I still remember my first experience as a soccer coach to a team comprised of seven-year-olds. I shudder to think how near I came to losing my sanity and my patience when I had to witness them kicking the ball around like a huge bread-crumb infested with ants. It did feel strange at first to have a group of kids stare at you like an outsider in their domain. But that is what every coach has to overcome. Isn't it?

Coaching is encouraging others to perform well. It is also to successfully manage a mixed lot of top performers, standard performers, not-so-good performers and the laggards, each player bearing a "Handle with Care" label. Their egos are so fragile. Even the underachievers expect to be turned into a roaring success. The whole situation seems like an irony of the saying 'there is no I in team'.

Nevertheless, it does take a grinding determination to become a coach. There are seven steps that a coach can take any day. They are:

1. There are so many options these days as far as team-building tools are concerned. Corporate Team Building has various packages like vacation packages, ice-breakers, office games kept on-going , rope courses, etc. in addition to videos, seminars and books which go to make a team worth belonging to. Some ideas on information on them will follow later.

2. Grasp the main idea behind motivating. You can definitely use it today. Avoid mind-confusing play of words. Decide on three small ways to inspire the team to look forward to the next morning, before you go to bed.

3. Whatever your area of specialization, one can't beat experience when it comes to getting people to put out their best energetic efforts and it is all the more important when you are mixing with your whole team.

4. Remember that a performance can be questioned, but never the ability, intelligence or knowledge. Awareness of what a player goes through to play right will keep you away from the common mistakes of past coaches. I have seen such mistakes of other past coaches aggravate the situation and even build up hostility. You have to set an example on how best to do the job. When you know how badly is the experience at the wrong end, and then perhaps you will be sympathetic about setting out improvement courses.

5. Every coach has to face the worst experience when he has to send the player, even the top performer, to the bench. When you have to deal with such a person, encourage him to see his own follies. An egoistic performer loses his focus even with very small mistakes. It is then that you can correct him or her firmly, but with understanding.

6. Always keep your duties in front of you. You are there to improve them for their benefit. Make them realize this rather than empathizing with them.

7. Last but not the least, trust yourself and the members of your team. Your primary goals are performance and decisions and many are keeping a close watch to see whether they could do a more efficient job. So before sending anyone to the bench, talk to her or him and find out what is bothering them. If it?s something too personal, the best you can do is to offer encouragement to them. A friendly enthusiastic pat on the back would definitely help.

It is very important to be a successful company and being a thorough corporate person myself, I know that we all can partake of that success. You must remember that coaches are employed as guides to help you to put your best foot forward and never to complicate your work. If you use their guidance well, you can prove yourself a credit to them, as well as to yourself.

There is no straightforward answer to the question - "When do you need a coach?" You must have heard a lot about the benefits of life coaching. You must also be willing to improve your life by balancing all the areas. In order to determine whether it is the right time to hire a life coach, you will have to look into an array of factors.

You will be able to choose the right coach for you only if you know what you want accomplish with the help of a coach. It is important for you to be open to advice and constructive criticism. If you lose your temper whenever someone criticizes you, a life coach may not be the best option for you. So, when do you need a coach?

Benefits Of Life Coaching

Following are some of the benefits of life coaching.

• You get more control over your life.

• You get to know your goals and the ways to accomplish those goals.

• You achieve a balanced life. You know how to balance your work, your family life and social life.

• You learn the secret of stress management.

• You understand how to make the best use of your time and effort.

• Life coaching helps you to maximize your potential.

How To Determine The Need For A Life Coach

Following are some of these circumstances when you should consider hiring a life coach for you.

• You think that you lack support in your life.

• You think that things can be much better than what they actually are.

• You think that there is something wrong with you. You have a strong urge to change yourself.

• You think that everybody around you is more successful than you are.

• You feel overwhelmed even with the usual tasks that you do daily.

• You always get into the pressure of completing a task within the deadline. You never meet deadlines - may be because of procrastination or lack of proper planning that you regret later.

• You think you need someone to help you out.

• You think that you do not have a goal to accomplish.

• You think you are just aimlessly wandering around.

• You feel unmotivated to do things that you want to do.

• You have problems like low self-esteem issues.

If you are going through any of the above situations, then you already know when you need a coach. Right now!

Coaching - Identify your strengths and diminish your 'weaknesses' or as I prefer to call it `your areas for development'

How are you going to do this?

One of the first things you can do is sit down on your own and tease out your understanding of who you are. What I mean by this is, in terms of identifying your strengths, you could look at what you are good at, look at what you are motivated by, look at what you are passionate about. Examine, for yourself, what you would do for free (if you could and still live a great life).

So here's the deal - I want you to complete these statements (and where appropriate make as long a list as you can - you are then able to have lots of choice)....

I am good at, and enjoy ...

The thing I am most passionate about in my life is...

My nearest and dearest tell me I am good at...

