Life Coaching FAQ.

What Is Life Coaching?

ICF (International Coach Federation) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.  Coaching honors the client as the expert in his/her life and work and believes that every client is creative, resourceful, and whole. 
Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:

• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve;
  
• Encourage client self-discovery;
  
• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies; and
  
• Hold the client responsible and accountable.
  

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.

How is coaching different from therapy, mentoring and consulting?

Coaching is different from mentoring (passing experience and knowledge from a more experienced to less experienced person), therapy (focusing on feelings and their roots in past events), or consulting (using consultant's skills to solve the problem instead of using and developing the skills of the client). The focus of coaching is on future goals, empowering the client, and developing client's skills to create the life he/she wants by evoking the knowledge and solutions that are already within him/her. 

How can you determine if coaching is right for you?

Coaching is right for you, if:

• If you are clear about what you want to accomplish (even if that means you have no idea what you want and your goal is to figure it out)
  
• if you are ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes in your life 
  
• If you are interested in collaboration, considering new perspectives, letting go of thoughts and behaviors that are not working, and trying out something new
  
• if you are an external processor

What are some typical reasons someone would work with a coach (from coachfederation.org)?

There are many reasons that an individual or team might choose to work with a coach, including but not limited to the following:

• There is something at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity), and it is urgent, compelling or exciting or all of the above;
  
• There is a gap in knowledge, skills, confidence, or resources;
  
• There is a desire to accelerate results;
  
• There is a lack of clarity, and there are choices to be made;
  
• The individual is extremely successful, and success has started to become problematic;
  
• Work and life are out of balance, and this is creating unwanted consequences; or
  
• One has not identified his or her core strengths and how best to leverage them.
  

What does coaching process look like?

The coaching process typically begins with an initial 1.5 - 2 hour session to access where you are in your life, identify where you want to be, explore your values and passions, set specific goals for the duration of the coaching relationship, select the accountability structure that best suits for your personality style and define the parameters of our coaching relationship that will make it successful for you. Subsequent sessions are conducted by phone, skype or in person on a weekly basis to ensure movement forward, celebrate wins, turn obstacles into opportunities, etc. 

How is a typical coaching session structured?

In the beginning of the session we take a moment to take a breath and clear what needs to be said to get present. Then you define the goal or outcome you’d like to reach as a result of the session (I support you in clarifying measures of success and why this goal is important, verify that it’s realistic for the time of the session). Once the desired outcome is set, we work together to reach that outcome and then design the actions for the following week. Your job is to be in the driver’s seat and being in inquiry. My job is to follow your agenda, ask questions to create awareness, offer processes that might be helpful, mirror back what I notice, share observations, etc. 

What is unique about my coaching style?

I practice the transformative model of coaching, which means that I work with the client to create awareness of their desires, intentions and commitments, clear the beliefs (conscious and subconscious) that might get in the way and identify new perspectives and ways of being that will move them forward, so that the client can then take actions out of clarity, alignment, and inspiration. This approach allows creating lasting change in how the client approaches their life (which ripples into all the areas), deeper commitment to taking the actions, and eliminates the need to force or push through. 

How long should you hire a coach for?

I have different coaching packages available (1, 3, and 6 months). I usually recommend at least a 3 month package, as this is a reasonable time to create noticeable results. You can also get a 1 month package if you have some short-term goal or a 6 month package if you know you have a long project or self-discovery process.

Who do I work best with?

I work best with people who:

• Have a dream that is bigger than themselves and includes making a difference
• Are ready to take action and go after their dreams
• Self-aware
  
• Ready for a breakthrough
  
• Open to explore new perspectives
  
• Excited to dive deep to explore their true soul desires as well as limiting beliefs, patterns, and fears that may be holding them back 
  
• Ready to step out of their comfort zone to create what matters to them
  

How do you ensure the compatible partnership before committing to coaching?

I offer a complimentary 30-minute session to ensure we are a good match. During that time I will ask you for a brief snapshot of where you’re at in your life, what you want, and what motivates you to hire a coach, so we can see if coaching in general and my coaching style in particular will be a good fit for you. If there is time and you want to, I can briefly coach you on the topic of your choice. At the end of the session we have an opportunity to discuss whether or how we will continue working together.

How can success of coaching be measured?

At our initial session we identify your criteria of success and design the progress and accountability mechanism that suits you best. It can range from a satisfaction assessment (periodic snapshots of your level of satisfaction in different areas of your life) to a detailed tracking sheet (a spreadsheet with all your goals, % complete to track the progress each week, etc.) including anything in between.

Don't have your question answered? 

Feel free to contact me.