Working with a Coach

What is coaching?

There are as many ways to coach as there are coaches. If you are looking for a good definition, though, let’s turn to the International Coaching Federation (ICF). It’s the widely-accepted global standard since 1995 for certifying coaches and for establishing how coaches should be conducting themselves:

ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.

We don’t tell you what to do

The ICF is very clear about what coaching is and what it is not. It is NOT mentoring, consulting, training, or generally giving advice. So if you are looking for someone who’s going to give you all the answers, then you don’t want a true coach. (Oh, and it’s certainly not therapy or counseling. Coaches mostly deal with the now and what’s next; they do not revisit past traumas and events.)

You are the expert, not us

Coaches acknowledge that each person is unique and the true expert of their lives. Who else has put more time and effort into your life than you? So it would be presumptuous and imprudent for a coach - or really anyone - to tell you how to live your life. We trust that you have all the answers within you and fully capable of finding your individualistic path forward.

How it works

Coaches listen more than they talk. When we do speak, it’s to ask questions or share observations that are meant to take you deeper. This reflective journey often leads to uncovering the next best move for you to take. Since ideas and solutions spring from you - not the coach - you naturally take more ownership and responsibility for them. Similarly, action and progress are more likely to happen because you are the one determining what’s truly workable for you. As a result, coaching is highly personalized and assuredly more transformative than any generic, one-size-fits-all advice you can get from so-called experts, influencers, books, videos, podcasts, social media, and other external sources. Even better, you are learning to be creative and solve things on your own terms instead of always relying on others for answers.

No small talk

Coaching works best when you want a lot for yourself. You show up more present and curious in your sessions, driven to discover new insights to move yourself forward. If the stakes aren’t high enough and you aren’t really committed to the outcomes you desire from coaching, then it’s just a waste of your money and time. In other words, the quick and easy stuff you can probably handle on your own. It’s the big goals and dreams that you’ll want to enlist support from a coach.

Better over time

It takes time for a coach to gain a deeper understanding of how the client feels and thinks about the world, and how they work through issues and come to solutions. Likewise, it takes time for the client to build enough trust with a coach to be vulnerable and open, and to go deeper in each session. Like any meaningful relationship, the more you invest, the more rewarding it becomes.

Bottomline

  • Do you generally find it beneficial to talk things out with another person?

  • Do you have big plans, and need help clarifying your priorities so that you can better determine your next course of action?

  • Do you wish you had a creative collaborator, someone to serve as a professionally objective sounding board for your ideas?

  • Would it be helpful to have an “outside” perspective on your life and/or business from someone who is trained to have a more expansive and holistic viewpoint?

  • Do you want to feel less alone in your endeavors, and instead enlist a trusted partner in your growth and development?

  • Would you like someone rooting for you, who believes in you and holds possibilities for you?

If you answered yes to any of these, then work with a coach!