What does it mean to be empowered?
Empowerment is a nuanced word and likely means something different to each of us. Feeling empowered can involve confidence, clarity, autonomy, self-determination and a sense of control over your own life.
Empowerment is feeling capable and confident in clearly expressing what you want and need, and knowing you have the ability to change things in your life, even if you’re not sure how or where to start.
- Charlotte Dover, ICF accredited coach
What is an empowerment coach?
An empowerment coach can help you explore what feeling empowered means to you. While empowerment means different things to different people, an empowerment coach may support clients to feel more confident in their skills and abilities, trust themselves, their decisions, and their needs, and feel self-assured when talking about them.
Empowerment coaching may also help people who feel they have limited autonomy or control in areas of their lives. A coach can work with you to help you feel more confident in your choices, make decisions with greater conviction, and find the courage to take steps forward, even when you're uncertain about the outcome.
Empowerment coaches typically support people who find conflict, judgement or criticism difficult. Coaching can help you build resilience and explore ways to approach difficult situations with greater confidence, rather than automatically avoiding them.
Finding your purpose
Understanding what matters to you can be an important part of feeling more empowered. Exploring your purpose, values and what you want from life may help you make choices that feel more aligned with who you are.
Find out more about purpose and values alignment.
What is the difference between a life coach and an empowerment coach?
Life coaching often focuses on what you want to achieve and how to take steps toward it while working through any obstacles that come your way. ‘Life coaching’ is an umbrella term, typically used to describe the various forms of personal coaching.
Empowerment coaching focuses more on the sense of self, developing your own sense of agency and autonomy – perhaps after experiences that have undermined your confidence in your own decisions or made it difficult to trust yourself.
Although on the surface, empowerment may seem like just another word for confidence, it is more focused on the overall development of your own sense of self, rather than confidence around a particular subject or event.
An empowerment coach may also encourage you to recognise your strengths and achievements, celebrate progress and build a stronger sense of self-belief.
How can empowerment coaching help?
Working with an empowerment coach may help you become more aware of your own needs, preferences and desires. A coach can support you to explore ways to communicate your wants and needs more clearly and with greater confidence, particularly when you’re concerned about judgement, criticism or exclusion.
Feeling more empowered may help you build resilience and confidence when making changes in areas of your life affected by external influences or personal circumstances.
You may also benefit from building a ‘personal toolkit’ – a written list, or even daily or weekly habits that act as reminders of the ways you can support yourself in times when you feel disempowered or when your self-doubt is high.
Tips for feeling more empowered
- When facing a situation you feel uncertain about, ask yourself what you already know and what has helped you previously. Remembering you have overcome challenges in the past can help you feel more capable.
- Self-knowledge can be empowering. Regularly exploring what you really want for yourself can be very effective.
- Spending time with people who make you feel valued and accepted for who you are can be helpful. Feeling more comfortable expressing yourself and staying true to your values may also help you develop a greater sense of confidence and empowerment.
What happens in empowerment coaching sessions?
By working with a coach, you can explore in depth areas in your life where you would like to feel more empowered. This might include your past experiences, as well as a focus on how you would like things to be in the future. Your coach will listen and ask questions to help you explore your thoughts, beliefs and goals. Together, you can consider plans that reflect how you would like things to be.
Your coach may use different tools or exercises to help you reflect on experiences or patterns that may be affecting how empowered you feel. Over time, you may have opportunities to develop your self-belief and confidence in advocating for yourself and your needs.
How to find the right empowerment coach
There are many different coaching styles and approaches, and the coaching industry remains unregulated. It’s important that the coach you choose to work with communicates in a way which makes you feel heard, understood and supported in a non-judgemental environment.
You may wish to view several coaches before committing to ‘the one’ – take your time with your search as it is important that you feel the coach is right for you. Many coaches will offer a free discovery call to help you learn more about them and their way of working, and determine whether you are the right fit.
Ready to find an empowerment coach?
If you’d like support to build your confidence, explore what matters to you and feel more empowered in your choices, you can use the links below to find an empowerment coach who feels right for you.
This page was written by ICF-accredited coach Charlotte Dover in April 2023.
