1.
What Is Coaching?
Professional Coaching is a professional partnership between
a qualified coach and an individual or team that supports
the achievement of extraordinary results, based on goals
set by the individual or team. Through the process of coaching,
individuals focus on the skills and actions needed to successfully
produce their personally relevant results. The
individual or team chooses the focus of conversation,
while the coach listens and contributes observations and
questions as well as concepts and principles which can
assist in generating possibilities and identifying actions.
Through the coaching process the clarity that is needed
to support the most effective actions is achieved. Coaching
accelerates the individual's or team’s progress by providing
greater focus and awareness of possibilities leading to
more effective choices. Coaching concentrates on where
individuals are now and what they are willing to do to
get where they want to be in the future.
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2. What are the benefits of coaching?
Individuals who engage in a coaching relationship can
expect to experience fresh perspectives on challenges
and opportunities, enhanced thinking and decision making
skills, enhanced interpersonal effectiveness, and increased
confidence in carrying out their chosen work and life
roles. Consistent with a commitment to enhancing their
personal effectiveness, they can also expect to see appreciable
results in the areas of productivity, personal satisfaction
with life and work, and the achievement of personally
relevant goals.
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3. What are some typical reasons someone might work with
a coach?
There are many reasons that an individual or team might
choose to work with a coach, including but not limited
to the following:
- There is something at stake (a challenge, stretch
goal or opportunity), and it is urgent, compelling or
exciting or all of the above
- There is a gap in knowledge, skills, confidence, or
resources
- A big stretch is being asked or required, and it is
time sensitive
- There is a desire to accelerate results
- There is a need for a course correction in work or
life due to a setback
- An individual has a style of relating that is ineffective
or is not supporting the achievement of one’s personally
relevant goals
- There is a lack of clarity, and there are choices
to be made
- The individual is extremely successful, and success
has started to become problematic
- Work and life are out of balance, and this is creating
unwanted consequences
- One has not identified his or her core strengths and
how best to leverage them
- The individual desires work and life to be simpler,
less complicated
- There is a need and a desire to better organized and
more self-managing
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4. Why does coaching work?
Coaching works because:
- A coach listens deeply and helps you develop clarity
pertaining to your coaching issues.
- A coach will help you develop S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Specific,
Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-sensitive)
- A coach will help you develop a plan of action and
a laser-like focus.
- A coach holds your feet to the fire. There is a built-in
system of accountability.
- A coach is an objective professional who can offer
you a unique perspective of your professional and personal
situation.
- A coach is 100% for you!
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5. How is coaching delivered? What does the process look
like?
The Coaching Process -- Coaching typically
begins with an initial interview (usually by telephone,
although sometimes face-to-face) to assess the individual’s
current opportunities and challenges, define the scope
of the relationship, identify priorities for action, and
establish specific desired outcomes. Subsequent coaching
sessions are usually conducted over the telephone, with
each session lasting a previously established length of
time. Between scheduled coaching sessions, the individual
will be asked to complete specific actions that support
the achievement of one’s personally prioritized goals.
The coach may provide additional resources in the form
of relevant articles, checklists, assessments, or models,
to support the individual’s thinking and actions. The
duration of the coaching relationship varies depending
on the individual’s personal needs and preferences. We
highly recommend an initial commitment of three to six
months. This provides ample time for the coaching process
to be most effective.
Concepts, models and principles
-- A variety of concepts, models and principles drawn
from the behavioral sciences, management literature, spiritual
traditions and/or the arts and humanities, may be incorporated
into the coaching conversation in order to increase the
individual’s self-awareness and awareness of others, foster
shifts in perspective, promote fresh insights, provide
new frameworks for looking at opportunities and challenges,
and energize and inspire the individual’s forward actions.
Appreciative approach
-- Coaching incorporates an appreciative approach. The
appreciative approach is grounded in what’s right, what’s
working, what’s wanted, and what’s needed to get there.
Using an appreciative approach, the coach models constructive
communication skills and methods the individual or team
can utilize to enhance personal communication effectiveness.
The appreciative approach incorporates discovery-based
inquiry, proactive (as opposed to reactive) ways of managing
personal opportunities and challenges, constructive framing
of observations and feedback in order to elicit the most
positive responses from others, and envisioning success
as contrasted with focusing on problems. The appreciative
approach is simple to understand and employ, but its effects
in harnessing possibility thinking and goal-oriented action
can be profound.
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6. What should someone look for when selecting a coach?
The most important thing to look for in selecting a coach
is someone with whom you feel you can easily relate to
in order to create powerful partnership. Here are some
questions you may want to ask prospective coaches:
- What is your coaching experience? (number of individuals
coaches, years of experience, types of situations)
- What is your coach specific training? Do you hold
an ICF Credential, or are you enrolled in an ICF Accredited
Training Program?
- What is your coaching specialty or client areas you
most often work in?
- What specialized skills or experience do you bring
to your coaching?
- What is your philosophy about coaching?
- What is your specific process for coaching? (how sessions
are conducted, frequency, etc.)
- What are some coaching success stories? (specific
examples of individuals who have done well and examples
of how you have added value)
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7. How long does a coach work with an individual?
The length of a coaching partnership varies depending
on the individual's or team’s needs and preferences. For
certain types of focused coaching, 3 to 6 months of working
with a coach may be sufficient. For other types of coaching,
people may find it beneficial to work with a coach for
a longer period. Factors that may impact the length of
time include: the types of goals, the ways individuals
or teams like to work, the frequency of coaching meetings,
and financial resources available to support coaching.
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8. Within the partnership, what does the coach do? The
individual?
