Your boss tells you what you’re doing wrong, and the TV weather person tells you when to wear a jacket or grab an umbrella. If that’s all the input you’re getting, you might find yourself longing to have someone else on your side, and that’s where personal coaches have found a growing niche.

Hard numbers aren’t available, but it’s safe to say that thousands of people in the United States and elsewhere are working with personal coaches. The International Coach Federation, which conducts coaching classes via teleconferencing, claims 7,400 members in the United States and 29 other countries. Coach U, an organization with the same founder as the ICF, has about 11,500 students and graduates in 51 countries and trains about 1,000 people each year. Each of those coaches might go on to work with several clients at a time.

The typical fee for coaching is $100 for a 45-minute session, with one session per week.

A coach’s job is not to offer solutions but to help clients define their goals, figure out good ways to achieve those objectives and then hold them accountable. “A life coach or a corporate coach has a lot of similarities with a fitness trainer,” said Margaret Altmix, the chief operating officer of Employee & Family Resources (EFR) in Des Moines and a coach herself. “Your coach stands beside you, encourages you and helps you celebrate” when you reach a goal.

She, too, has a coach. “I set goals, and she asks what I’m going to do about them this week,” Altmix said. “If I don’t do what I was supposed to do, she asks what got in the way.”

The list of life coaches includes a good many former psychologists and psychotherapists, but almost anyone can undertake the training. Since the above-mentioned organizations began in 1992, “the quality of the students has risen,” said Coach U Chief Executive Officer Sandy Vilas, speaking from Steamboat Springs, Colo. “A surprising number have advanced degrees. We get a lot of therapists and psychologists who are tired of dealing with managed care, low rates and dysfunctional clients.” However, Inc. magazine recently reported that a survey of ICF members found that more than 70 percent of them were former consultants or managers.

Vilas charges $330 per hour for his coaching services and works with about a dozen clients. “The typical client stays with his or her coach for a year to 18 months,” he said. “But I’ve worked with some people for nine or 10 years.”

EFR, an independent provider of human resources services to companies, decided to get involved in coaching after receiving a number of inquiries on the subject. “It was decided that I would develop that here and do some coaching myself,” Altmix said. Just last week, she graduated from Corporate Coach U – a specialized category within Coach U — after nine months of classes. She has never met her own coach. They communicate through half-hour telephone sessions.

When Altmix looks at today’s corporate life, she can see clear reasons for the rise of coaching. “As we’re told to work faster, smarter and with less, people don’t have time to seek or provide support. The idea of ‘managers as coaches’ has been removed,” she said. Managers not only lack time to help employees; they might not have the necessary training, either. “A lot of very good technology people have struggled in management positions,” she said.

Coaching might involve general topics pertaining to work, family or the balance between the two. However, some coach-client relationships focus on one particular aspect of life, such as parenting or retirement.

“I have a feeling that parenting is a very fast-growing niche within coaching,” said Daniel Martinage, executive director of the ICF. “There’s a great deal of concern among parents who want to do the best they can for their children, and this can help them set goals and expectations.”

Martinage said his organization is working to develop an accreditation system for coaches that would be recognized by the federal government.

Altmix recommends taking your time when choosing a personal coach. “I sat through a lot of classes before picking a coach,” she said. “I think an interview is in order, at the least.”

Beyond the lack of support systems, Altmix sees another driving force behind coaching. “The need to achieve is greater today than ever before,” she said. “Things are changing so fast, people have to get help to keep up.”

To contact the organizations mentioned in this article, go to these Web sites:

Coach U: www.coachu.com

International Coach Federation: www.coachfederation.org