach Dave Rogers and author of the book Awesome Coaching reveals that he can make anything from 70 to 120 per cent of what he previously made as a bond trader in Hong Kong. He has had clients all over the world including the 2007 Miss Thailand Jenjira Kertprasop and big corporations such as Citibank and Deutsche Bank.
He goes on to add that 90 per cent of the money in the industry is made by the top 10 per cent of the coaches.
'One of the biggest jokes in the industry is that a lot of coaches try to be coaches without having hired their own coach or coaches before. They think that just because they've got a coaching qualification that will make them a good coach but that is not the case,' he says.
'The reason why I can coach people better than others is because I keep on learning. I recently came back from 10 days of learning from 10 great coaches in Alaska.'
Ultimately, it could be passion that sustains the normal life coach. The Coaching Academy's Mr Toh reveals that most life coaches are in it more for the job satisfaction rather than the money.
'Unless your clients are really extremely rich people who think nothing of paying you 10 per cent of the millions of dollars that you have helped them earn, chances are, even with five or 10 clients at one time, life coaching alone cannot be sustained as a full career, not to mention the fact that when you first come out as a life coach, if you're not an entrepreneur by nature, that's it,' he warns.
'The reality is that most life coaches are in the business because they like working with people and the fulfilment that they get from making a positive impact on someone's life.
'In fact, it makes more economic sense teaching people how to coach rather than to coach someone, which is why the best way, I think, is to have a good balance of both cultivating coaches and coaching individuals.'
Inspiring others
The inspiration to inspire is certainly what's driven Guillaume Levy-Lambert to go into coaching. After 13 years as a banker and 10 years heading advertising giant Publicis in the Asia-Pacific, Mr Levy-Lambert, who was recently made a French Knight in the National Order of Merit, decided he wanted to use his own life experiences to inspire others who are stuck at the crossroads of their lives.
He thus started Tyna at the beginning of this year, which he describes as a talent management company.
'When I made those decisions to jump from banking to advertising and then from advertising to what I do now, I did not find them difficult decisions to make,' he says. 'But I do know that these are decisions that a lot of people find difficult to make and I want to share my experiences with them to help inspire them to be able to do the same thing.'
From coaches to the coached, the times are certainly trying enough for those who need help to ask for it, and those who can help to offer it.
Life coaching industry is growing as an increasing number of professionals look to executive coaches for guidance amid job losses due to recession, reports MELISSA LWEE
TORN between an outstanding job offer that wasn't quite his thing and the possibility of a dream job on the horizon, investment banker David Lloyd's first instinct was to ask what his closest friends thought.
But little did he expect that the answers - from 10 friends who were professionals in their own right - would be split right down the middle.
'Half of them told me it would be crazy not to take the job given the economic climate,' he recalls. 'And the other half told me they simply could not see me taking up and enjoying the job that was on offer.'
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Mr Lloyd decided to seek professional help in the form of a life coach, or executive coach as they are sometimes known.
'What I needed was someone to sit down with me, go through my own analysis of the situation and help me make a decision,' says Mr Lloyd, who hired Katherine Warner from Triple E! Coaching to help him with his problem.
'What she did in my two-hour session was to help me clarify my thinking. Good coaches don't give you the answer. But by asking the right questions, they help coax you into making your own decision.
'After speaking to Katherine, I realised that although I had no job offer from my dream job yet, my instincts were telling me that my chances of getting it in the near future were high, and so I held out. True enough, I just started work last week at my dream job,' he declares.
Having had a positive taste of the benefits that a coach can bring to his life, Mr Lloyd is now looking to re-hire Ms Warner to prepare him for the possibility of becoming the head of the firm. He believes that she can help him improve the skills that are necessary to give him the best possible chance of winning that top position.
Mr Lloyd belongs to a growing number of professionals who are looking to life coaches for guidance, especially in the advent of the global credit crunch.
Self-help
'There's definitely been a lot more interest in the industry since the economic crisis,' observes Ms Warner.
'We're looking at an increase in the number of clients who have been made redundant and don't know how to proceed; or working professionals who are starting to question whether they are in the right job or career path, particularly if they are fearful of their own waning job prospects or job security.'
Agrees life coach Wendy Chua, founder of Wand Inspiration. 'What the economic crisis did for some of them is to trigger questions such as 'Is making money the only thing in life? Am I happy in my job, life, relationship? How can I create more balance?' Some of them may feel so stressed that they look for coaching to manage their expectations and find solutions.'
Motivational speaker and corporate trainer Zaibun Siraj similarly remarks that there has been a resurgence in interest with regard to the self-help industry. But he points out that this interest is not just from individuals, but also from corporations looking to improve the quality of their staff.
'Many companies now face the problem of having staff who are stressed out and unhappy thanks to these tough times. They are now seeking help from professionals like us because they understand that unhappy workers make unproductive staff,' he says.
On the flip side, life coaching is also being applied for those who are already motivated - in being groomed for higher posts. Kenny Toh, founder of The Coaching Academy, notes that there's a marked interest now in corporations which are looking at life or executive coaches to help them groom their high flyers.
