Looking to improve your outlook on life? Become a better you? Got a goal on your bucket list you want to achieve but don't know how to start? Is your business or relationship hitting a roadblock?
Questions like these touch on a wide range of issues that many of us may experience in our lifetimes; it’s all part of the human experience. The good news is, somewhere out there, there's a coach to help with each and every one.
While sports coaches guide their team members toward unity and victory, motivational coaches guide their clients toward realizing their full potential or achieving a specific goal—that is, winning the proverbial championship of their personal or public life.
Below, we'll learn all about the most common types of professional coaching that will help you better understand the full breadth of this exciting, inspirational field.
What is coaching?
Coaching is a form of mentorship in which professional motivators help their clients tackle specific issues they’re facing, reach goals, and improve their overall wellness. Coaching addresses the subject of personal development in a focused and sometimes therapeutic manner through various methodologies and techniques.
Just as there's no single route to success in life, there are many many types of coaching styles. Here are seven of the most common; chances are you’re going to be a fit for one or more.
7 different types of coaching styles
1. Life coaching: Gain the skills you need to improve your life
Life coaches help individuals get to where they want to go in life by guiding them toward their goals. Here are some of the ways that life coaches help their clients.
- Improving performance: Life coaches help clients identify obstacles that may be holding them back, allowing them to improve their performance at work or in a specific project or goal.
- Empowerment: Life coaches help their clients enjoy a better sense of worth, self-esteem, and confidence by helping them improve how they view themselves.
- Motivational coaching: Life coaches support their clients as they move toward achieving their dreams, helping them push past their comfort zones and realizing goals they may have once thought to be out of reach.
- Changing mindsets: Sometimes, a shift in outlook is all someone needs to better tackle the challenges of everyday life. Making this shift is easier said than done, but a coach can work with a client to achieve it.
2. Health & wellness coaching: Overcome health obstacles better and faster
Health coaches help their clients achieve a higher state of physical and mental wellbeing. Here are some of the goals these coaches can help tackle.
- Fitness: Whether a client’s goal is losing weight, developing a new relationship with food, or achieving a particular physical goal, a health coach can help their coachee achieve their objectives and lead a fitter life.
- Sleep: Sleep is essential to the proper functioning of the mind and body, and health coaches help their clients achieve more fulfilling patterns and routines that support their wellbeing.
- Addiction: Health coaches help their clients change their relationship to alcohol or other substances by discussing triggers and how to cope. It is important to remember that anyone struggling with addiction should work with a psychiatric professional and not just a coach alone.
- Chronic illness: Health coaches help their coachees stay on track with their fitness and wellness plans to keep their bodies as strong as possible while battling chronic conditions.
3. Mental health coaching: Dealing with psychological challenges? This type of coach can help
Mental health coaches are not therapists, but they can help their clients practice resilience, fight off negative feelings, and manage stress or anxiety. Here are some of the conditions they can help treat.
- Grief: Certain mental health coaches specialize in assisting patients who are grieving a loss by guiding them through the waves of emotions they feel in this period of their lives.
- ADHD: Mental health coaches help clients with attention deficit disorder manage their day-to-day lives and stay organized.
- Social anxiety: For clients who want to feel more confident in social situations, coaches can help them develop techniques for empowerment and warding off negative thoughts.
- Trauma: Coaches specializing in trauma assist clients in controlling reactions and behaviors related to the adverse experiences they’ve endured. Individuals who’ve experienced trauma should also receive professional support from a therapist, even if working with a talented and knowledgeable coach.
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4. Business/executive coaching: Take your business to the next level
Business coaches motivate and guide entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. The following are some of the competencies on which they focus.
- Productivity: Business coaches help their clients stay motivated and on track, showing them how to deal with stress and foster a healthy work-life balance.
- Marketing: Coaches help business owners target the right audience and use effective messaging to reach this group of people.
- Sales: For clients who work in sales or manage a team of representatives, business coaches can help boost performance.
5. Spiritual coaching: If you’d like to connect with something bigger than yourself, this is type of coach for you
Spiritual coaches help their clients go deep. No matter if one believes in a higher power or wants to move through their life with more purpose, a spiritual, holistic coach can help this individual feel part of something bigger. Here are some subtypes in this type of life coaching niche.
- Religious: Religious coaching takes a perspective based in the tenants of a particular sect to help clients live a more harmonious life.
- Meditation: Meditation coaches help their clients learn to meditate, a useful technique for managing stress and staying in the present moment.
6. Career coaching: Figure out what career path to take and land your dream job
Similar to business coaches, career coaches assist individuals in their work. But in this variety of coaching, the help focuses on succeeding in a career, not necessarily in an entrepreneurial effort. Here are a couple of types of specialized coaching these professionals do:
- Job searches: As coaches look for the perfect role, career coaches help them search for jobs, excel at interviews, and create standout resumes.
- Career transition coaching: When it's time for a change, one can seek out the help of a professional coach to find the right new field, plan a career shift, navigate the process of securing a role, and set new career goals.
7. Relationship coaching: Make your relationships thrive with the help of this type of coach
Relationship coaches primarily help couples improve their communication skills and identify issues that are holding them back in their personal life. These coaches also work with individuals looking to enter a relationship. The following are some popular specialization areas in this type of mentoring:
- Marriage: In a long-term relationship, couples may develop resentments. A coach can help couples identify these roadblocks and improve the way they approach conversation, financial concerns, and romance.
- Parenting: Parenting is no easy task, but personal coaching on the matter can help the experience feel more enriching, fulfilling, and manageable.
Could coaching be what you’re looking for?
There's a coach for every challenge in life. While a coach cannot take the place of a mental health professional like a psychologist or therapist, a coach can supplement the emotional work a client does by supporting them with useful coping techniques and inspiring motivational strategies.
