What makes a great Life Coach?

Being a lifelong learner is part of the overarching requirement of a coach approaching life with open curiosity. We are curious about our clients – who they are, what they value, and what they want. We are also curious about the world, and through this we can nurture our empathy and understanding of what others are facing.

Being a lifelong learner is a commitment to both our personal and professional lives. In our personal lives, it aids our mental well-being. It stimulates our brain functions by building new neural pathways, boosts our self-esteem and confidence, and helps us to connect with others. Learning new things opens up our internal and external world, helps us cross divides, and can even satisfy our need for adventure when we cannot fly across the world.   

In our professional lives, being lifelong learners shows we value our work. Therefore, we should keep up with new techniques, approaches, and research in the coaching world. This is critical to develop our skills and knowledge so we can deliver the best possible experience and result to our clients. One of the ways we can do this easily is by attending CPD Days (Continued Professional Development). Learning about the business side of coaching is also important to attract more clients, develop our opportunities, and keep our work viable. 

So, how do we approach this as coaches? Below are my five tips for how we, as coaches, can accelerate our learning:

1. Identify the areas where you would like to develop as a coach and set measurable goals and timescales to achieve them.
2. Look at the options available to you and identify the way in which you will learn, such as books, podcasts, newsletters, webinars, or courses.
3. Keep a learning journal and record what you have learned and how you have applied it. Being a lifelong learner isn't about gaining endless knowledge. It's about applying it and analysing the results. For many years I’ve kept a ‘learning log’ and when I revisit it I often find I learn twice.
4. Make learning part of your daily routine, such as listening to podcasts while you commute or cook.
5. When you learn something new, share it with others in your coaching community and start an inspiring conversation.

I’d love to know what you do to accelerate your learning.

Committing to being a lifelong learner will upgrade your life. What do I mean by this? Instead of constantly flitting between things, you enhance your life by building a solid foundation that you build on as everything you learn adds to your knowledge base. To start you off with this, I'd like to share some of my answers to the second tip above. 

Books: I will start a few new books this month after finishing 'Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies for Giant Leaps in Work and Life' by Ozan Varol last week. I'd highly recommend this book to coaches if you're looking for something new to read. A line that stood out for me is, 'The world is evolving at a dizzying speed, and we must continuously evolve with it to keep pace.' For me, this means constantly evolving both personally and professionally by leaning into and growing my knowledge and skills. 

Podcasts: I'm currently listening to two podcasts, including Ed Jackson's  'It's Good to Walk',, which is sponsored by the Coaching Academy, where Ed interviews guests about overcoming adversity. Another firm favourite is Holly Tucker's   'Conversations of Inspiration' – the title says it all. I would also recommend you follow both Ed Jackson and Holly Tucker on social media for a regular dose of positivity and inspiration (for full disclosure, I represent both Ed and Holly as a literary agent, but I'd listen to their podcasts even if I didn't!) So I've decided this month to delve into their archives as well as listen to the current episodes.   You can listen to them via Spotify, Apple and other podcast platforms.

Newsletters: These last couple of months, I, along with the whole team here at The Coaching Academy, have been working on our monthly Coaching Insights and have learnt so much from the many coaches who have contributed to it. Last month's article on neurodiversity  has had great feedback from our coaches. 

I’m also proud to say that we are partnering with The University of Reading to support some important research about coaching.  This research study will shape the future of coaching and will look at how coaching actually works by learning more about the specific relationship between coaching behaviour and coaching outcomes.

For those of you who are already lifelong learners, commit to expanding on this during this month. You can do this by increasing the time you spend on it, trying something completely new, or starting something that has been on your list for a long time.   

Wishing you well, 

Bev