But what exactly do life coaches do and how do they help you?
Industry players explain that life coaching is a methodology that directs or trains a person with the aim of achieving a particular goal or acquiring a particular skill. It's usually applied in the career or professional sense.
'We help our clients gain clarity - to understand and acknowledge the problems that they have,' explains Ms Warner. 'Our job is to show them that it is their responsibility to take the appropriate steps towards making positive changes in their lives. We guide them from there but we never tell them what to do.'
Ms Chua adds that she seeks to understand the client's goals, obstacles and strengths, support them to take actions that would effectively overcome their challenges and reach their goals.
Jean-Robert Strele, a former head of a US start-up company in Singapore, hired Ms Chua late last year when he was feeling frustrated with his previous job.
'In my last job, I was facing communication problems with the head office in America. They wanted me to move back there but I wasn't keen. However, I did not want to face up to it. I simply thought I'll cross that bridge when I come to it,' he recalls.
'What Wendy helped me to do was to properly analyse and understand the situation so much so that I was prepared for their request before it actually came my way and I knew how to deal with it. Imagine being able to see the light prior to it being switched on. A large part of Wendy's coaching helped me to do that.'
One industry source, who declined to be named, pointed out however that it's good to look for an organisation that puts you in touch with several coaches rather than just one. She chose a specific leadership development course back in 2000 because it made several coaches available to her in the course of her programme, each specialist in his own field.
'So that was excellent because it's not like one coach can help you with everything,' she notes, who says she had access to specialists who coached on work relationships and even on health issues. 'Life is all-encompassing, it's not just about your career,' she adds.
The more cynical among us would view life coaching as a load of hullabaloo, but could it be the next incarnation of the motivational training or personal development industry?
According to a spokesman from the International Coach Federation (ICF) - the leading global coaching certification body - coaching in general is certainly more recognised today as compared to a decade or even five years ago. In Singapore, there are 120 IFC members to date, up from 66 three years ago.
Greater acceptance
One possible reason for the rise in numbers is greater acceptance for the industry, as Ms Chua points out.
'Before, very few had heard of life coaching or even coaching. Hurdles include stigma that clients may face from others, thinking their lives must be so messed up they need a life coach,' she says.
'Nevertheless, the self-aware clients just ignore this and know they are seeking coaching to make their good lives great.
'Also, organisations are now asking me to train their managers and leaders in coaching skills so that they in turn can coach their teams to better work and life performance. This shows that coaching is now embraced by forward-thinking businesses who see that employees with more positive attitudes towards life will bring more benefit to the workplace,' adds Ms Chua whose clients include organisations such as RBS Coutts and Merrill Lynch Global Services.
Coach Dave Rogers and author of the book Awesome Coaching reveals that he can make anything from 70 to 120 per cent of what he previously made as a bond trader in Hong Kong. He has had clients all over the world including the 2007 Miss Thailand Jenjira Kertprasop and big corporations such as Citibank and Deutsche Bank.
He goes on to add that 90 per cent of the money in the industry is made by the top 10 per cent of the coaches.
'One of the biggest jokes in the industry is that a lot of coaches try to be coaches without having hired their own coach or coaches before. They think that just because they've got a coaching qualification that will make them a good coach but that is not the case,' he says.
'The reason why I can coach people better than others is because I keep on learning. I recently came back from 10 days of learning from 10 great coaches in Alaska.'
Ultimately, it could be passion that sustains the normal life coach. The Coaching Academy's Mr Toh reveals that most life coaches are in it more for the job satisfaction rather than the money.
'Unless your clients are really extremely rich people who think nothing of paying you 10 per cent of the millions of dollars that you have helped them earn, chances are, even with five or 10 clients at one time, life coaching alone cannot be sustained as a full career, not to mention the fact that when you first come out as a life coach, if you're not an entrepreneur by nature, that's it,' he warns.
'The reality is that most life coaches are in the business because they like working with people and the fulfilment that they get from making a positive impact on someone's life.
'In fact, it makes more economic sense teaching people how to coach rather than to coach someone, which is why the best way, I think, is to have a good balance of both cultivating coaches and coaching individuals.'
Inspiring others
The inspiration to inspire is certainly what's driven Guillaume Levy-Lambert to go into coaching. After 13 years as a banker and 10 years heading advertising giant Publicis in the Asia-Pacific, Mr Levy-Lambert, who was recently made a French Knight in the National Order of Merit, decided he wanted to use his own life experiences to inspire others who are stuck at the crossroads of their lives.
He thus started Tyna at the beginning of this year, which he describes as a talent management company.
'When I made those decisions to jump from banking to advertising and then from advertising to what I do now, I did not find them difficult decisions to make,' he says. 'But I do know that these are decisions that a lot of people find difficult to make and I want to share my experiences with them to help inspire them to be able to do the same thing.'
From coaches to the coached, the times are certainly trying enough for those who need help to ask for it, and those who can help to offer it.
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