The best coaches have a clear process. They will help you identify your core challenges, see where you are starting from and where you want to go. It’s also important to tell you how they will teach you new skills and behaviours, and how they will support you in transferring those skills back to the workplace.
It’s recommended that you go into career coaching with an open mind and a genuine willingness to grow. Sound like you can do that? Then there are many benefits are waiting for you. Let’s look at how executive coaches can help you launch your new career when you’re 40 or older.
The Benefits of Working With a Career Coach to Launch Your New Career
Learn to: see yourself more clearly
When you meet with a good coach, they will talk about your strengths and weaknesses with you. The best coaches will tell you how others see your strengths to help clarify their perceptions.
An important part of coaching is building your confidence. One way to do this is by having someone observe you and provide feedback. Tasked with analysing you, your coach will share their perceptions of you. Your coach will also help you build skills for understanding yourself.
Learn to: see others more clearly
When you work with a coach, they will teach you how to see yourself more clearly to become more accurate in your assessment of others. You might learn how to become more independent and handle your own mental challenges.
Here’s why it matters. Every business owner has felt the sting of a bad hire. That’s why it’s important to be observant of the people around you so you can assess them accurately. The worst offenders are overestimating or underestimating people.
Learn to: leverage your existing strengths
Career coaching can help you see what strengths you have that you may be underestimating. For example, say you have a natural gift for envisioning products and services that would appeal to customers. That’s unique, but perhaps you think everybody has that kind of vision. As coach can help you see your unique skills and how to lean into them to use them more effectively to benefit your career prospects.
This is no time to be humble either. Go ahead and list all the things you know about yourself, even if they don’t seem important. For example, people feel comfortable sharing their feelings with you. Or, you are able to have a robust debate without feeling emotional. A positive personal attribute could be something that you can harness and grow for your new career.
Learn to: build more productive relationships
Leaders can be ineffective when they only build strong relationships with certain kinds of people. It means you are drawn to those similar to you, such as those who share your background, race, gender, beliefs, or work style. A good coach can help you be aware of this tendency in yourself and work against it. They can help you see and question the limiting assumptions you make about other people and work to make sure your relationships are diverse.
When it comes to working relationships, a coach can also offer you tools to help you understand and create strong connections with a broader variety of people. Remember too, people from diverse backgrounds bring unique experience and knowledge to the table. The more different voices in the room, the better.
Learn to: achieve what you want
Here is the bottom line: A good coach can help you get more explicit about your goals and how to achieve them. They can also be a powerful support system on your journey, someone who knows you very well and wants the best for you. They will be a third party not attached to your goals or dreams and will provide objective feedback about what is realistic and what is not.
Unlike your friends, family, or employees, your coach is not dependent on you for success. They can be honest with you about how you’re doing, reminding you of what you want to achieve and what actions are helping support those intentions. They also teach you new ways of thinking, pushing you when you get stuck in a rut.
Working with a coach is different from anything else you’ve done before. It can be difficult, and it might even make you feel a little scared at first. But if you’re brave, committed, and open to change, you’ll find that the coaching relationship can be a powerful catalyst for positive change in your life – and finding your place in a new career that’s right for you.
