Frequently Asked Questions About Coaching
- What is coaching?
- What is the difference between coaching and therapy/consulting/mentoring/training
- What is the difference between an Executive Coach and other types of coaches?
- What is the value in hiring a coach that is ICF Certified?
- What are the core competencies that I should look for in a coach?
- What are the ethical standards that an ICF-Certified coach follows?
- How can I benefit from coaching?
- How can my team benefit from coaching?
- How can my company benefit from coaching?
- What would coaching look like for me?
- What would coaching look like for my team or group?
- Can I see a sample Client Agreement?
- Can I see a sample proposal for group coaching?
- Where can I read more about coaching?
- How do I get started with coaching?
What is coaching?
The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
What is the difference between coaching and therapy/consulting/mentoring/training?
Professional coaching is a distinct service which focuses on an individual’s life as it relates to goal setting, outcome creation and personal change management. In an effort to understand what a coach is, it can be helpful to distinguish coaching from other professions that provide personal or organizational support.
Therapy: Coaching can be distinguished from therapy in a number of ways. First, coaching is a profession that supports personal and professional growth and development based on individual-initiated change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is forward moving and future focused. Therapy, on the other hand, deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or a relationship between two or more individuals. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past which hamper an individual’s emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with present life and work circumstances in more emotionally healthy ways. Therapy outcomes often include improved emotional/feeling states. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one’s work or personal life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action, accountability and follow through.
Consulting: Consultants may be retained by individuals or organizations for the purpose of accessing specialized expertise. While consulting approaches vary widely, there is often an assumption that the consultant diagnoses problems and prescribes and sometimes implements solutions. In general, the assumption with coaching is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.
Mentoring: Mentoring, which can be thought of as guiding from one’s own experience or sharing of experience in a specific area of industry or career development, is sometimes confused with coaching. Although some coaches provide mentoring as part of their coaching, such as in mentor coaching new coaches, coaches are not typically mentors to those they coach.
Training: Training programs are based on the acquisition of certain learning objectives as set out by the trainer or instructor. Though objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path which coincides with an established curriculum. Coaching is less linear without a set curriculum plan.
Athletic Development: Though sports metaphors are often used, professional coaching is different from the traditional sports coach. The athletic coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs the behavior of individuals or teams based on his or her greater experience and knowledge. Professional coaches possess these qualities, but it is the experience and knowledge of the individual or team that determines the direction. Additionally, professional coaching, unlike athletic development, does not focus on behaviors that are being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the focus is on identifying opportunity for development based on individual strengths and capabilities
(Source: International Coach Federation website)
What is the difference between an Executive Coach and other types of coaches?
An Executive Coach helps leaders in companies to “take it to the next level” and improve their performance.
A Business Coach helps business owners to improve their business.
A Life Coach helps clients to determine and achieve personal goals.
What is the value in hiring a coach that is ICF-Certified?
The International Coach Federation (ICF) offers the only globally recognized, independent credentialing program which has existed for more than a decade. More than 6,000 coaches currently hold one of three offered ICF Credentials.
The ICF Credentialing Program . . .
- Establishes and administers minimum standards for credentialing professional coaches and coach training agencies.
- Assures the public that participating coaches and coach training agencies meet or exceed these minimum standards.
- Reinforces professional coaching as a distinct and self-regulating profession.
Coaches who have been credentialed by the ICF have received coach-specific training, achieved a designated number of experience hours and have been coached by a mentor coach.
What are the core competencies that I should look for in a coach?
Click here to read more about the following 11 core competencies that you should look for in a coach:
- Meeting Ethical Guidelines and Professional Standards - Understanding of coaching ethics and standards and ability to apply them appropriately in all coaching situations
- Establishing the Coaching Agreement – Ability to understand what is required in the specific coaching interaction and to come to agreement with the prospective and new client about the coaching process and relationship
- Establishing Trust and Intimacy with the Client - Ability to create a safe, supportive environment that produces ongoing mutual respect and trust
- Coaching Presence - Ability to be fully conscious and create spontaneous relationship with the client, employing a style that is open, flexible and confident
- Active Listening - Ability to focus completely on what the client is saying and is not saying, to understand the meaning of what is said in the context of the client’s desires, and to support client self-expression
- Powerful Questioning - Ability to ask questions that reveal the information needed for maximum benefit to the coaching relationship and the client
- Direct Communication - Ability to communicate effectively during coaching sessions, and to use language that has the greatest positive impact on the client
- Creating Awareness - Ability to integrate and accurately evaluate multiple sources of information, and to make interpretations that help the client to gain awareness and thereby achieve agreed-upon results
- Designing Actions - Ability to create with the client opportunities for ongoing learning, during coaching and in work/life situations, and for taking new actions that will most effectively lead to agreed-upon coaching results
- Planning and Goal Setting - Ability to develop and maintain an effective coaching plan with the client
- Managing Progress and Accountability – Ability to hold attention on what is important for the client, and to leave responsibility with the client to take action
What are the ethical standards that an ICF-Certified coach follows?
Click here to read the ICF Code of Ethics that all ICF-Certified coaches agree to follow.
How can I benefit from coaching?
