 Life Coaching
Steve, thank you for the reply. You identified the issue when you comment that 'Coaching' is a bad metaphor.
Many people believe that when they hire a 'Life Coach' they will be getting a Tony Robbins protege'. ie: someone who will provide strategies, tools and perspectives, to help them power ahead. Unfortunately, pure Life Coaching is a far more sedate process, with long silences during which people work it out, at their own pace.
You also elaborated on the most critical step in the process of selecting a coach, which was where you stated (paraphrasing) 'do not engage anyone who won't provide a complimenatry session'. So many eventual issues between coach & client could have been resolved at the outset, had the coach clearly outlined the nature of their service and provided a sample experience. It only needs to be brief.
Most people (in my expereince) are looking for answers; a 'personal development consultant/ resource' (see: success of Steve Pavlina .com, Robbins Research, etc, etc).
Life Coaching has it's place, but in it's purest form it is not what many people expect. My personal opinion however, is that it is ultimately where the greatest growth for the individual is available.
And thank you again for taking time to reply to my post. It's a great body of work that you've created here. A fabulous resource in the field. I am tempted to recommend it to everyone I meet, but then I would be robbing them of the joy of self discovery. They'll find you when they're ready, of course.
Cheers: David
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