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What is Coaching?

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Professional coaches provide and ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Within a coaching conversation a coach can wear many hats to respond to the specific need of the client. They can draw on their expertise as teachers, trainers, facilitators, managers, consultants, mentors and leaders. Coaches are not necessarily experts in your field of knowledge, but will provide expertise in the coaching process and the coaching conversation. They support and enable the discovery of possibilities and solutions to issues.

The International Coaching Federation says “Professional Coaching is an ongoing professional relationship that helps people produce extraordinary results in their lives, careers, businesses or organizations. Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life".

Corporate Coach U says “Coaching is a powerful, collaborative relationship between a coach and a willing individual which enables, through a process of discovery, goal setting, and strategic actions, the realisation of extraordinary results”.

How would you know whether you could benefit from coaching?

Start by writing down a summary of what you would expect to accomplish in coaching. When someone has a fairly clear idea of their desired outcome, a coaching partnership can be a useful tool for developing a strategy for how to achieve the outcome with greater ease.

Since coaching is a partnership, ask yourself:

  • Will I find it valuable to collaborate, to have another viewpoint and to be asked to consider new perspectives?
  • Am I ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes in my work of life?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then coaching may be a beneficial way for you to grow and develop. Contact me for a FREE 30 minute chat to see if we would like to work together to achieve your goals.

Do it faster with a coach

Coaching has been demonstrated to have very powerful results both for individuals and organisations. Anecdotal and measured results available that support this statement. Want to know more?

Some testimonial attest to coaching successes:

For organisations see: Business Case for Coaching and Measurable Results gained from Corporate Coach U’s coaches and services.

Some typical reasons why you might work with a coach could include:

  • You have something urgent, compelling or exciting at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity)
  • There is a big gap in your knowledge, skills, confidence or resources
  • You want to speed up a process, get to a goal quicker
  • You are considering a new direction in career or life and need to crystallise the process and desired outcomes
  • You are successful but not sure about your satisfaction and the success is problematic
  • Your work and life are out of balance, and this is creating unwanted consequences
  • You don't have clarity about your core strengths and how best to leverage them
  • Life is too hectic and complicated
  • You need and desire to be better organized and more self-managing

Following a coaching program, the individual is better equipped to make an informed decision about their career and their ideals for work and life satisfaction. For the organisation, employees who are motivated by their career development and better aligned to corporate goals and corporate culture will provide a more productive team.

What can you expect?

"Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources and creativity that the client already has." ICF, 2005

Each Professional Coach has his or her own style of coaching clients, I thought that you would be interested to know the model I have adopted and what I expect of my clients and what my clients can expect of me. In summary I will be your:

  • Partner in achieving your personal goals
  • Champion as you grow
  • Sounding-board when making choices
  • Motivator when strong action is required
  • Unconditional support when you need it
  • Encourager when you are uncertain

Fran Whittingham
Your Career Coach
Last updated:8/12/2009