High-Performance Coaching: What It Is & How to Find a Coach (2024)

Think back to the crowning achievement of your life so far. You were on top of the world, celebrating a massive win and taking full advantage of your skills.

But you can’t operate at peak performance all the time. You might even feel like you’ve stagnated since then. Maybe you haven’t gotten a promotion in a while, your daily routine is boring you, or you just feel like you aren’t reaching your full potential.

High-performance coaching can help you find —or return to —the best version of yourself. With regular goal-setting and support, you’ll give your best effort, avoid burnout, and overcome the insecurities that might hold you back.

What is performance coaching?

Like any professional coach, a high-performance coach aims to help you grow. They work with you to address any area of your life, unpacking potential roadblocks and creating action plans to move past them. You could work with a coach to achieve the best work-life balance possible, land a high-impact new job, or navigate a major life change.

If you’re a manager at your company now but want to become an executive, a coach can help you determine the gap between your starting point and where you hope to end up. You’ll then decide how to take that journey, with clear action items and milestones along the way.

Who needs high-performance coaching?

High-performance coaching is for anyone ready to self-reflect and make a change in their own life toward bigger and better goals, regardless of life stage. You always have more to learn about yourself, and no matter how much you’ve achieved, you can reach the next level.

Generally, high achievers who seek coaching for performance can see that they’re ready to improve their habits or something else in their lives. Here are three examples to demonstrate the life intersections that could drive you toward coaching:

Career changes

In 2023, a quarter of the UK workforce said they would leave their current jobs. And a 2022 Pew Research report says that inadequate pay, a lack of respect in the workplace, and few opportunities for advancement contribute to employee discontent. People want to grow personally and professionally while earning the compensation and benefits they deserve. And you might fit into this category.

If your current role isn’t fulfilling your needs, it’s time to change careers. There are stimulating, in-demand jobs that you could thrive in. But career changes are nerve-wracking. What if you don’t get your dream job after several interviews? What if you resign from your current position and don’t have an income while looking for a new role? And what if your new job doesn’t bring you the security or satisfaction you’re looking for?

A high-performance coach can help you address these questions and make an action plan to find a role that suits you better. They’ll work with you to identify your strengths and weaknesses, pinpoint what’s missing from your current role, and take safe and healthy steps toward change. They won’t tell you what to do, but support you as you make your own decisions.

Setbacks

Everyone faces setbacks in life. Perhaps a significant event — like the loss of a family member or a major geographical move — has shaken your emotional stability. Or maybe you lost your job and aren’t sure where to go from here.

These setbacks are frustrating. But they’re turning points from which you can grow, discover more about yourself, and set yourself up for greatness. A high-performance coach can guide you at these uncertain moments, giving you the tools to self-reflect and bring yourself back to performing at your best at work and in life.

Feeling lost

If you’ve ever felt that something is off in your life, but you couldn’t identify the root cause, you know this sensation is disconcerting. But this experience isn’t rare. A BetterUp study found that 55% of people are languishing at a given time, which means they aren’t suffering but they aren’t thriving. They’re somewhere in between, dissatisfied and wondering how to get back on track.

If you’re unsure what life changes will help you perform at your best, a coach can help. You’re full of talent and potential, and a coach can help you generate creative ways to tap into your abilities in a more rewarding existence.Let’s say you’ve been teaching for 20 years and feel a shift. You’re burnt out from the stress, but you don’t want to leave the classroom. A coach can help you reflect and finally identify that you don’t need a career change — you need a better work-life balance. They’ll then help you create a plan to improve social connections, make time for self-care, or land a less demanding position. You’ll identify the tools you need to perform better in the classroom and enjoy work again.

5 benefits of high-performance coaching

High-performance coaches help people go from job dissatisfaction to an enriching career, feeling lost in life to having purpose, or lacking initiative to overcoming imposter syndrome. Here’s how coaching could help you:

1. Find clarity

Coaches are not therapists or advisors. They won’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. Instead, they’ll give you the in-depth support you need to find the solution on your own. In this vulnerable process, you’ll gain clarity on what you want in life and how to get there.

Coaches will help you identify and set laser-focused goals, pinning down specific, achievable objectives with clear timelines to improve your situation.

Imagine you start working with a high-performance coach to improve your social life. In your first session, your coach will push you to open up about what’s lacking in your personal interactions or why you’re unable to find quality time for others. You might discover you’ve become too focused on your job, letting human connections fall by the wayside. These admittances can be uncomfortable, but once you address them, you can set goals to improve your interpersonal relationships and stop overworking. Maybe your coach will help you set boundaries about your workload or take the initiative to invite friends over, even after a long day.

