Goals, success, health, relationships and finances are among the top five areas that many clients want to work on.

Every client presents with a unique set of challenges, circumstances and background and I believe that however long their list of situations, there is a common theme running through them all and it can be summarised in just two words; happiness and contentment.

Each client’s quest for happiness and contentment will be different. For some it will mean that various behaviours, beliefs and thought patterns need careful and progressive change and the coach is the effective catalyst that can facilitate this.

For other clients another more subtle aspect of coaching can be easily overlooked. There are some clients who appear to have it all, who enjoy good health, great relationships and an enviable lifestyle and who still lack happiness and contentment.

Again, there is a broad spectrum of degrees and each client will have a different interpretation of happiness and contentment. At one end this could be a vague but persistent sensation of, ‘is that it?’ At the other end, there may be a fear of losing all that has been achieved. Within this range, the typical coaching models and techniques may be less effective than in the more action centred tools needed to address the common five areas. Here we need a different approach which involves steering the client towards a new way of thinking.

I liken this to a dentist. One patient may need the application of some tools that would not look out of place in a DIY enthusiast’s tool box and their use; with sheer strength to remove a reluctant molar that needs extraction. The next may require precise use of fine instruments that would happily live in a watchmaker’s kit to remove pressure on a damaged nerve.

I’m sorry if this mention of dentistry has hit a sensitive nerve in your psyche! My point is that the Achievement Specialists’ approach to coaching has never been (and never will be) that ‘one size fits all’. The coaches that we train are guided to be aware of all the degrees and subtleties of coaching, they have the appropriate ‘tools’ and the awareness of which and when, to use them for the benefits of their clients.