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WHAT
IS COACHING?
Coaching
is an interactive process that helps individuals and organizations
achieve results and meet their goals. Coaches work with clients
in all areas including business, career, finances, health
and relationships. As a result of coaching, clients set better
goals, take more action, make better decisions, and more fully
use their natural strengths.
Professional
coaches are trained to listen and observe, to customize their
approach to the individual client's needs, and to elicit solutions
and strategies from the client. They believe that the client
is naturally creative and resourceful and that the coach's
job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources,
and creativity that the client already has. While the coach
provides feedback and an objective perspective, the client
is responsible for taking the steps to produce the results
he or she desires. Coaching does not focus directly on relieving
psychological pain or treating cognitive or emotional disorders.
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Coaching
is not limited only to the following categories but here is
a list that will give you an idea of how coaching can apply
to many areas of life.
Small
Business Coaching:
- Entrepreneurs
- Owners
or Managers of small companies
- Start-up
companies (actual or planned)
- Professionals
in private practice
- People
who run a business from their home
- Executives
thinking of leaving companies and launching a business
Personal/Life
Coaching:
- Life
planning
- Life
vision & enhancement
- Extreme
self care
- Spirituality
- Relationships
(Singles, couples, families, etc.)
- Health
& Fitness
- Creativity
- Financial
Freedom
- Organization
- Children/Teens/College
Students
- Attention
Deficit Disorder
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Career/Transition
Coaching:
- People
in career transition
- People
with a big career decision to make
- People
in a corporate job or considering one
- People
struggling with the decision of whether to stay in a corporate
job
- People
who would like to work with a coach familiar with the following:
The changing expectations of employees and employers; trends
in the workplace; values and issues of loyalty and security;
specific evaluation criteria for ones company, future or
career satisfaction; determining ones readiness to strike
out on their own or look for another career.
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Executive
and Corporate Coaching:
- Human
Resources Departments interested in hiring external coaches
- CEO's,
executives, managers and other professionals who would like
a coach
- Companies
looking to launch a coaching initiative
- Companies
intending to train their managers to be coaches
- Initiative
to prevent and/or cure burnout
- Companies
interested in coaching workshops
- Companies
wanting the support of a coach in any of the following:
Strategic planning, process re-engineering; creating a compelling
vision; launching and developing teams; or 360-degree reviews.
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From the
International Coaches Federation (ICF):
How
is coaching different from consulting? Therapy?
Sports coaching? A best friend?
Consulting. Coaching is a form of consulting. But the coach
stays with the client to help implement the new skills, changes
and goals to make sure they really happen. Therapy. Coaching
is not therapy. We don't work on "issues" or get
into the past or deal much with understanding human behavior.
We leave that up to the client to know and figure out while
we help them move forward and set personal and professional
goals that will give them the life they really want.
Sports Coaching includes several principles from sports coaching,
like teamwork, going for the goal, being your best. But unlike
sports coaching, most professional coaching is not competition
or win/lose based. We strengthen the client's skills vs help
them beat the other team. It's win/win.
Best friend. A best friend is wonderful to have. But is your
best friend a professional who you will trust to advise you
on the most important aspects of your life and/or business?
Have a best friend and a coach.
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What
is the basic philosophy of coaching?
Simply put, that we humans are great, that we're all discovering
what we really want and that we get can get what we want faster
and easier by having a coach who's been there and who can
help us.
Who
hires a coach and why?
People hire a coach because
- They
want more.
- They
want to grow.
- They
want it easier.
It's as
simple as that. Coaches help a client get all three. Quickly.
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What
happens when you hire a coach?
Many things, but the most important are:
- You
take yourself more seriously.
- You
take more effective and focused actions immediately.
- You
stop putting up with what is dragging you down.
- You
create momentum so it's easier to get results.
- You
set better goals that you might not have without the coach.
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Does
the coach work on personal goals or business/professional goals?
Both, actually. And, with the line between personal and business
life blurring in the 90s, the coach is the only professional
trained to work with all aspects of you.
Where
does the coach focus with an average client?
We focus where the client needs us most. And, we tend to weave
in the following discussions:
- Getting
the client's Personal Foundation strengthened.
- Helping
the client beef up their Reserve.
- Helping
the client set goals based on their Personal Values.
