Career Success – The Untold Story

When we think about career success, famous world leaders may come to mind. They have operated in different fields that have redefined extra ordinary – like Barrack Obama, Serena Williams and Christiano Ronaldo, what do these people have in common?

They have achieved greatness in their careers. Obama broke racial barriers to the most powerful presidency in the world and is arguably the most eloquent leader on the planet. Serena Williams is ranked number one in women singles tennis and is the reigning champion of the French Open, Wimbledon and Olympics singles and doubles and has won 21 grand slam titles. Cristiano Ronaldo has more individual trophies than you would care to count including Globe Soccer Award for Best Player of The Year!

Let me pause here and ask once again what do these greats have in common?

They all have a COACH!

Who is a coach? What is a coach? Let’s just take a moment here to shed some light on a poorly understood service profession –COACHING. According to the International Coach Federation coaching is the partnering with the ‘coachee’, in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. A Coach honours the coachee as the expert in his or her life and work and believes they are creative, resourceful and whole.

In a study commissioned by the International Coach Federation and conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers in 2015, increased productivity was identified as a key benefit of professional coaching which leads to maximization of potential and unlocking latent productivity. 70% of employees who engaged a professional coach showed improved work performance. The study also revealed that employees who worked with a coach developed self – confidence that not only transformed them into more positive people but also enabled them to cope and thrive in the ever – changing world of work.

Our birthday anniversary or the beginning of a new year becomes an opportunity to once again write resolutions that we hope will change our lives but which never do. It’s cyclic. Same process every single year!

Are you tired of writing resolutions and making commitments that you believe will improve your career, your family life, your finances or your health year in, year out? Do you feel like your best never seems good enough? Do you beat yourself up for making these sincere commitments and not fulfilling them or seeing them through?

Maybe it’s time that you thought differently and did things differently. It may be time that you considered engaging a coach. Most of us think that getting help is and admission of failure or of not being able to achieve based on individual effort. Getting help is actually loving oneself and investing directly in getting greater productivity, speed to action, deeper learnings about self, accountability and support. Isn’t that a worthwhile and valuable investment?

Back to Barrack Obama …………….After his dismal performance on the weighty Presidential Debate against his opponent Mit Romney, Barrack worked with his coaches to restore public confidence in him for a second term in office. Through this coaching process he realized that he had let his disdain for Romney get the better of him in the debate. Coaching gives power to the coachee enabling them to determine the goals they want to pursue, encourages them to discover who they are and lead them to generate their own solutions and strategies and make them responsible for their own outcomes.

Quick question ˗ If the most powerful man on earth (speaking in metaphorical terms) recognizes the value and importance of coaching, might it not be something worth looking into?

Are you looking to enter the next frontier of your life? I have only one answer for you ˗ Get yourself a Coach!

Angela Rarieya is the Managing Partner of UpSkill Afrika Ltd – a provider of soft skills solutions and customer experience advisory. Her expertise as a customer experience specialist in executive management spans over a decade in the service industry. She is also a Board Member of the Institute of Customer Service Kenya. www.upskillafrika.com ararieya@upskillafrika.com