“A good coach can change a game; a great coach can change a life” (John Wooden).

What do you need to know about coaching?

Did you know that the term “coach” was first used in connection with the act of education in 1830, in the academic environment of the University of Oxford? He was referring to a teacher who “carried” his student up to the exam. Only in 1861 is the first use of the term in sports language recorded. It is a metaphor, because, in English as in other European languages, “coach” means “carriage” in the first place.

In the beginning, “coach” has a much more concrete meaning. In the fifteenth century, the village of Kocs in northwestern Hungary was known for its inhabitants engaging in the construction of carts for the transport of goods between Vienna and Budapest. One of these craftsmen, at one point, makes a larger and more comfortable carriage than anything that existed before.

The transition to metaphor is easy to guess: a coach is a person who “bears” the person who asked for his help until he reaches his goals.

It is considered that the first mention of the term coach in his modern sense belongs to the American Timothy Gallwey, who uses it in his book, “The Inner Game of Tennis”, published in 1974.

But the first theoretician of the concept of coaching is considered English John Whitmore, who published, in 1992, the leading coaching manual, “Coaching for Performance.”

Coaching: a fashion or a useful tool for personal and professional development?

Today, the term is intensely used in the most varied fields. Generally, each sphere of activity has professionals specialized in this direction. We could say that coaching is not for the mediocre or self-reliant individuals. On the contrary, the option of working with a coach comes as a natural consequence of the desire to excel in the chosen profession. Significant is the fact that it has proven to be more effective in managing a career ascent with a coach.

Of course, coaching has also become a fashion for us. This is why it is preferable to get well informed before calling on the services of a coach. Look for the certifications or certifications that recommend it, check its client portfolio, and, in general, professional experience, but also … life experience. Remember that “the good fruit tree is known.”

What does a (good) coach do?

In short, it gives you personal revelations.

A good coach is one who knows how to use their communication skills effectively

the purpose of determining you to approach new perspectives on the issues that trouble you. It is the one that causes you to know yourself better, to discover your potential, and to act according to new paradigms, following who you are. A valuable coach is not a teacher who will teach you, word for word, how you can achieve your goals, but a companion who will guide you to discover yourself how you can get there.

Do lawyers need coaching?

Over our four decades of combined experience, we have also observed a substantial decrease in the quality of life of the lawyer and an outrageous increase in health disorders.

Common health ailments such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and burn out are 2 to 3 times higher in the legal field, and this is understandable given the nature of the profession. Long hours, client demands, and business burdens do not add up to an easy task.

However, these are symptoms of imbalance and should act as a wakeup call that it is time to make some serious life changes. We know and understand – we have been there. There is a chance to be a successful lawyer with a healthy work-life balance. You can wake up to a job and life you love every morning.

I am convinced of this. Clients who have called our services coaching confirms it; the feedback we receive from our colleagues and readers encourages us to continue on this path.

How can a coach help you reach your goals for a successful career in law? Here are some directions:

1. It helps you to formulate the issues you want to work on and set your short and long term goals. No coach who respects and respects you will do this in your place.
2. It helps you discover your path. It does not teach you; it will not give you ready-made advice; it will not make decisions for you. A good coach communicates effectively and harmoniously with you, asking you essential questions that will lead you to new personal discoveries.
3. It encourages you to take action. It will not tell you precisely what to do, but it will help you develop your steps in your action plan.
4. It supports you throughout the stages in which you will operate the changes you wanted. It’s there for you, and at the time of success, and at the time of defeat

When do you need coaching?

For me, coaching has helped me in times of crisis in managing my professional ascension. I had a large team, many driving projects, and no longer faced the challenges in communicating with the people in my team. But the hardest part was that I had left myself in the last place … My body had already sounded the alarm.

And yet, how much I wish I could have benefited from coaching early in my career! It’s much easier and safer to learn healthy behaviors and the little secrets of finding balance right from the start. When I discovered coaching, I felt like I was getting an oxygen mask. I first heard the term during my MBA training. It was like a revelation. My paper from the Business Strategy exam dealt with the topic of coaching. I didn’t stop here; I returned to the country and started to organize myself for a new project, which I named “Lawyer Coaching.” All good and beautiful, but I had to find a coach for his materialization. At one point in my search, I realized that I could not know who is the most coached coach for what I wanted. So, I signed up for a coaching school! I discovered there, essential things, alpha, and omega on my way from law to coaching. More than a project, the whole process turned out to be a self-discovery, a journey that opened many doors of my being, that ascension in my profession had closed me. I attended coaching courses with John Thomson (Corporate Consultant, Metropolis, UK), who was kind enough to write the preface to our book, “More than a lawyer.” John Thomson opened up new perspectives for me, introducing me to more profound techniques – I also went to Eriksonian  hypnosis. Then followed, in Italy, training in NLP and Master in NLP, along with many other personal pieces of training that contributed to this approach that I called ” elawvation Systemic ” coaching toward making a difference.

Why Coaching ? 

Because a lawyer who wants to make a difference can find support in the relationship with a coach, either for career advancement or for regaining the inner balance, given by harmonizing the profession with personal life.

In my career as a lawyer, covering almost 20 years, I have had the opportunity to identify patterns, blockages, and states characteristic of lawyers. We are indeed all people, and we try the same emotions. Still, the capacity for empathy is precisely characterized by identifying similar states, from the same point of reference – in our case, the profession of lawyer.

Clients who call on my coaching services are not just lawyers. But I feel that when I work with a lawyer, a framework is formed much closer to his needs, as a human being, a structure built on a sense of trust. I like to help my colleagues, and I do it with all my heart, especially when I find myself in their problems, I feel empathy.

I never imagined that I would be a support to my colleagues without competing with them. When we started talking about this concept, my sister and I hit on many preconceived ideas. We were told that lawyers do not socialize with each other, that they do not bond with friends, that they are used to competing with each other.

To our surprise, it wasn’t! During the courses we organized under the title “Lawyer Coaching, in Italy and Romania,” we had many lawyers who wrote testimonials. We expressed their desire to reiterate such initiatives, precisely because of the desire to become friends with their colleagues. This once again motivated us to go this route: thus, the eLAwvation concept and the book “More than a lawyer” were born. The need to change lawyers is becoming more visible. You cannot practice this profession differently without having the endorsement of it.

We started studying psychology and got trained in psychotherapy. This made us understand even more how beneficial it is for a lawyer to have a coach during his career. Quality coaching can prove a guarantee for a successful career, along with a fulfilled life on a personal level. Many lawyers choose to live exclusively for the profession. But life is more than that. When you understand this, you get to respect yourself and understand how important it is to start doing something for your person to reach this harmony between the career and the life beyond.

WHY NOW?

The legal community is currently facing a mental health epidemic. A 2016 study by the American Bar Association and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation found that at least 28% of working lawyers suffer from depression, and 19 % experience symptoms of anxiety. More than 1 in 3 practicing attorneys abuse alcohol, and these statistics are all even higher among young attorneys.

While ailments such as stress, anxiety, and depression have sadly become the norm, these conditions are our bodies cry for help and a national call for action.

Deeply affecting us on a physiological level, if not addressed now, these symptoms can lead to long term, chronic illness.

However, wait – there is hope! As Heraclitus said, “change is the only constant,” and this is true of our bodies as well. We experience a 95% cellular turn around per year. This means, by choosing to make healthy life choices today, you cannot only correct current problems, but you can also create long term, positive solutions for your body and, therefore, your law practice as well.

 “Change yourself – you are in control “ Mahatma Gandhi