FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT COACHING

Q: WHAT THE HECK IS COACHING, REALLY?

A: This is the International Coaches Federation definition of Coaching:

Professional Coaching is an ongoing professional relationship that helps people produce extraordinary results in their lives, careers, business and organizations. Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance and enhance their quality of life.

Q: WHAT BENEFITS CAN I GET FROM A COACHING PROGRAM?

A: The benefits are what you put into and let yourself get out of the program. Coaching is designed to help you maximize your talents and gifts and raise your level of self awareness in all areas of your life. It is a system of developing and measuring your intentions and supporting you to take action in the direction of your desires. This coaching program is your very own personal success workshop; geared totally toward you and your goals. You move at your own pace and get met exactly where you are.

Q: MY LIFE IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN ANYONE ELSE'S. HOW COULD COACHING MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN MY LIFE?

A: Just as each person is unique and different, their journey to peace, satisfaction and a fullfulled life is also different. We are totally at choice and can be creative about how we journey towards a fulfilled, peaceful life. A person must decide for themselves what it is that they desire, who they are willing to be and what actions they are willing to take to get what they want. Your coach assists you in discovering/uncovering your most compelling unique vision and strengths. The coach is also there to help you gain awareness of what gets in your way to having what you desire.

Q: WHAT CAN A COACH HELP ME ACCOMPLISH?

A: A coach assists you to articulate and attain your goals. The more passionate you are about your vision and goals, the easier it will be to develop a completely customized plan – YOUR plan. We go through the Five Steps outlined in the Unique TBTT approach. This is the jumping off point for your personal discovery which leads to you taking action and walking your talk.

Q: I GET ENOUGH COACHING FROM MY FRIENDS, FAMILY, COWORKERS AND SIGNIFICANT OTHER. WHAT’S THE POINT OF ONE MORE PERSON IN MY LIFE GIVING ME ADVICE?

A: Coaching is not advice giving. Your coaches job is to point you towards your own solutions and ability to know exactly what you need and what is right for you.

Your coworkers, well meaning friends and family are wonderful sources of advice and support. They know you intimately, and they also may be attached to what you choose to do. If you choose to operate differently in your world, they may have a concern about a new and unfamiliar you emerging; how the “new you” may impact them. Your coach provides a clear space of nonjudgement and nonattachment. A coach wants what you want, just because you want it! Your coach focuses on YOU and what you want with no personal interference. This is an amazing gift to give yourself. The coaching relationship is the space in which you can feel free to explore and grow.

Q: HOW WILL MY TIME WITH MY COACH BE STRUCTURED?

A: Depending on the coaching package you choose, your time with your coach will be a weekly or every other week telephone call or in person session lasting from 40 to 50 minutes. During that time we will cover the Five Step TBTT Process, issues that you want to address that have come up since our last call and check in on homework and accountability issues. You set the pace and the general the content of the session. The coach will be there to support, encourage and champion you; to help you deepen your learning and assist you in forwarding your action towards your vision and goals.

Q: WHY NOT JUST READ A BOOK ABOUT CHANGING MY LIFE?

A: Human beings experience learning in two ways; explicitly and tacitly. Explicit knowledge comes from “book learning”. You read a book and get all kinds of data and information from it. It’s the kind of learning that got you through most of school. A lot of the knowledge you picked up in school did not stay with you for very long. The other way to get something is tacit learning. This is the kind of learning that comes when you have lived/experienced something; an event, a conversation, some new behavior – you have it mapped into your body and your mind. When you have lived something and it is in your bones, it sticks with you. Your body and brain have memories of it that can be recalled pretty easily. Think about a great time you had on a vacation. It is probably easy to go to that memory and remember what it felt like.

Coaching helps facilitate this tacit knowledge by deepening your learning around your insights and encouraging new, positive behaviors. Books are great for reinforcement. And the most effective way to make changes in your life is to engage both your body and your brain in action to lock in your learning and new behaviors.

Q: HOW IS COACHING DIFFERENT FROM THERAPY?

A: The underlying assumption in therapy is that healing is needed, something needs to be fixed. The patient has identified symptoms/diagnosis and is unable to move forward in life due to psychological injury or illness. The therapist may look may look for the source of the dis -ease or may focus on alleviating the symptoms the patient is experiencing as a result of the injury or illness. Frequently the focus in therapy is on the past and its impact on the present.

The underlying assumption of coaching is that the client is naturally creative, resourceful and whole. The assumption is that the client does not need to heal but is ready to grow. The coach focuses on the present and the future. The coach assists the client in developing a better understanding and awareness of the present and changing the present to create a more fulfilling future.