- Achieve positive changes in personal behaviors
- Learn how to understand and navigate a complex, matrixed organization and drive stakeholders to consensus quickly
- Learn how to put issues on the table, encourage good debate, and get consensus without being known as a trouble-maker
- Become more strategic than tactical
- Learn how to “manage up”
- Remove anger and emotion from confrontations
- Learn how to lead rather than manage people
- Improve communication skills with the Board and C-Suite
- Learn how to lead, communicate with, and influence a multi-generational team
- Negotiate more effectively
- Influence others
- Be more direct with others without offending people
- Learn how to mentor and coach instead of telling people what to do
- Understand the dynamics between the key people that are critical to work with
- Learn how to build a network and relationships in the workplace
If you want to achieve any of these benefits in the next 6 months, contact me and we can discuss how 1-on-1 executive coaching or group coaching will get you there.
How can my team benefit from coaching?
- Become a high-performing team
- Expand communication, build unity and improve morale
- Learn how to have effective meetings
- Align roles and resolve conflicting priorities
If you want your team to achieve any of these benefits in the next 6 months, contact me and we can discuss how group coaching will get them there.
How can my company benefit from coaching?
- Accelerates promotions required for succession plans
- Improves overall performance of key leaders
- Eliminates bad habits that are holding executives back
- Accelerates onboarding of newly promoted executives
- Converts a technical “geek” into a successful leader
What would coaching look like for me?
If you want to quickly achieve results in a private coaching session, then 1-on-1 Executive Coaching is probably the best fit for you. Characteristics of 1-on-1 Executive Coaching are:
- 1-hour coaching sessions over the phone (weekly or 2x/month)
- Homework is assigned as needed to practice new skills
- Assessments as needed
- Coaching results are typically achieved in an average of 6 months
If you feel more comfortable in a group environment, want the benefit of learning from your peers, and are looking for a more economical coaching option, then Group Coaching is probably the best fit for you. Characteristics of a typical Group Coaching program are:
- 75-minute coaching sessions in a group teleconference (2x/month)
- Individual 20-30 min. laser coaching (1x/month)
- Ideal group size of 6-10 clients and 1 coach
- Homework is assigned as needed to practice new skills
- Assessments as needed
- Minimum length of group coaching program is 6 months
Examples of successful Group Coaching programs are:
- Executive women in technology (non-competing companies)
- VPs for a financial services company
- Program Managers (within one company or from non-competing companies)
- Recently promoted executives with technical backgrounds and no leadership experience
- Owners of professional services companies in a specific industry (non-competing companies)
What would coaching look like for my team or group?
If you have a team that you want to increase their effectiveness or to strengthen the relationships within the team, I will customize a Group Coaching program for you. I can also customize a Group Coaching program for group of like-minded peers such as program managers, recently-promoted leaders, executive women leaders, etc.
Characteristics of a typical Group Coaching program are:
- 75-minute coaching sessions in a group teleconference (2x/month)
- Individual 20-30 min. laser coaching (1x/month)
- Ideal group size of 6-10 clients and 1 coach
- Homework is assigned as needed to practice new skills
- Assessments as needed
- Minimum length of group coaching program is 6 months
Examples of successful Group Coaching programs are:
- Existing project teams
- Recently-formed groups
- Executive women leaders
- SVPs reporting to the CEO
- Program Managers
- Recently promoted executives with technical backgrounds and no leadership experience
I also have a unique program called DrawSuccess which
has been phenomenally successful at companies like AT&T, Time Warner, and CocaCola to bring their teams to a higher level of performance. I usually integrate DrawSuccess into my group coaching program where we will have a one-day Team Transformation workshop using DrawSuccess, then continue with a group coaching program over the phone to ensure that the team is integrating the learnings into their daily routine and improving their team performance.
Can I see a sample client agreement?
Sure! Click here to download a sample agreement for 1-on-1 Executive Coaching. This agreement is typical when my client (who I’m coaching) is not the same person as the sponsor (the person who is paying for the coaching). Note also that we agree on initial goals for the coaching program, which is what you want to achieve personally through coaching.
The Client Agreement for Group Coaching is similar but will be customized for each group.
Can I see a sample proposal for group coaching?
Click here to download a sample proposal for a customized group coaching program. The example is for a company that wanted a coaching program for a group of 8 Regional Sales Directors who were the only women in that role at their company.
Where can I read more about coaching?
Ok, I know that many of you are new to coaching, so here are some articles and websites you can read to learn more:
- International Coach Federation (ICF) website
- “The 5 C’s of Hiring a Coach” – ICF website
- “Coaching Clients Should Demand the Highest Standards of Coaches: Training, Ethics, Certification” – ICF website
- “What Can Coaches Do For You?” – Harvard Business Review, January 2009
- “Is Coaching Worth the Money? Assessing the ROI of Executive Coaching” – exerpt from The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secrets by Howard Morgan, Phil Harkins, and Marshall Goldsmith (eds.), 2005
- “The Ridler & Co. Survey of Trends in Buying Executive Coaching 2007″
- “ROI from Management & Executive Coaching” – Right Management Consultants, 2007
- “Ungagged: Executives on Executive Coaching” – Ivey Business Journal, May/June 2006
Now that you’ve done your due diligence on coaching, contact me and we can discuss how 1-on-1 executive coaching or group coaching can benefit you.
How do I get started with coaching?
- Click here to contact me and let me know that you want to get started with a coaching program.
- If you want 1-on-1 executive coaching, I will then ask you to complete a short questionnaire to tell me about yourself and about your goals for coaching.
- If you want group coaching, I will customize a group coaching program and submit a proposal to you. Click here to see a sample proposal.
- You pick a coaching timeslot from my calendar.
- Based on the questionnaire, I will draft a client agreement for you (and your sponsor, if applicable) to sign.
- We start coaching!