The role of the coach is to provide objective assessment
and observations that foster the individual’s or team
members’ enhanced self-awareness and awareness of others,
practice astute listening in order to garner a full understanding
of the individual’s or team’s circumstances, be a sounding
board in support of possibility thinking and thoughtful
planning and decision making, champion opportunities and
potential, encourage stretch and challenge commensurate
with personal strengths and aspirations, foster the shifts
in thinking that reveal fresh perspectives, challenge
blind spots in order to illuminate new possibilities,
and support the creation of alternative scenarios. Finally,
the coach maintains professional boundaries in the coaching
relationship, including confidentiality, and adheres to
the coaching profession’s code of ethics.
The role of the individual or team is
to create the coaching agenda based on personally meaningful
coaching goals, utilize assessment and observations to
enhance self-awareness and awareness of others, envision
personal and/or organizational success, assume full responsibility
for personal decisions and actions, utilize the coaching
process to promote possibility thinking and fresh perspectives,
take courageous action in alignment with personal goals
and aspirations, engage big picture thinking and problem
solving skills, and utilize the tools, concepts, models
and principles provided by the coach to engage effective
forward actions.
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9. What does coaching ask of an individual?
To be successful, coaching asks certain things of the
individual, all of which begin with intention….
Focus--on one’s self,
the tough questions, the hard truths--and one’s success
Observation--the behaviors
and communications of others
Listening--to one’s intuition,
assumptions, judgments, and to the way one sounds when
one speaks
Self discipline--to challenge
existing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and to develop
new ones which serve one’s goals in a superior way
Style--leveraging personal
strengths and overcoming limitations in order to develop
a winning style
Decisive actions--however
uncomfortable, and in spite of personal insecurities,
in order to reach for the extraordinary
Compassion--for one’s
self as he or she experiments with new behaviors, experiences
setbacks--and for others as they do the same
Humor--committing to
not take one’s self so seriously, using humor to lighten
and brighten any situation
Personal control--maintaining
composure in the face of disappointment and unmet expectations,
avoiding emotional reactivity
Courage--to reach for
more than before, to shift out of being fear based in
to being in abundance as a core strategy for success,
to engage in continual self examination, to overcome internal
and external obstacles
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10. How can the success of the coaching process be measured?
Measurement may be thought of in two distinct ways. First,
there are the external indicators of performance: measures
which can be seen and measured in the individual’s or
team’s environment. Second, there are internal indicators
of success: measures which are inherent within the individual
or team members being coached and can be measured by the
individual or team being coached with the support of the
coach. Ideally, both external and internal metrics are
incorporated.
Examples of external measures include
achievement of coaching goals established at the outset
of the coaching relationship, increased income/revenue,
obtaining a promotion, performance feedback which is obtained
from a sample of the individual’s constituents (e.g.,
direct reports, colleagues, customers, boss, the manager
him/herself), personal and/or business performance data
(e.g., productivity, efficiency measures). The external
measures selected should ideally be things the individual
is already measuring and are things the individual has
some ability to directly influence.
Examples of internal measures include
self-scoring/self-validating assessments that can be administered
initially and at regular intervals in the coaching process,
changes in the individual’s self-awareness and awareness
of others, shifts in thinking which inform more effective
actions, and shifts in one’s emotional state which inspire
confidence.
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11. What are the factors that should be considered when
looking at the financial investment in coaching?
Working with a coach requires both a personal commitment
of time and energy as well as a financial commitment.
Fees charged vary by specialty and by the level of experience
of the coach. Individuals should consider both the desired
benefits as well as the anticipated length of time to
be spent in coaching. Since the coaching relationship
is predicated on clear communication, any financial concerns
or questions should be voiced in initial conversations
before the agreement is made.
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12. How is coaching distinct from other service professions?
Professional coaching is a distinct service which focuses
on an individual’s life as it relates to goal setting,
outcome creation and personal change management. In an
effort to understand what a coach is, it can be helpful
to distinguish coaching from other professions that provide
personal or organizational support.
Therapy. Coaching can
be distinguished from therapy in a number of ways. First,
coaching is a profession that supports personal and professional
growth and development based on individual-initiated change
in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes
are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching
is forward moving and future focused. Therapy, on the
other hand, deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict
within an individual or a relationship between two or
more individuals. The focus is often on resolving difficulties
arising from the past which hamper an individual's emotional
functioning in the present, improving overall psychological
functioning, and dealing with present life and work circumstances
in more emotionally healthy ways. Therapy outcomes often
include improved emotional/feeling states. While positive
feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching,
the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies
for achieving specific goals in one's work or personal
life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action,
accountability and follow through.
Consulting. Consultants
may be retained by individuals or organizations for the
purpose of accessing specialized expertise. While consulting
approaches vary widely, there is often an assumption that
the consultant diagnoses problems and prescribes and sometimes
implements solutions. In general, the assumption with
coaching is that individuals or teams are capable of generating
their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive,
discovery-based approaches and frameworks.
Mentoring. Mentoring,
which can be thought of as guiding from one’s own experience
or sharing of experience in a specific area of industry
or career development, is sometimes confused with coaching.
Although some coaches provide mentoring as part of their
coaching, such as in mentor coaching new coaches, coaches
are not typically mentors to those they coach.
Training. Training programs
are based on the acquisition of certain learning objectives
as set out by the trainer or instructor. Though objectives
are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by
the individual or team being coached with guidance provided
by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning
path which coincides with an established curriculum. Coaching
is less linear without a set curriculum plan.
Athletic Development.
Though sports metaphors are often used, professional coaching
is different from the traditional sports coach. The athletic
coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs
the behavior of individuals or teams based on his or her
greater experience and knowledge. Professional coaches
possess these qualities, but it is the experience and
knowledge of the individual or team that determines the
direction. Additionally, professional coaching, unlike
athletic development, does not focus on behaviors that
are being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the
focus is on identifying opportunity for development based
on individual strengths and capabilities.
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