I see coaching as professional mind training, or training about a mind shift, which you can apply to your personal or professional life equally to get better benefits.
The following quotes have been taken from end-of-course evaluation forms of an accredited Coach Training program:
‘’When I enrolled for it, I just did it for the sake of learning something new. But it changed the way I think now; it changed my life.’’
‘’I never knew I had so much to learn.’’
‘’It was the best thing that happened to me.’’
From a trainer’s perspective, these comments by the participants have and will always remind me to be the best at what I do, giving me the courage and motivation to be even better next time!
From the trainee’s perspective, the program has been a valuable professional development encounter in their lives.
According to Eco Canada, “professional development offers a person an opportunity to sharpen their knowledge, develop their skills, keep up-to-date with the latest trends of the profession, take advantage of networking opportunities, revitalize some of their ideas for projects, etc.”
Kaplan Financial also recently reported in an article about the benefits of professional development in a business setting, such as “increasing retention, building confidence and credibility, making succession planning easier, re-energising the staff and improving the efficiency in the business as a whole.”
Evidently, there are many tools for professional development available today. They range from books, video tutorials, webinars, online courses, face-to-face courses, seminars, networking events, websites, and programs on TV and radio. All provide general learning support to a wider community. Support also comes in the form of hiring a coach or mentor who specifically addresses you and your needs.
Coaching is increasingly seen as an absolute necessity to be an effective, efficient thought manager in a highly competitive world, where your workforce is more knowledgeable than ever and old management techniques are no longer appropriate.
Coaching further helps you communicate your views/needs more effectively to others. It helps create harmony and excellence in the workplace, meaning meeting different viewpoints without conflict is easier to achieve. Also, when evaluating yourself and your situation, you can use coaching to adapt and adjust to your situation more easily.
Professional development depends on the chosen method and may require finances, time, commitment, and application of what you have learnt in order to fully benefit. Further, you need to trust the change it can bring to you, be brave to use it at every opportunity, evaluate outcomes, and adjust to reap its maximum benefits. All this starts with the decision that you need professional development to achieve faster with a coach than you could on your own.
Some people do it automatically as their company arranges it, and some do it because they have to – possibly a manager has requested you seek practitioner support as part of your performance management and development at work.
Others think or talk about doing it with friends and colleagues. Some know they should do it but don’t; instead, they seek encouragement and opinions from others. Finally, some are oblivious to the benefits of coaching and/or mentoring, so they struggle alone.
When you are already running thin on time with multitasking and many activities, when your finance budget for training comes from your own pocket or is limited by your company, how would you decide on the need for professional development for yourself?
1. Feeling Stuck and Unmotivated
If you feel a little rusty for a while, it may mean you need a boost in your work, new ideas to work on, new people to be inspired by, etc. People sometimes go through different phases in life, and they need to break monotonous patterns to feel engaged at work. Exploring an area where you can sharpen your knowledge or develop additional skills may be an excellent way to break out of your rut.
When I was feeling a bit low and monotonous for a while despite being in a highly-rated career, instead of ignoring it, I took it as a sign to look around for something interesting where I could apply my background and skills for better human development. As I looked around vigorously, I learned about coaching as a relatively new field which can branch out to many areas – I ended up taking a full course on coaching in the UK, which formed my next career move a year and a half after the course.
2. Lagging Behind in an Area Important for Your Work
If your team has been constantly behind in meeting deadlines or managing workload, etc., maybe it is worth considering improving team management skills or increasing team performance and effectiveness. Every time after a presentation at work, if you feel you could have done better’’, maybe it’s worth exploring a course to improve your presentation skills. If your business is not generating adequate clients, maybe hire a marketing person or take a course on branding, social media marketing, etc. If you feel you are not a strong enough negotiator, and it has cost you a few deals, a negotiation course may be worth the investment.
Coming from a medical field, I had to improve many skills in project management to do my job in the UN. My attempts at self-study and participation in training provided by the UN for employee development offered me a greater platform to upgrade needed skills and learn on the job.
3. Consider a Career Change or Transition
If you already know which area you would like to enter, it may be worth spending time on self-study, taking a few courses in the specific area to upgrade your knowledge and skills, or a combination of both. Sometimes, taking a course may offer the best alternative if a time constraint is involved.
It took me a great deal of effort to keep my interest in medicine until I decided to make a career move to coaching. Today, as I head back home after my lecturing sessions for training new coaches, the thought of ‘this is what I love doing’ has crossed my mind a million times.
4. Planning Your Next Promotion
Being prepared for the next big move in your career is important. It may be good to study the differences between your current work responsibilities and try to build your capacity in the area that can significantly impact your new post. For example, if you have been a technical person with lesser management responsibilities, but your next promotion involves you handling a team, it may be best you undertake a course on brushing up your management skills.
I always tried to be pre-prepared with the knowledge I needed for each different project, from donor reporting,
to publications, to strategic planning, to planning a retreat.
5. Sudden Development of a Strong Interest or Desire in a New Area
When we work in an area where we enjoy it, it goes beyond just working for money. But you need the courage to explore that nagging message reminding you of the interest inside your brain. You may find your lifelong success path or your career path may change.
As I started learning about coaching, it kept ringing in my head for a long time before I took the initiative to enrol for the summer program in the UK. A website I had looked at previously kept coming back to me many times on different occasions until finally, I inquired about the course and before I knew it, I had enrolled for it.
In the end, whether professional development is ‘optional or a must’ is each person’s choice. But one thing is for sure: if you have chosen the right professional development path, it can upgrade your situation and maybe be a life-changing experience.
Therefore, I urge you to think seriously about professional development in every aspect before deciding on it, from the area you are interested into the global trends of the profession, the availability and suitability of the courses, making sure your choice includes accredited training providers, supported by testimonials of those who have undergone it, the financial aspects, etc.
There is a free downloadable guide, How to Choose Your Mentor or Coach, available that can help you make the right choice.
More importantly, trust yourself, the little clues you get prompted upon or within yourself, as I know and believe the best things for each one of us come from our very own self.