Course Guide

Coaching Your Way Out of Covid-19

COVID-19 brought the world to a halt, with major cities all around the globe in self-quarantine and isolation. In response to this new policy, people clamor to find a new normal. In lieu of office cubicles, the global workforce is also responding to this change by trading their usual workspace for kitchen counters, dining tables, or even mattresses – as many are required to perform their usual tasks in the office from home.

Despite the situation, the COVID-19 outbreak can be used to the benefit of those who are in need of personal development. Because of the unique work environment, the home place has given individuals an opportunity to approach their work and home life in a more introspective way. This may come in the form of coaching.

According to the Book the book “Positive Psychology Coaching”, coaching is the process of working with individuals to help them achieve their life goals and create a more positive future. This involves being aware of issues and problems that concern them both in their work and personal life. It supports and encourages the individual’s existing knowledge and strengths to help them understand their current situation, in this instance: the coronavirus outbreak. It can also help them in broadening their perspective and being open to other possibilities. This leads them towards more effective and often creative solutions to their problems.

In his research, Bandura (1977) found that an individual’s self-efficacy plays a major role in how goals, tasks, and challenges are approached. Everyone can identify the goals that they want to accomplish, things they would like to change and things they would like to achieve. However, turning those plans into reality can be more difficult than it seems. People with a strong sense of self-efficacy view these problems as something that can be overcome. They are more likely to recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments.

People with a weak sense of self-efficacy do the reverse of that. They avoid challenges, believing them to be too difficult and beyond their capabilities. They tend to focus on their own personal failings and the possible negative outcomes, which leads to a loss in confidence in their own abilities. If they don’t believe that they can make the necessary steps to change for the better, they will self-sabotage.

This type of thinking can easily be nurtured by the uncertainty of situations such as the one that we are in right now, where people are losing sight of the future out of fear of COVID-19. That’s why identifying the degree to which people believe in themselves is at the heart of leading one’s self to change. This endeavor can be made easier with the presence of coaching.

Coaches help people develop their effectiveness by making the changes they want to make but have had difficulty achieving by themselves in the past. To do this, coaches use a variety of skills that can shift clients’ perspectives, allowing them to discover different solutions to achieve their goals. They may have big plans about what they want to do, who they want to be, and what they want to become. However, they rarely actually do anything about it, more so now when options are more limited than before. What a coach does is assist them in identifying what it is that’s important to them and help them to create a purposeful life using their own skills.

Coaching generates a level of empowerment that can lift people up from their lowest points. In today’s world, that may be what we need in these trying times. Though we are physically separated from one another, that shouldn’t hinder us from being able to help each other and push each other into becoming our better selves. It is never too late to coach and be coached by one another because together, we can overcome any difficult situation.

To learn more about how coaching can benefit you or your team members, or if you want to become a professional coach yourself, contact the Australian Institute of Professional Coaches on 1300 309 360 or visit our website www.professionalcoachtraining.com.au