Coaching & Teens

Posted on May 02, 2013 by Howaida EL Halabi , One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

The start
Coaching is mainly about change. Change of behavior, change in attitude and change of an overall self-concept. Life coaching is not new yet it has been only introduced in the Middle East in the late 90’s. Way before that, it was introduced in sports and athletic games. It became a healthy approach to life objectives achievement, goal orientation and success later on. Many celebrities hire their own life coaches such as Ophra, Britney spears, Michel Douglas, and many others.
The definition of coaching is different from any other similar term;
Managing is making sure people do what they know how to do.
Training is teaching people to do what they do not know how to do.
Mentoring is showing people how the people who are good at doing something do it.
However, Coaching is none of these – it is helping to identify the skills and capabilities that are within the person, and enabling them to use them to the best of their ability – and by that increasing the independence within the individual, and reducing reliance.
In short, Coaching rests on the professional use of a specific range of linguistic skills such as targeted restatements and the limited and judicious use of powerful questions with the aim to help clients shift their perspectives on an issue or ambition, and thereby discover different solutions and options, in order to achieve their goals. These linguistic skills are indifferently used when coaching clients in any field.
In this sense, coaching is a form of meta-profession that can apply to accompanying clients in any human endeavor, ranging from their concerns in sports and personal, professional, social, family, political, spiritual dimensions, etc.
Life coaching is a practice that helps people identify and achieve personal goals. Life coaches help clients set and reach goals using a variety of tools and techniques.

Coaches are neither therapists nor consultants; psychological intervention and business analysis are outside the scope of their work. Life coaching has its roots in executive coaching, which itself drew on techniques developed in management consulting and leadership training.
In many organizations today, coaching refers to a method of personal development or human resources development (HRD). This field of coaching is becoming a distinct area of practice for individuals and in organizations.

We, as a group of certified coaches each in his/her field, provide different coaching programs and specialties according to needs and demands.
Remember, Coaching is the act of providing positive support and positive feedback while offering occasional advice to an individual or group in order to help them recognize ways in which they can improve the effectiveness of their life, business, career, studies, or any other need.
Coaching is an excellent way to attain a certain work behavior that will improve leadership, accountability, teamwork, sales, communication, goal setting, strategic planning and much more.
It can be provided in a number of ways, including one-on-one, group coaching sessions and large-scale organizational work. Coaching is not to be confused with seminars. Many corporations are instilling the practice of 360 degree consulting before providing coaching, which permits employees to utilize their own life or professional experiences in a positive way to create team participation attitudes even with superiors. Some use group motivational speeches to bring in profits, gain, season brake through and other successes to their line of business. It proved that this method specifically works well for students at schools and universities from certain age groups as well as other organizations such as universities institutes, banks and others.
We need to recognize that teenagers and young adults are often unsettled in their life path and career. It may be that they have yet to find out the real self, disclose to reality of life, decide to follow or lead and many other characteristics they kept hidden for fear of exposure.

A motivational speech helps in bringing out some of the self-esteem and self-confidence in these teens and half of the work is done by then. It stimulates their minds to discover part of what they are really looking for either a job or a career that they find stimulating and one in which they feel they can progress. They also discover the need to find a direction and purpose that can often bring young people eventually to Life Coaching which is a more advanced step required when needed to those teenagers and students who lack certain tools such as learning ability, retaining, concentrating, and other personal objectives issues. A specialized coach is advised then to assist the student or the teenager identifies his goals and helps him/her reach these objectives.

Motivational speeches is only a start but it is sometimes enough for some have no problem in being motivated in large groups and become challengeable to defeat their fears and doubts. I tend to do 3-4 speeches per school throughout the scholar year to remind the students of their stamina and their enthusiasm for reaching their goals especially before exam time. It also works as well for their parents who join in to help and support their children during hard times. Some students and parents then decide to go further and be coached if self-confidence and self-esteem are not yet achieved. This is another stage as was mentioned earlier.

Teen Coaching, Young Adult Coaching and Group Workshops
This group of people is extremely receptive to the new ideas that Life Coaching express. They absorb the new information then go away and implement the changes that they want to make!
I have coached many individuals including teenagers, as well as their parents and other clients in their early 20’s, with excellent results.
The needs of teenagers can be rather varied, for example, they may need extra support so that they achieve better academically, or they may feel that they would benefit from being more confident and having increased self-belief.
These factors lead to improved performance both at interviews and whilst giving presentations, for instance, as well as being helpful in life generally!
Because of questions being asked in a comfortable environment, these young people are able to open up with answers that they already have within.
When they hear themselves say aloud, what their hopes and aims are, they are then able to address them, go out into the world and bring them to life.

