Frequently Asked Questions

What is Coaching?

Coaching is a new profession. It is a process based on interactive conversations with an intention. These conversations are directed by the goals of the client. The coach's job is to strategically listen for what will move the client towards the intended goal.

What do coaches do?

• help clients set clear goals and achieve them
• ask clients to investigate personal motivation more thoroughly
• enable clients to focus on the issues at hand and produce faster results
• provide the tools, support, and structure to accomplish more

How does coaching differ from consulting, therapy, sports coaching, or a best friend's advice?

Consulting: Coaches rarely make recommendations; consultants often do. The coach stays with the client to help implement new skills, changes, and achieve the intended goals.

Therapy: Therapy is recommended for past issues or traumas that have yet to be dealt with or healed. While coaching seeks to understand human behaviour it is result-oriented and future focused. Some issues may arise during coaching that lead the coach and client to determine that therapy is the more appropriate process. In some cases a client will work in tandem on historic issues with a therapist while investigating future prospects with a coach. Coaching is all about moving forward.

Sports: Several principles are borrowed from sports coaching: teamwork, "going for the goal", and being the very best you can be. Unlike sports coaching, most professional coaches are not competitively based. The coach's task is to help strengthen the client's skills rather than beat the opposing team. Coaches prefer to develop win-win solutions rather than competitive ones.

Best friend's advice: A best friend is wonderful to have, but best friends are not professionally trained to listen strategically in an unbiased manner. Friends are always biased in your favour?that's because they are your friends! A coach is a trustworthy partner who assists in determining what is individually right in the most important aspects of life and business.

What is the basic philosophy of coaching?

Simply put, each person has internal wisdom. Intuitively people know what is best on a personal and very individual level. Coaching is founded on the belief that people are not broken and do not need fixing. In fact they are whole and resourceful. Why are coaches hired? People hire a coach because:

• they want more from their lives
• they want to grow
• they want to break a pattern
• they want to make life simpler

Who is a good candidate for coaching?

A good candidate is someone who is ready and capable of participating in a coaching relationship. Ask yourself if you are

• receptive to new ideas
• willing to accept coaching
• open to different perceptions
• able to complete the required homework
• willing to investigate personal behaviour
• ready to be accountable
• willing to communicate sincere feelings
• willing to be responsible for the coaching session agenda

You need to have something at stake, something you really want to achieve. The more you have at stake, the more valuable the coaching sessions will be.

What is the personal impact from working with a coach? Most people discover through coaching, that they:

• take themselves more seriously
• take more effective and focused actions immediately
• stop tolerating what is dragging them down
• generate personal momentum to achieve more
• set more realistic and attainable goals
• gain new insight into who they are
• build behaviour patterns that are more effective

Does a coach work on personal or business-related goals?

Both. The line between personal life and business life is increasingly blurred. A qualified life coach is the only professional trained to work through all aspects of life. Holistic sentiment is the key. Educated professionals lead their clients through self-actualizing goals.

What is the focus for the average client?

Coaches focus wherever clients' needs arise. This may include the following discussions:

• strengthening the client's personal foundation
• helping the client shore up reserves of personal strength and inner courage
• allowing the client to set goals based on personal values  

Coaches focus on what's going to make clients most successful in life. This may include discovering new possibilities and realizing dreams and aspirations.

Why does coaching work?

Coaching works for several reasons:

• Synergy between coach and client creates momentum.
• Attainable goals are ones that pull the client toward them rather than goals that require the client push toward them.
• New skills, developed by the client, translate into personal achievement.
• Personal growth improves all aspects of life, both professional and personal.

Why is coaching becoming so popular?

Coaching is becoming popular for several reasons:

1. 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. Many have trouble defining their own authentic work and may experience difficulty reorienting their lives towards that end. A coach can help them do both.
2. People are realizing how simple it can be to accomplish something that several years ago might have felt beyond reach. A coach has a large tool kit to help client's ideas become reality. More and more people are making the time and freeing up other resources to invest in themselves with this kind of growth.
3. Many people are willing to examine and consider the notion of spirituality. This is evidenced by the phenomenal success of The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield found on The New York Times bestseller list in 1994. Spirituality looks at a personal level of connectedness. A coach can help clients better attune to both themselves and others. While many coaches are spiritually based?even the ones who coach IBM and AT&T are becoming more spiritual.

Please, give me some context for coaching...

A personal coach does just what an athletic coach or music teacher does, only in a more complete way. A coach challenges the client and takes the time to find out what "winning in life" means to the individual. A coach is a partner for living the best possible life, personally and professionally. A coach holds clients accountable for their lives, to ensure they live up to their potential. In every stage of life there is a desire for more, whether measured by more money, closer relationships, or a deeper sense of life purpose. People who want more from life find coaching beneficial.

Most people believe that "hard work" and "doing it on their own" are the keys to finding the life, success, money, or happiness they seek. It is possible to believe goals must exact a high price, often resulting in poor health, insufficient time to enjoy life, strained family relationships, or decreased productivity. The tragedy is, while searching for more of one thing, a person may lose on every other front. In fact, some may find themselves back at the starting point, or worse.

Athletes and performers know about this trap. They know they need a trained coach to help them set goals, discover real needs, and work effectively toward excellence. Successful athletes and performers are willing to hire a coach or teacher. No serious athlete or musician would expect to progress very far without a coach or trainer. Why would you?