16 Reasons Why Clients In Different Industries Opt To Engage With A Coach

Professional coaches exist in to help guide people in various aspects of their lives. Some people need advice and guidance to navigate business challenges; others are looking to improve aspects of their personalities to become stronger leaders.

While every client has their own specific reasons for engaging with a coach, there are some basic ones that are common in some industries and among certain types of professionals. Below, 16 members of Forbes Coaches Council discuss the industries most of their clients are in and some of the most common reasons they have opted to engage with a coach.

1. To Develop Leaders And Improve Team Culture
I work with organizations across industries, typically medium- to large-sized businesses with approximately 100 to 3,000 employees. The most common reason my clients engage with me is to develop their leaders—particularly to help them get better at managing and leading people, improve their team/organizational culture and create a better employee experience. – Madhu Jeyakumaran, Think Stride Coaching and Consulting

2. To Evolve Their Ways Of Working And Become Better Leaders
Most of my clients are in large global corporations that recognize the need to evolve their ways of working. At the organizational level, those who seek coaching are hungry for an outside perspective, objective advice and tactical expertise to drive change. At the individual level, executives who opt to engage with a coach are seeking to be more effective in their evolving leadership roles. – Kayla Cartwright, ADAPTOVATE

3. To Improve Performance And Employee Engagement
Most of my clients are business owners and corporate bodies. The business owners are looking for how to make more profit, increase their overall performance and improve communication and teamwork. The corporate bodies want more employee engagement and workplace effectiveness coupled with skills for emotional intelligence. – Oluwashogo Oyeniyi, Dr Shogo Consulting

4. To Explore A Limiting Assumption Triad
I work primarily in the global health space, where approximately 80% of the workforce is made up of women and roughly 20% of leadership positions belong to women. One of the biggest reasons women come to coaching is to explore some version of a limiting assumption triad, where hard work and technical skills are recognized and rewarded in meritocratic organizations that will help them advance their careers into leadership positions. – Palena Neale, unabridged

5. To Level Up Their Storytelling Capabilities
My clients are predominantly in tech. They’re either product managers or salespeople who have to lead through influence and inspire others to take some kind of action. Most of the time, they’re interested in becoming better communicators and specifically hope to level up their storytelling capabilities. – Stephanie Judd, Wolf & Heron

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?

6. To Excel In A Unique Career Space
The niches that I coach are engineers and technical professionals. Those who work with me choose to do so because of my background in engineering and leadership, which gives me unique knowledge of where they are in their careers and how to help them excel—because I’ve been there! – Luke Feldmeier, Online Leadership Training – Career and Leadership Accelerator for Engineers

7. To Improve Executive Presence And Voice
I work with senior leaders in Fortune 500 companies, mostly in finance, tech and consulting, though I’ve also worked with industries as diverse as academia and fashion. The top reason these impressive executives come to me is to improve their executive presence, voice and overall communication. These are key ingredients to ensure you have a seat at the table. – Melanie Espeland, Espeland Enterprises

8. To Become The Best Versions Of Themselves
Most of our clients are stepping into the tech industry because they’re looking for job opportunities that have uncapped growth potential. They love fast- paced, consistent growth, and they engage with a coach because they want to become the best possible versions of themselves and avoid the common potholes and roadblocks that trip most people up. – Katie McIntyre, Career Sprout

9. To Grow Professionally While Striving For Perfection
The industries that my clients are in are not specific. Some are young students while others are successful businesspeople working in education or entrepreneurship. The one key personality trait linking all of my clients/mentees is that they all seek personal growth and strive for perfection. They wish to become better versions of themselves and are willing to invest in themselves. – Able Wanamakok, Find Your Voice Asia

10. To Create Time And Space To Achieve Ambitious Goals
Many of my clients are senior leaders navigating change to achieve ambitious personal and professional goals. They reach out for my coaching support when they need someone to help them create the time and space to get the big, important stuff on the table. Their coach is their thought partner and accountability buddy—a source of both support and challenge. – Gary Crotaz, Gary Crotaz Ltd.

11. To Have A Motivational Thinking Partner
My clients span a wide variety of industries and types of organizations as well as geographies. The most common reason I see my clients engaging with a coach is to have a thinking partner who can listen, challenge them, spark innovative thinking and support them emotionally in their professional development. – Michele Cohen, Lead to Growth Coaching

12. To Create More Impact While Increasing Profitability
Most of my clients are female entrepreneurs (mostly service-based), such as coaches, consultants and the like. They all desire to create more impact while increasing their profitability. They usually show up with a backpack full of fears that we untangle and sort out together. Once they’re more freed up, they have more mind space to implement smart and aligned business strategies to increase profits and sales. – Jasmin Manke, Jasmin Manke LLC

13. To Have Someone Else To Confide In
I’ve coached executives in most industries, from tech to fast-moving consumer goods and oil to luxury shoes. The common thread among them is personal insecurity about things they can’t confide in anyone else about. The board, their executive committee, their spouse—they all mean well, but can’t speak health to a leader’s Achilles heel. Public speaking, influence, imposter syndrome, time mastery, integrity, ethics—these are all very common areas of focus. – Corrie Block, Paragon Consulting FZE

14. To Better Understand Themselves And Others
My clients are C-suite executives who struggle to get “unstuck.” I help them understand themselves, others and their teams. To lead, collaborate and effectively help others, you must first understand yourself. My process creates quality leadership and winning teams comprised of high performers and effective working relationships. It is all about human-centric leadership.- James Hotaling, N2Growth

15. To Grow And Scale Their Businesses
I work with entrepreneurs wanting to grow or scale their businesses. Most are looking for models of success and to better understand how to navigate the cycle of success, failure and recovery. This will allow them to develop frameworks that can thrive in the post-Covid, digital, post-Brexit era. – Claudine Reid, PJ’s Community Service

16. To Gain The Confidence To Self-Advocate
All of my clients are female, and most are in tech or STEM. They seek out the help of a coach because they don’t feel confident self-advocating in these male- dominated environments, especially if they are in a nontechnical role and the only woman at a table with all male engineers/scientists. – Micha Goebig, Go Big Coaching & Communications, LLC
Check out my website.
https://drcorrieblock.com/