How life coaching helps in a crisis

Nearly all of us have periods when we feel overwhelmed. We might be working crazy hours at work and don’t know how to say “No” to an unreasonable boss. Need a strategy to overcome a hostile board? Do you want time to get a clear perspective on a relationship that has exploded? Do you need to turn up at a meeting as the best version of you? Or do you simply wish you could step off the planet for a few days to clear your head and get a fresh perspective? If you are going to do that, you probably need some expert help.

Life coaching: Support through crisis and beyond

As a life coach, I have helped people in all forms of crises. From the CEO needing to build a strategy before a hostile board meeting, firmly convinced they are facing a “No confidence” vote, through to the businessman who woke up to find a picture of himself entwined with a glamorous model all over the internet, following a business trip.

Life coaching takes many forms, but in essence, it is helping somebody navigate through the fog and find the space and strength to come through as the best version of themselves. To use a crisis as an opportunity to grow and to find the strength and resolve to face whatever the world is throwing at them with determination and resolve. It is too easy to tell somebody to breathe, to take some time out, or to rally together their resilience skills. It is another matter to stand beside them, acting as a non-judgemental ally, working through a strategy step by step, however rough it feels.

Many insolvency practitioners will tell you that they can help a client retain their house or business following a crisis, if they take a series of difficult steps, only to find the client does not have the mental strength or resilience. They become fatalistic and let the roof come down around them due to feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. In many instances, a life coach working together with the insolvency practitioner as a collaborative team can get a client to a safe space, both mentally and physically. There are too many instances of mental collapse or even suicide where somebody has been unable to face a difficult conversation with their family or bank.

On a more positive note, bringing an innovative product or disruptive service to market needs careful planning and a carefully thought-through strategy. A life coach, working with the Business Development Officer and CEO can help a successful launch. Over 40% of start-up businesses fail to see their third birthday. The most common cause is that the business owner is unable to build a collaborative team. Family members are recruited as Finance Officers or as Sales Directors, as the business owner is uncomfortable recruiting able professionals or buying in services. Integrating entrepreneurship with effective administration and efficient production is not easy. A business mentor and life coach can help the business owner work through the emotional hurdles as well as the corporate steps.

I have worked with business owners who have the confidence to plan a successful takeover or launch a new product but are unable to relax at home. They can mastermind the business elements but lack the confidence to do the most elemental of social tasks. I have seen a company director come apart when asked to pick his daughter up from a party on his way home from work, or to pick up some groceries from a supermarket to help. Life coaching is having the ability to step in beside an individual in support. It is not about performing tasks for the client but helping them take a deep breath and find the confidence to do the right thing.

The term 'spiritual Intelligence' is often totally misunderstood. Many executives, regardless of gender, lack emotional intelligence where they can recognise and manage their own emotions, but can also manage them with others. Spiritual intelligence is the ability to do what you know to be the right thing, regardless of how difficult that is. An effective life coach can support their client during difficult decisions. It does not involve being the moral compass for a client, but it does sometimes involve asking difficult questions and ensuring the client does not feel pressurised into taking the easiest route because the more sustainable option is more painful.

When a client feels overwhelmed, and it is not possible to take time out, it can be useful to help them take a different perspective. Frequently, I will ask if a decision would be easier to make if they were away, sitting on a beach in Australia. Given confirmation of this, it then prompts the question of whether it would still be easier from Singapore or Dubai? Then, from Paris or Munich, until there is a realisation that the distance of separation is not important. What is important is the ability to view the issue objectively and not subjectively, immersed in emotions. Once we can gain an objective view, we have a far greater sense of control. Then, we may not need to be sitting on the moon to decide, but we can use our business skills and experience to find a grounded solution.

So, as a life coach, I am prepared to go with a client emotionally, wherever they need to be, even if it means putting on a space suit for a while to gain objectivity. You are there with the client, wherever that needs to be, so that they can turn up whenever needed, as the best version of themselves. That way, they should be able to reassure an anxious board of directors, an unhappy wife or a nervous banker.