I am motivated by...

I feel excited by...

The thing I would do for free is...

When I was a child I was really excited, motivated, passionate about...

My current hobbies are...

My manager tells me I am good at...

Now what about those areas that you need to develop?

It's good to be aware in this area also, because in that way you have an opportunity to enhance your skill set and knowledge base etc.

The areas I am least efficient in (and know I need to get better at) are...

The benefits I will get from developing the above are...

I will build this skill set and knowledge base in the following ways...

Commitments

These are actions you are committing to in order to take your life to the next level in the next year.

I am committed to doing...

I am committed to being...

Once you decide to work with a professional life or career coach, the next step is to find the right coach for you. Where do you start? What do you ask? And how will you know when you find the right one?

When you find the coach that is right for you, your path suddenly becomes an adventure. With insightful questions and perceptive observations, a coach can guide you through inspiring moments and groundbreaking realizations. Without a doubt, a coach can change your world.

So how do you find "your" coach? What's the fastest, easiest way to make a great match? How do you get from Point A ("I need a great coach") to Point B ("I'm working with the most amazing coach")?

To get started, do your research. Read about coaching on the Web and in the press. Talk with those you trust and ask for referrals. Ask friends and family members about their own experiences with coaches. And every step of the way, listen to your intuition. What sounds attractive? What resonates with you, or turns you off? These are clues to the kind of person you want to work with.

Today, many coaches profile their services on the Internet and offer some information about their background and experience. Some include a photo of themselves. As you explore and absorb this information, pay attention to how you feel. Listen to your heart as well as your head. Does this person resonate with you? Could you open up with this person?

Most coaches will give a free introductory session, so use this time to explore how the two of you relate. Ultimately, you're looking for a coach who will really work to understand you, acknowledge your accomplishments, and support your growth. This is going to be someone who can (and will!) show you how to stretch in new ways. Why? Because you can!

It is important to select and interview at least three coaches before making your decision. Before you conduct these interviews, take some time to get clear on the following points:

What do you want to use your coach for?

Does it matter whether it is a male or female coach?

What background would you like your coach to have?

What do you expect from your coach?

What about you would be helpful for the coach to know in working with you?
During the interview, be sure to address the following points:

Tell me about your coaching practice/business.

How long have you been coaching?

Describe the characteristics of clients who relate best with you.

What is your specialty or niche?

Tell me about your background and experience. How does that relate to my goals?

If I selected you to be my coach, what would we start working on first?
The coach you select will be your own personal guide to the life you really want to live, so stay with the process until you find someone you genuinely feel excited to work with. When you do, then you'll know - you've found the coach for you.

More fuss has been made about the distinction between coaching and mentoring than most other facets of coaching put together. I don't want to add to this fuss and would stress that to the coachee or the mentee the difference is largely meaningless as long as they are getting the help they need. However since this article is about clarity, I will attempt to draw out the differences between the two so that you personally are clear and so you have an intelligent answer should anyone ever ask you the question.

Like teaching or instructing, mentoring is essentially development through exchange of wisdom; with the wisdom moving from the more experienced, usually older manager to the less experienced, usually younger protégé. To be a mentor therefore requires us to have 'been there, seen it, done it' so to speak. Mentoring is very popular amongst businesses that seek quickly to guide talented employees into the top jobs. It often fits hand in glove with highly structured fast-track development schemes.

Mentoring is seldom concerned with day to day operational issues as these are the responsibility of the line manager. Mentoring is normally more focused on long-term development matters and as such mentors are often selected from outside the direct reporting line of the mentee. This has a particular advantage of course if it is relationships within the reporting line that are proving problematic for the mentee. As with most one to one help, the chemistry within the relationship is key and not every mentoring partnership will work. It's important that there's at least some element of choice in terms of who ends up working together.

Coaching - as I've set out in detail in other articles - does not rely on the coach being more experienced than the coachee. In fact coaching does not require any background knowledge of the issue at hand at all. I'd go further by saying some of the best coaching I've witnessed happens when the coach knows nothing of the situation their coachee describes and consequently their coaching is more pure; uncontaminated by the coach's own experience.

Coaches too are often selected from outside the reporting line although I personally believe it is often easier to combine the roles of manager and coach than it is of coach and mentor.

In the end perhaps it is more useful to consider the similarities than the differences. Coaches and mentors are both concerned with the growth of other people. Their rewards come from seeing the people they work with grow and develop; they are not driven by ego. Coaches and mentors both set store by their ability to listen and to ask questions designed to help people think. The skills and attributes of coaches and mentors are very similar. A mentoring session may provide opportunities to coach and a coaching session a chance for mentoring. Good coaches usually make good mentors and vice versa.

I know for a fact that The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) has given up trying to separate the two; hence the name. The Coaching and Mentoring Network similarly combines the two and organizations concerned with utilizing coaching and mentoring may be best advised to adopt a similar tactic.