2. Tap into your resilience

Resilience is your ability to push through setbacks and pick yourself back up when things go wrong. Without this skill, you might find it hard to reach peak performance and face challenges with a positive, productive outlook. A coach can help you discover what resilience means to you and how to build it.

First, you might identify the cause of a lack of resilience. Maybe your physical health hasn’t been optimal due to a lack of sleep, improper nutrition, or poor hydration. Maybe you haven’t had sufficient time for relaxation and self-care. Once you find the aspects of your life you might want to improve, your coach will help you develop habits that give those problems the attention they need. When you’re already treating yourself with kindness and care, you’ll be more resilient when challenges arise.

3. Boost productivity and performance

You can’t always function at top speed. You burn out, life events get in the way, or you lose interest in tasks. None of these causes of reduced productivity are abnormal or reason to feel ashamed.

But you may miss the sense of accomplishment you once felt at the end of a workday or the rewards your high levels of productivity brought. A high-performance coach can help you determine why you’re no longer reaching goals or reaching a flow state at work. Depending on your needs, they might guide you through optimising your workflow, practising better time management, or thinking innovatively about new problems. In turn, you may enjoy your work more while feeling successful again.

Maybe you’re a graphic designer, and your creative ideas used to impress your team. But recently, you’ve been unable to generate innovative solutions that wow your peers. You’ve created so many successful but similar campaigns that you’re tired and out of touch with current trends. A high-performance coach can guide you toward potential solutions like upskilling, taking a break to recharge, or networking to find a mentor or learn about industry trends.

4. Foster growth

To improve your performance, you have to grow. There are dozens of different types of learning to pursue, whether you need to discover more about your own feelings or start upskilling. You might want to overcome your fear of public speaking to become a stronger leader. Or you might want to focus on personal development, improving your emotional intelligence and making more time for social connections to be a better friend.

Growth in one area of your life often pays out in others. Suppose you and your coach identify improving your emotional intelligence as an area of opportunity. Heightening your self-awareness and making keener observations of others will help you navigate personal relationships better. But it’ll also allow you to become a better colleague and manager in the workplace.

5. Improve your well-being

You can’t perform your best if your physical and emotional health aren’t optimal. Your well-being is a key part of how you perform in all parts of your life, and neglecting it could be the reason why you feel like something’s holding you back. A poor sleep schedule and diet, chronic stress, or a lack of emotional regulation could all stand in the way of reaching your goals.

A peak performance coach can push you to be honest about the ways your self-care is slipping. If you work in a fast-paced environment, you might have little free time, so your coach can help you discover ways to intentionally spend time improving your physical health. Your action plan might include exercise, hobby development, and meal planning to find more balance.

How to find high-performance coaching services

Developing a personal relationship with your coach is a vulnerable process, and because of the specialised and sensitive nature of coaching, you want to work with a vetted, experienced professional.

Here’s how to navigate the coaching industry and find the right help:

1. Join a reputable coaching platform

Join a reputable coaching platform like BetterUp. BetterUp only works with certified high-performance coaches, ensuring you get the highest level of support possible. And BetterUp’s coaches specialise in different frameworks to suit your needs. If you’re already sure you want to work on skill-building for your tech job, you can find a coach with experience in this niche.

2. Match with a coach

After you take a brief survey about your needs, BetterUp will find a professional to suit you, regardless of what type of coaching you’re looking for. And since BetterUp is a virtual coaching platform, you aren’t bound by geographical location. You can also opt to meet with a different coach if you feel your first choice wasn’t the right fit.

3. Prepare for your first coaching session

The best way to ready yourself for the coaching process is by letting yourself be vulnerable. When you approach coaching with an open mind, you allow yourself to discover unexpected strengths and areas of opportunity and chart paths toward your goals you may not have thought of on your own.

You can also prepare for your high-performance coaching program by doing additional self-assessments or journaling about ways to improve your life. This way, you’ll have talking points for your first conversation with your coach. But if you aren’t sure what to expect yet, you don’t have to come with specifics in mind. Coaching is about the journey, and you’ll work together to find the right path.

Learn more about yourself with coaching

With high-performance coaching, you may start with an idea of what you hope to improve in your life and leave the experience with a different plan. Part of the beauty of coaching is that it can shift your perspective and unlock potential you didn’t even know you had.

Whether you find yourself at a crossroads or are curious about reaching your full potential, seek the help of a coach. Through science-backed methodology, they’ll teach you how to listen to yourself, set goals, and accomplish more. These are high-performance habits you’ll use well after your coaching experience ends.

Published May 20, 2024