It is natural for every one of us to want to be successful at something or be successful in one way or the other. Obviously, it is innate in every individual to seek survival and desire some level of achievement. Although our individual drives, as well as personal convictions, commitment, abilities and ambitions will differ depending on our situations, circumstances and environment, most people will choose to be successful in a particular way if given the opportunity.

There is no doubt that personal success or being successful means different things to different people. Likewise, the context, nature and extent of success will differ. Nevertheless, success for virtually every one of us would be achieving something that is of immense importance to us, or living a life that is congruent with our personal values.

Where coaching come in as a success-activating process is facilitating our success drivers and supporting us to have more of what we believe is important to us. Having a coach is a great benefit in this regard, especially in keeping us focused, committed, energised and inspired. This is especially with regard to clarity on our personal values, as well as on what is important, needful and sustainable.

In this journey, you may need one or more of these: personal discovery, knowledge, conviction, awareness, trust, clarity, confidence, commitment, consistency, passion, belief, and encouragement, among others. The nature, system and processes of coaching are essentially structured to help you get there. A good coach actually acts just as the “motor coach”, which is a specialised vehicle designed for long distance travels and greater carrying capacity. 

I have often been asked the question of when exactly does a person need coaching, as well as when coaching can be prescribed as needful or considered most useful? My answers have always been that the view of coaching should be a bit broader than just solving problems or offering solutions in times of need.

As true as that may be, I still prefer that coaching is looked at more with the ‘eyes’ of powerful and beneficial partnership, where both the coach and the client have needs, and where both parties offer solutions. The power of coaching derives from their “conversational dialogue and dance together”.

Having made the above clarifications, I believe it is safe to list a number of situations below where and when a person may decide that he or she needs coaching, and therefore seeks to engage a professional coach. The list below is by no means exhaustive but provides some indications on the opportunities and possibilities offered by successful coaching engagements.

When coaching can be considered by an individual:

• When you need to develop a clear vision of the future for yourself, especially concerning your lifestyle, wellbeing, career or profession.
• When you need to establish immediate or specific short term goals that support and build a path that leads to some greater goals and vision.
• When you need to establish an effective work-life balance.
• When you need to evaluate and remove any roadblocks to your success as a person, professional, businessperson, managers, leader, etc.
• When you need to understand and adapt to the emotions and interpersonal challenges involved in leading others, particularly within the organisational structure.
• When you need to identify, understand and utilise the resources available and required to achieve goals.

Some people may wonder how, and if coaching really works. The truth is that, just like any other human creation and process, there is absolutely no imperfection in the process of coaching. What would make the process to work efficiently and to be successful remain the two active parties involved in the process – the coach and the client. The agreement between the parties and the variables must be considered.

It is therefore important to consider the following among others:

• Is there rapport between the coach and the client?
• Is the time right for coaching?
• Is timing for coaching right?
• Is the environment conducive?
• Is the process well structured and planned?
• Is the coach skilled and professional enough?
• Is the client coachable?

The conditions for coaching do not have to be one hundred percent for success. What is needed is the understanding of what would make for a highly successful coaching process, as well as the commitment of both the coach and client to make the process to work.

Where this is possible, the interactive process of coaching has the power to unlock potentials. It also helps people find from within themselves ‘how to do’ solutions, without imposing the ‘what to do’ solutions.

The ‘how to do’ delivers the real performance, because the answers to achieving and sustaining high performance lie inside the client. A lot of people know about the ‘what to do’, but don’t do what they should.

The reasons for not doing what has to be done to achieve what needs to be achieved are uncovered by coaching. If people see the benefits of doing what they need to do, it is likely that they would be more inclined to do it, simply because of a perceived gain. The gain (goal or benefit) is what coaching keeps in the clients’ view.