What is Coaching
Coaching is what happens when you enter into a formal agreement with a coach who then facilitates you to set goals and then work out strategies and actions to achieve them. Coaching is usually a series of one-to-one conversations, which can happen face-to-face, by telephone or online through services such as Skype.
Most coaches will not advise or instruct. Coaching is different from teaching in that a good coach will help you to uncover your own solutions by asking your (REMOVE R) perceptive questions that draw out your existing knowledge and point to ways you can further develop.
Coaching is also different from counselling or therapy where the aim is to help the client to resolve a past trauma or move on from a difficult past, The focus is on healing the past and solving current problems that are holding you back in your life. A good coach will contract with you to form outcomes, and the main aim of each coaching session will be to explore ways that these outcomes can be achieved and looking at what needs to happen now to progress towards them. Coaching may explore your deeper, unconscious drives, beliefs, values and conflicts. However unlike counselling or therapy, the focus is on what’s happening in the present rather than looking into your past history to unlock blocks. Coaching helps people who are already reasonably happy, stable and successful take steps to reach their bigger dream and be the best they can.
There are many different kinds of coaches from a variety of backgrounds, specialising in a wide selection of areas. For instance, some coaches may come from a business background and specialise in a consultative approach to helping you develop your business / business skills. Some may be from a therapeutic background and work at a deeper level to help you move past previous difficulties and feel better about yourself.
Angela has business experience, in depth understanding of psychology and is a master NLP practitioner, so she can guide you through the practical and personal. With her specialism in Clean Coaching, she can tap into your non-conscious mind and help you make deep, transformational and sustainable changes.
Click below to download the ‘Getting the most from your coach’ briefing pack.
How does coaching work?
Following an initial conversation (by email, phone or Skype), we will agree on an individual coaching session or short series of sessions. Before your first session, you will receive a coaching agreement which explains more about what you can expect, what Angela will provide and what she expects from you. You will also receive a form containing some questions for you to reflect on and if comfortable, to reply to in writing before we speak. This is to help you prepare for the session and consider what’s important to you about coaching and what you would like to achieve through the process.
During your first session, you will be asked many questions to help solidify your goals, develop them into powerful motivators, and begin removing any blocks (beliefs, lack of resource, etc) you may have to achieving them.
Most people discover some significant insights during that very first session, which can kick-start many positive changes within themselves.
Depending on your unique requirements your coaching plan will be tailored to suit you and designed to give you a remarkable transformation.
Most importantly, this process of transformation will energise and motivate you to re-discover the exciting adventure of being you, and doing things at your very best.
Following the first session, you will have regular contact in the form and frequency that you have requested. Many people will use email and telephone contact as well as occasional face-to-face sessions. Further contact sessions are flexible in content, depending on where you are in terms of achieving your goals. I may boost your confidence to continue, or question further to uncover new resources. Or use a specific NLP or Symbolic Modelling technique to shift your mind set or change a belief or fear. Sometimes the session could be very practical and use traditional teaching methods to impart communication and assertiveness skills to you, and give you an opportunity to practice and develop those skills.
Most people will work with a coach for a short series of coaching sessions with time to implement changes in between. Typically, people undergo 6 coaching sessions over a 2 to 3 month period. However this is very flexible and depending on what you wish to achieve and your personal circumstances, coaching sessions could be concentrated to a short set of three sessions, or expanded to encompass an entire year of development.
Typically people will have coaching sessions once a fortnight, or once every month, ensuring they have the time to implement any actions they have chosen to committed to, and allow for any learning to be embedded. However some people may chose more frequent sessions or leave a longer gap between them.
After each session, I will provide you with a useful email summary of the session, this will include a copy of the notes I took during the session, including the session aims, your questions, what we did and your take-aways / actions stated at the end. I will also provide you with further reflection questions so you can continue to explore what came up in the session and record what happens next. It is also your means of letting me know how you found the session and what you’d like me to do more of or less of next time.
In between sessions, you may keep in touch with me via email. I will encourage you to keep your own reflective journal so you can collect evidence of your success and specific details of any challenge you encounter that you need to explore further in the next session.
You may always re-contract and continue with further coaching once any initial agreement is completed. Fresh outcomes can be set and existing ones fine tuned as well as exploring different approaches that may be required at this stage of the coaching journey.