By: David Herdlinger
It’s a question many of my clients looking to meet success often ask me: what type of coaching is most suitable for them and their goals?
Do you need a career coach to help you stay on track in your professional life? Or, do you need a personal development coach to help you unlock more fulfillment?
And the truth is… most people need both!
Unpacking the “Difference” Between Personal and Career Coaching
It’s easy to think that the two areas of coaching are completely distinct from each other.
When it comes to career coaching, you’d expect:
- Analyzing your career path and opportunities
- Get support in case you need to reassess your professional life
- Unlock even more growth opportunities
- Determining your goals and staying on your career path to meet them
While personal coaching seems to focus on other areas in your life:
- Identify the skills you lack and build them (such as confidence, communication, etc.)
- Create more opportunities for personal fulfillment and happiness
- Finding ways to reduce stress and anxiety
- Cultivating a sense of well-being in your life
If you look at it this way, it’s easy to think the two have almost nothing to do with each other. But before you consider working with two different coaches to reach your personal and professional goals, there is one key thing to understand:
These two facets in your life are so intertwined that working on one aspect automatically influences the other.
Success Is Determined by Having a Balance in Both These Worlds
Many personal issues can have a great impact on your professional life, positive or negative. And the reverse is also true.
Only when you have to make real choices, you can understand this strong link. You can’t truly help a person move forward in their career if they are battling with certain personal issues that are indirectly creating unnecessary obstacles. You can assist them in writing the best resumes out there, do countless mock interviews to ensure they get the job, but if, for instance, you don’t address the stress in their personal lives, you know their performance will be affected. And so will their ability to reach their goals.
Choose the “Right” Coach Instead of the “Right Type”
A coach is a person who provides you with 1:1 support to help you improve your life. The means to do it or the goals can differ from person to person, but that’s pretty much it.
So unless you’re looking to work on some very niche aspects of your life, I wouldn’t concern myself too much with the label that comes after “coach” as long as this person:
- Has the right experience and qualifications
- Understands your situation, and is able to genuinely empathize
- Can provide you with support in a way that’s comfortable to you (such as face-to-face, online, on specific days, etc.)
- You feel you can trust
And the last one is, by far, the most important! Because if you don’t trust your coach, you will not trust the process.