The Power of Coaching

So, why coaching? Why now?

Because we live in a time of unprecented change and development.
Most of us have many options and choices to make in a lifetime.
We live longer and many of us have more than one career in our lifetime. We are the first generation to be so focused on personal growth and self-development.
We seek be effective in all that we do, and we seek balance in our lives. And many of us seek to have what we do be an expression of who we are, an expression of our vision and our values.

And, coaching was uniquely developed to support us with such personal and professional transition, growth and tranformation.

What Does Coaching Do for You

1. Help you to focus and take planned action

As a person of ideas, you want to see your ideas take root and grow. But, you either take action or you don’t take action. Have you ever taken action that you later wished you hadn’t? Or have you ever waited too long to take an action?

Working with a coach is having an “objective” person to bounce ideas off of, to role play, and help you release your barriers to acting. Working with a coach will help you put your energy where it will serve you best to accomplish your goals. .

2. Keeps You Accountable

Knowing that you’ve made a commitment to yourself and that your coach stands as witness to your commitment makes you more likely to stay on task. Its much less easy to allow yourself to slide when you make an agreement with your coach to do something you need and want to do AND you know that your coach is supporting you.

3. Be More Effective

Goal-oriented people are always looking for ways to be more effective. A coach helps you eliminate blocks in order to move forward more easily. An experienced coach will ask the right questions, listen to the things you say and the things you don’t say to help you remove obstacles in your way.

4. Destress and Find Balance

We 21st century humans need to find a balance of mind, body, and spirit. A coach is there to help you find that in your life. You cannot be your best self if we are stressed, overwhelmed, and unhappy. With you coach, you identify stressors in your life and work to eliminate as many as possible and reduce the effects of the rest so that you can take charge and create your best life.

5. Unconditional Support

You can count on your coach to support you. Your coach may not tell you what you want to hear, but he/she is not a critic or judge. So, when a curve ball threatens to knock you down, your coach is with you. On days when you just can’t see the benefits of batting, your coach helps you identify the values of staying in the game. When you are confused about which directions to go, your coach gives you knowlegable guidance. When you hit a home run, your coach is the first to give you a high-five. And when you win the game, your coach gives you all the credit!

III. How to Get The Most Power from Coaching

Getting the most out of your coaching relationship requires four things:

a. Be in the High Coachability Zone

When you are open to being coached and can envision yourself
in an honest, working relationship with a coach, then you will get the most power from the coaching experience. You are in the coachability zone. Let’s take a quick look at where you are in the zone!

Click here to go to The Coachability Zone and the Coaching Survey

b. Be sure there is a great match between you and your coach.

Coaching is based in relationship, and the best coaching is based in a great match and relationship between you and your coach.. The relationship starts with selecting the right coach for you. As a client, you need to feel comfortable with your coach’s orientation and general approach.

So, how do you find a well-qualified coach who will fit for you? Searching through various referral services, such as that at Coachville.com or ICF’s FindaCoach.com is a simple approach to tapping into the pool of qualified coaches. A second approach is to ask someone you know who has had a successful coaching experience to recommend a someone.

Only through a personal meeting can you assess whether a particular coach is right for you. Because selecting a coach involves a combination of objective and intuitive experience, it may take a few conversations before you have a clear sense of the "fit." Besides checking out professional qualifications, discuss your specific needs and goals with the coach, and determine with the coach whether (s)he can work with you on the visions and goals you want to achieve.

Here are some questions to ask a coach before hiring him or her:

Why are you the best qualified coach for me? Can I
2-3 references? What is your specialty and how long
have you been doing it?
Why do I interest you as a possible client?
What do you think is most important about coaching?
What is your code of ethics? Will everything I tell
remain confidential?

Here are questions to ask yourself before hiring a particular coach:

Do I have a positive feeling about this person?
Do I like him/her voice, demeaner, etc?
Am I willing to be totally honest with this person?
Does this coach’s program or approach match my needs?
Am I clear about his/her coach’s fees and guidelines?

c. Teach your coach about how to coach you.

1. What to talk about with your coach

Get the most out of your coaching sessions by being prepared to talk openly and honestly with your coach. Click here for top ten topics to talk with your coach about.

d. Ask your coach to help you play bigger

Goals help you to focus and lets you know how you are doing. There are two types of coaching goals. The first type is the one you really want to accomplish, for example, completing the novel you been working on for the last 6 months or getting a new and improved job. The second type of goal is the “breakthrough project’ that is so powerful that your whole life upgrades as a result of focus on it.

To get the most out of coaching, ask your coach to help you play bigger by working on a breakthrough project. Examples of breakthrough projects are:

A psychotherapist becomes free of managed-care, and
is completely fee-for-service in 18 months

A formerly obese man achieves his goal to run his first marathon

A successful small business owner expands her business
three-fold in one year

A 17-year Fed-Ex employee (who is FED-UP with Fed-Ex)
follows her dream to open her own plant nursery.

So when:

You are in the High Coachability Zone
Have a great match between you and your coach
Teach your coach how to coach you
Ask your coach to help you play bigger

Then, you can experience the power of coaching--the power
to achieve the results you want in your life, the power to live
life more fully and easily, the power to reach your highest potential.

Also check out Top Ten Topics to Talk with Coach About