Objectives in coaching

The coaching process does not focus on the coach but on the coachee or client, a structure is built for the client to grow. The coach acts as a mirror for the client, and influences the client to accomplish what he/she determined for him/herself.

Goal setting is an ongoing process throughout life. People will always want more. As long as they do not learn to know themselves, to overcome obstacles on their own, to master their emotions and face challenges, they will need a little help. Someone to accompany them and hold them accountable for achieving the results they set out to achieve.

There are the coach's objectives, according to the vision they have of their process and method, the objectives of each session. And there is the client's objective, and this is not necessarily clear, so insisting that they define it immediately is not advisable.

Finding and establishing the client's objective

The path through the coaching process depends on the relationship that is created with the client and the client's specific needs. Rarely does a coachee come to the session with a clear and defined objective.

Especially in life coaching, when the client is looking for a transformation, a way to become a better version of him/herself. They almost always come with a problem or because they feel bad, and the client needs to explore their reality until they find the real cause and then discover what they want, where they want to go, the goal. It is the coach's job to facilitate this task.

It is likely that there is a problem and it is necessary for the client to reflect on it. Analyze it together and identify whether it is a specific situation or most likely a limiting belief about himself. It is essential to ask the right questions to reveal these limitations so that you can work on their resolution.

Another important topic can be the discussion of his values, since they will be fundamental to establish goals and objectives. Likewise, work can be done to broaden their perspective on life and explore their options.

All of this facilitates self-awareness and helps them discover what they really want. Why are they here, at this stage of their life, trying to change? When the client achieves that self-awareness, they move into action to start getting results quickly. Goal setting is easy once we understand the client and they know where they are going.

That is, once it is achieved:

• Facilitate the client to develop his or her life vision: without a vision people often go around in circles throughout their lives with virtually no way forward.

• It is essential that it is compelling and meaningful to their future.

• Find out what their goal is: what they want to achieve. You may already have it clear and are already working on it, you just need a framework, a structure and organization whether it is short, medium or long term.

• Establish the objective: the specific result you want to achieve. Maybe they don't know it yet, in most cases clients focus more on what they don't want, and you have to get them to turn it around, focusing and defining what they want in a positive way.

• Agree and elaborate action plans: depending on the nature of the main objective, you can agree on how you are going to proceed. It may be enough to raise it at a conversational level, or it may be better to develop a formal plan, which is a tangible guide that specifies the short, medium and long term actions.

• Move to action: as quickly as possible. One of the roles of a coach is to hold the client accountable for meeting their goals, to encourage them, to motivate them and to make sure they are accountable to someone for progress.

What should the objectives look like?

Generally speaking, once we have defined our goal and the real objectives we are pursuing, we proceed to develop a plan and some of the issues that are advised to achieve the objectives are:

• They must be formulated in positive, concentrating energy on what you want. Do not waste time on what you do not want or what scares you.

• They must also be purely personal, depending strictly on the actions of the person. They cannot be objectives of others about you (parents, partner, etc.), nor be directed to others to change. For example, if I want to get a job x, the objective will never be to get me hired because it does not depend on me; it can be to prepare for the interview, or thoroughly research the requirements, or solve some knowledge gap to perform that function, and so on.

• When people set a goal they are always told to be realistic, and when defining them one of the most practical ways is to