Teen Workshops in Schools
I run a series of workshops in schools for students in years 9, 10 and 11, to provide support where and when it is most needed.
For example, prior to exams or when students would benefit from building their self-confidence and self-belief; also many other situations. Teen workshops are a very useful and simple way of motivating students.
They are particularly beneficial when:
• There is a need to improve examination grades
• Students are having difficulty with basic subjects such as English, Mathematics or other sciences.
• Students are lacking focus and enthusiasm
• Students have low self-belief and/or low self-confidence
• Students indecisive of their future studies or educational paths by the end of high school.
• Students that have fear of failure, disappointment, or Rejection.
• Students have problems coping with life altogether.
As an outsider to the school, students find it easier to interact, open up and exchange their worries to me freely about their thoughts and feelings around difficult times at school, such as examinations or subjects that they struggle to master.
They become proactive instead of inactive, interactive instead of passive.
The fact that the motivational speech as well as the workshops are open to all during sessions and are completely unprepared (so it seems), they take on board the new ideas that motivational speeches and teen coaching illustrates, extremely quickly and happily.
Some of the key areas which students enjoy working on via coaching are as follows:
• Building SELF-CONFIDENCE and SELF-BELIEF
• Developing POSITIVE THINKING
• Increasing and understanding MOTIVATION
• CAREER ASPIRATIONS
• MEMORY TIPS
• Improving HAPPINESS and CONTENTMENT
As a result of these motivational speeches, teens find coaching in small groups later on appealing and many students have shown a marked improvement in their overall achievement at school, which in turn leads to improvement in their exam grades. Group workshops offer support and prove to be high in value for the students, yet economic with regard to time and money. They certainly enjoy and benefit from, the new outlook that coaching generates.
I offer the motivational speeches at schools for the first time usually
Free of charge, to present the concept of life coaching to teens that need this support the most at this age. The motivational speech can take 2-3 hours at max, depending on the openness of the crowd and the reception of the school team.
Keen students and groups develop eventually and I end up fully booked all year round for different material and coaching needs.
Please book in advance if you are aware of your students needs and even if you are not, you will be happy to discover how enthusiastic they can be.

COACHING FOR TEENAGERS & PARENTS
Being a teenager can be tough. Parenting through the teenage years can seem even harder. Many families find their way through the ‘black tunnel’ of the teenage stage with a combination of exasperation, affection, turmoil and humor.
For some, however, this process can be deeply challenging, bringing real unhappiness, conflict and stresses that can feel overwhelming.
As a specialist in helping and coaching individuals including teenagers, I have worked with a wide variety of young people for many years. While each individual of course has their own unique experience, I would identify these as the major recurring issues I work with time and again:
• Feeling of not being understood
• Lack of motivation
• Low self-esteem or lack of confidence
• Attitude and behavioral problems
• Conflict with parents or teachers
• Bullying or peer-group pressure
• Unhappiness in important relationships
• Falling behind with work and not knowing how to get back on track
• Fear of the future – ‘I don’t know what I want’

I offer teenagers and/or their parents who can be struggling with any of these or associated issues. If you may be feeling out of your depth and not sure where to turn, you do not need a psychologist or psychiatrist as much as a life coach. Friends, family and teachers, however well meaning, offer sympathy and advice,
but are often either too close to the situation or lack the specific expertise to facilitate genuine change.
Coaching conversations offer a safe, confidential and non threatening opportunity to explore what is really going on and work towards achieving a more harmonious and fulfilling way of living with the challenges of the teenage years.
It is the power of coaching.
I genuinely hope you find what you are looking for.

COACHING TEACHERS & INSTRUCTORS
You can also build a good team of teachers and instructors using the same techniques for;
• Class management
• Teaching skills
• Experimental blow out behavior
• Outstanding instructing
• Material perfection
• Examination professionalism
• Student-teacher relation building
• Teamwork & Leadership
• Abuse and misuse
• A teaching job or a teaching work
Along other coaching skills offered that, include all the time building self-esteem, self-confidence, and generating finally outstanding school achievements. Please Check list of Coaching objectives and subjects if required.

Howaida El-Halabi, PCC, MCC
Master Certified life Coach – the Arab coaching Federation (Canada) &
Professional Certified Corporate Coach – the International Coaching Federation (USA).