By including
these with what the client wants from us, we help the client
have fewer problems and focus on what's going to make them
the most successful. We've found that clients really enjoy
the approach.
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Why
does coaching work?
Coaching works for several reasons:
- Synergy
between the coach and client creates momentum.
- Better
goals are set -- ones that naturally pull the client toward
the goal rather than goals that require the client to push
themselves to the goal.
- The
client develops new skills, and these skills translate into
more success.
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Why
is coaching becoming so popular?
Coaching
is becoming popular for several reasons:
- Many
people are tired of doing what they "should" do
and are ready to do something special and meaningful for
the rest of their lives. Problem is, many can't see it,
or if they can, they can't see a way to reorient their life
around it. A coach can help them do both.
- People
are realizing how simple it can be to accomplish something
that several years ago might have felt out of reach or like
a pipedream. A coach is not a miracle worker (well, they
are, sometimes) but a coach does have a large tool kit to
help the Big Idea become a Reality. Fortunately, people
now have time and resources to invest in themselves in this
kind of growth.
- Spirituality.
If you've tracked the phenomenal success of James Redfield's
Celestine Prophecy on the NY Times best-seller list during
1994, you get a sense of just how many people are willing
to look at, and consider, the notion of spirituality. Wow.
Many coaches are spiritually based -- even the ones who
coach IBM and AT&T. America is getting spiritual quickly.
(Our working definition of spirituality? How connected you
are with yourself and others.") The coach helps the
clients to tune in better to themselves and others.
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Please,
give me some context about coaching...
A personal coach does just what an athletic coach or music teacher
does, only in a more complete and bigger way. A coach challenges
you and takes the time to find out what winning in life means
to you. A coach is your partner in living the life you know
you can accomplish, personally and professionally. A coach is
someone to hold you accountable for your life, to make sure
you really do live up to your potential.
No matter where you are in life, there is always a desire for
more. More success, more money, closer relationships, a deeper
feeling of meaning in life, etc. It is the nature of people
to want to attain more, become more, be more, and we all struggle
with how to get what we're looking for.
Most people believe that "hard work and doing it on your
own" are the keys to finding the life, success, money,
or happiness that they seek. They believe that a price must
be paid to attain what they want, and often that price is poor
health, not having enough time to enjoy life, strained family
relationships or lessened productivity. The saddest part is
that, even though this effort may result in more of something,
it is often not the something you had in mind, and you are back
where you started, or worse, further from your real intentions.
Athletes and performers know about this trap. They know they
need someone else, a trained someone else to help them set goals,
discover real needs, and work effectively toward ultimate goals
of excellence. So, they are willing to hire a coach or a teacher.
No serious athlete or musician would expect to progress very
far without one. |
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What
about people who are already doing great in their lives. Why
would they need a coach?
They might not need a coach. But it is helpful to find out:
Are they doing what they most enjoy? Are they tolerating anything?
Is life easy? Are they going to be financially independent
within the next 15 years? Do they have what they most want?
We've discovered that, often, people need to expect more out
of their lives. A coach can help in this process.
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Can
a dependency be created between coach and client?
Not really. The client may "need" the coach in order
to maximize an opportunity or accelerate their growth, yet not
be "dependent" on the coach. Anyone who's up to something
"needs" structure, advice, support and a place to
brag, so in that sense, the coach is necessary. But an emotional,
psychological dependency is not created. The coach works with
people who are just fine and strong enough on their own. Remember,
we're not resolving issues here. The coach is helping the client
to create a better future: More success, more money, and a higher
quality of life. |
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Can
coaching hurt someone?
No. How? We aren't doing psychological work. We're not trying
to control the client's thinking. We're not cattle prods;
we're partners.
Can I
hire a coach just for a short-term, special project?
Yes. Some clients hire a coach to help them accomplish specific
goals or projects. Usually, however, the client keeps working
with the coach after that because there are even more interesting
things to accomplish.
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How
long must I commit if I start working with a coach?
Most coaches ask for a three to six month commitment but usually
let you stop immediately if coaching is not working for you
right now. Very, very few coaches ask for a written agreement
or contract. (As a coach, I never did, and my practice stayed
full. And while clients do come and go, I don't think a contract
is wise.) For the corporate client, however, a signed agreement
is simply good business. |
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