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At the crossroads

By on August 9, 2018

They say life is a journey, and some TF readers may not have expected to find themselves here as part of their “journey.”

Perhaps you gave up a successful career to follow your spouse here on a transfer, or came over with the vague idea of staying a couple of years—only to wake up one day and realize you’ve been here a decade! Developing our full potential is a major goal for most of us, but sometimes it can be hard to work out exactly how to do it. This is where a career coach can be of great help.

Kumi Kobayashi is a bilingual career coach who works with clients from all walks of life. “When people need coaching with their career path, it often involves private issues such as family matters, their living environment, or their relationship with a partner,” she notes. “I assist my client in finding out ‘who they really want to be’ as a whole person, and not just focusing on getting a better job.”

People who consult a career coach are not necessarily unhappy in their current situation or desperate for change. In some cases, they might just need help to make some sort of transition and move to the next stage of their ‘journey’.

Career coaches have been on the scene since the 1980s and were originally known as ‘life planners’. “The International Coach Federation requires two to three years of education at a coach-training institutions, plus coaching hours on top of that. For example, in order to be certified as a master level coach, you need to have 2500 hours of coaching experience,” Kumi explains.

Although it might appear that career coaches have a perfectly balanced life, Kumi reveals that this simply isn’t the case. “Coaches are also people going through various changes in their lives: there are good times and bad times. So, good coaches have usually had their own coach!”

Kumi first felt a personal need for career coaching while working in the US. as the Licensing & Acquisitions Director at a publishing firm. “Pokemon had just hit the US. My phone didn’t stop ringing from publishers all over the world who wanted the Pokemon publishing rights, while the fax machine kept spitting out resumes from people who wanted to work for the company—I was also an HR Director. Although it was exciting, I started to feel as if I was being buried alive with work.” After hiring a career coach, Kumi was gradually able to clarify, simplify and organize her life, and then even started to coach some of the other employees. “I finally remembered what was most important to me—connecting with people.”

After this, she took time out to become a full-time mom. “That was a huge transition!” she recalls with a smile. When she felt ready to jump back into the workforce, she pursued her interest in coaching further and trained to become a career coach in the US. She faced yet another change when her family relocated to Tokyo three years ago for her husband’s job. Kumi drew on her coaching skills to ease the transition back into Japanese society for both herself and her young daughter, now a first-grader.

In addition to personal clients, Kumi also offers seminars for corporations and groups. She is excited about the opportunity to assist people to achieve their goals. “I love it when my client goes, ‘I got it—this is what I’ve been searching for!’ or ‘Wow—I didn’t realize that my xxx was the block!’ I feel really lucky to be there to share these ‘light bulb moments’ in their lives.”

CAN A COACH HELP ME?
“A coach can be a mirror of you and your life—by listening to you on a deep level, they can give you honest feedback (and not many people would do that!), acknowledge, and push you if necessary,” says Kumi. “The coach can work with you as your partner.”

She offers some tips for TF readers who are wondering how to take that next step. A good way to start is by asking yourself the following questions:
• What do you really, really want in your life?
• What is it that you really love to do?
• What gives you energy?
• What is the one thing you’d regret if you didn’t try it?
• What’s holding you back?
• When you have a fight with your partner, he/she says, “You’re always (fill in the blank)!”
• What do you need right now?

www.kumikobayashi.com
Kumi is a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Japan Coach Association (JCA). For information on coaching in general: www.coachfederation.org

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