Coaching can lead to extraordinary results. With the rapid change in today’s business environment, and the shortage of multi-talented and adaptable staff, more and more companies are finding that professional coaching can help them increase productivity, enhance decision making, self-confidence, capabilities and efficiency of their staff to marked degrees.

An individual or a business will team up with the coach and sets out the goals they want to achieve. The coach then acts as a working partner providing one-on-one support, feedback, thoughtful input and challenges to enhance certain skills or attributes.

A professional coach is trained to open up new opportunities for people through inspiring and skilful communication that enables them to grow through a process of self-discovery.

The coach focuses on creating specific outcomes and managing personal change, but in a much more organic way that flows from the candidates themselves. This is somewhat different from other supportive professions. For example, a therapist focuses on healing. Consultants are usually hired to diagnose what is gone wrong and provide a solution. While mentoring is often a role adopted by people with experience in a particular area who can provide guidance and counselling. Trainers are different, and tend to impart specific and defined skills.

Professional coach assumes that the parties involved can figure out their own solutions and have their own goals in mind. So professional coaching emphasises action, follow through and accountability using discovery-based approaches. Results are then measured against the original agreed goals: increased income, promotion, greater productivity, more self-confidence and so on.

Using this approach, professional coaches can cover many areas from business coaching to executive coaching, sales coaching, relationship and confidence coaching, life coaching and even parent coaching and public speaking.

“I have learned a lot during the past year and experienced the marvel of practising the coaching skills and interventions I have discovered. I personally experienced the power of coaching when I was at college and it enabled me to see more possibilities in my life. Coaching allowed me to see things from different perspectives. It helped to clear my thoughts so I could develop my own plans. But most of all, I was not alone. I had my coaches and their support. I sincerely hope that more and more people will get the benefits from coaching, that I did!”

HKU SPACE has introduced an “Each Student has a Coach” scheme in one of the overseas top-up degrees in Human Resource Management for 2015. The students will enjoy a series of three coaching sessions from a professional coach who can help them with setting life goals, career goals and study goals as well as goals on interpersonal relationships.