- Since I started my coaching business way back in 2012,
there has been tremendous growth
in the lawyer coaching industry.
But what even is coaching?
Stick around to find out what lawyer coaching
is, how it can help you,
and when it might not be the right thing for you.
Welcome back, if you're new to this channel,
I'm Annie Little, I'm an ICF Certified Coach
and former lawyer.
I created this channel for lawyers
who are looking for practical guidance
on how to land, lead, and succeed
in the legal profession and beyond.
So, what is coaching in general?
Coaching is a collaborative process between you and a coach
designed to help you create goals,
and then design actionable plans and strategies
to get you to those goals.
The coaching process often involves identifying
and clarifying your values, your strengths,
your interests, your priorities,
as well as both your short and long-term goals.
And you're likely to address common obstacles
like perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and low confidence.
Okay, so now that you've got a general idea
of what coaching
is, let's talk about how coaching could actually help you.
In a nutshell, coaching can help you
with all the things you need to be successful as a lawyer
that you didn't learn in law school.
And I can generally break down the types of lawyer coaching
into two categories.
The first category is career coaching.
And a career coach can help you figure out
what type of work you want to do, what type of job,
maybe you want to transition into a different industry,
they can also help you put together a strategic job search,
they can also help you develop a networking plan,
or a networking strategy that doesn't make you want to hurl,
they can also help you with resumes, cover letters,
interview prep, and then once you land the offer,
they can help you to negotiate your compensation.
Another category that's common within lawyer coaching
is executive coaching.
And while career coaching is often
targeted at helping you to find a new job or a new career,
executive coaching is more focused
on when you are in a career or in a job
that you want to remain in,
and you want to develop some skills
that are going to help you to excel in that job.
Some examples of executive coaching for lawyers
looks like helping somebody navigate the transition
from associate to partner,
or associate counsel to general counsel.
It can also help lawyers who have landed in their ideal job
or landed in a bridge job,
and they want some help adjusting to the new law firm,
corporate, organizational, government culture,
whatever it may be.
Executive coaching is very helpful
for those lawyers who want to develop their leadership
and mentorship skills.
And just generally you can think
about executive coaching for lawyers
as helping you to become the kind of manager, leader, mentor
that you always wished you'd had, but didn't.
All right, so now you know how lawyer coaching can help you.
So let's talk about some instances
where coaching may not be the best fit for you
depending on your needs.
So, one service you may be looking
for is known as career counseling.
Career counselors are experts in the employment landscape,
salary ranges, and industry trends.
So for example, if you wanted to know
how many patent attorney positions are open
for a fifth year associate in your geographical area,
a career counselor would probably have a pretty good idea
of what the market looks like and what the salary range is.
So if that's what you're looking
for, that's more of a career counselor
that is a career counselor, not a career coach.
But let's say you want to figure out how to move
from a litigation career to a transactional career,
that's a career coach's wheelhouse.
Okay, another service you may be looking
for that is not coaching is career placement.
And this is basically where you're looking for somebody
to find a job for you, most commonly known as a recruiter.
So a recruiter is going to contact you
if you look like you have the qualifications to fill a role
that they have been hired by an employer to fill.
In contrast, a career coach would help you
to apply to this position and prepare for the interview
and help you to negotiate the job offer and compensation.
And the third service that you might be looking
for that coaching is not the right fit
for, is if you're looking for therapy
or mental health services.
Only a licensed mental health professional,
like a psychotherapist, therapist, counselor, psychiatrist,
they're the only ones that can diagnose
and treat mental health disorders
like depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
Traditional psychotherapy generally looks to the past
to help diagnose a condition
that you currently have and then to design a treatment plan
to help get you out of like this place of suffering
and dysfunction and into a functional place
where you can live your life.
So, in addition to the fact that coaches
aren't mental health professionals,
and cannot help you with those mental health issues,
coaches look forward as opposed to therapists
who look backward, and coaches also work with you
in a place where you are currently functioning,
and you are looking to move up and to excel
in a certain area of your life.
So, after learning all that,
if you think you might be ready for coaching,
I have linked to some of my services
in the description below.
The first one is my career coaching program,
it's called Make Your Next Move,
and it helps lawyers to find and land their ideal job
using a practical, repeatable process.
And I've also linked to my executive coaching services,
which are for lawyers who are already
on their ideal career path,
and they're looking to lead and succeed
now that they're there.
So check those out, and if you have any questions,
you know you can always reach out to me,
leave a comment, I'm happy to help.