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What is coaching?
Coaching is a powerful relationship for people making important changes in their lives. Within this profession, coaches are able to:
Help people set better goals and then reach those goals.
Ask their clients to do more than they would have done on their own.
Help their client to focus better so as to produce results more quickly.
Provide clients with the tools, support and structure to accomplish more.
"My clients get focused and producing faster because they have a coach. It's effective for promoting lasting change and continuous growth."
How is coaching different from consulting? Therapy? Sports coaching? A best friend?
Consulting
There is some crossover between what a coach and a consultant provide, but the basic difference is the coach stays with the client to help implement the new skills, changes and goals, to make sure that they really happen. A well-trained coach is an expert in people and life/success dynamics. A coach is brought in to help reach business targets and/or provide support and advice on a 1-1 basis with individuals in a company.
Therapy
Coaching is not therapy. A therapist is trained and licensed to work with diagnosable psychological conditions. A coach is not. A coach and client typically focus on what the client wants to accomplish personally and/or business-wise over the next 6-12 months. Typically, an individual works with a therapist to resolve something that is causing pain. There are times when a client is working concurrently with a coach and a therapist, each on different topics.
Sports
Coaching includes several principles from sports coaching, like teamwork, going for the goal, being your best. Unlike sports coaching, most professional coaching is not competition or win/lose based. Coaches focus on strengthening their clients' skills, not on helping them beat the other team. Coaches look for win/win solutions.
Best Friend
A best friend is wonderful to have. But is your best friend a professional who you will trust to work with you on the most important aspects of your life and/or business? Will your best friend always be able to be both objective and honest with you on all topics? Have both - a best friend and a coach.
Why do people hire a coach?
People hire a coach to make a change, reach a goal, solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity.
Why does coaching work?
Coaching works because the client gets the support they need to make the changes they want.
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 that it's easier to get results.
- You set better goals that are more exactly what YOU want.
Does the coach work on personal goals or business/professional goals?
Both, actually. With the line between personal and business life blurring, the coach is the only professional trained to work with all aspects of you.
How can you coach effectively over the phone?
Coaching is very effective over the phone because there are fewer distractions for either party; the client is likely to share more information sooner because of the anonymity factor. A professional coach is trained to listen well, hearing all the nuances of what is being said (and what is not). Coaching over the phone is the most convenient method of meeting.
Where do the coach and client first focus their efforts?
Most coaches provide assessment tools to better understand the client's life or business situation and their current needs. In some cases, however, the client already knows what they want to accomplish or resolve and the coaching begins there.
Is Coaching a fad?
As long as people have personal and business goals, coaching will thrive.
How do I know Coaching is working?
If you are seeing measurable quality-of-life improvement, achieving your outcomes more quickly and/or having significant internal growth, coaching is working. If not, you may need to work with a different coach.
Do coaches give advice?
Yes, most coaches give advice - or at least the coach can help you expand your options in a situation - but some coaches do not believe in giving advice. It depends on the coach's background, areas of expertise, their natural coaching style and where they received their training. The preferences of the client, which are paramount, affect how much, if any, advice is provided.
Why is coaching becoming so popular?
Coaching is becoming popular for several reasons:
- Many people are tired of doing what they think they "should" do and are ready to do something special and meaningful for the rest of their lives. One problem is that many can't see what this is or, if they can, they can't find 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, sometimes they are), 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 tracked the phenomenal success of James Redfield's Celestine Prophecy on the NY Times best-seller list back in 1994, you got 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 growing more spiritual very 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 to others.
A personal coach does just what an athletic coach or music teacher does, only in a fuller 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 end up 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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