What is Coaching?
&
How does it work in Practice?
What is Coaching ?
The best explanation is that coaching is a conversation or series of conversations where I (the coach) support you (the coachee) to create an environment of learning, self-development and improved effectiveness.
I will work with you to help you understand your situation more clearly, supporting you to develop new ideas and take constructive action to achieve your goals.
Sometimes you may know exactly what your goal is but feel "stuck" and not know how to take the next step.
The goal is set by you and can be work related or personal. It can be something small you are struggling to achieve or can be a bigger goal where you want some structured thinking time to work out how to get there.
Coaching is not a way of someone else solving your problems for you. I will not give answers and will not direct you to one possible solution over another. Rather, coaching adopts the approach that you already have the potential to find your own solutions and through the coaching relationship this potential is discovered and built upon.
The coaching I offer you is part of a process of self-development and achievement. The learning does not stop when the coaching stops. Coaching gives you the tools and strategies to use in the future to continue to learn and reach your own new potential. Anyone who wants to undertake coaching will benefit from it.
Coaching is also not therapy or counselling and whilst an awareness of emotions and feelings will be part of an effective coaching conversation, these are used to create greater self-awareness and understanding, which may help overcome any barriers to your self-belief or motivation to take constructive action.
How does it work in practice?
Coaching starts with a free 30 minute telephone conversation where you can ask me any questions about coaching in general, about me as a coach, explore a little about your goal or area you would like coaching for and decide if you think coaching is for you. Most people find that this first conversation excites and motivates them to see the potential they have and how coaching will support them to develop their ideas. A minority of people may be scared by the thought of changing their ideas about themselves or feel that they couldn’t possibly achieve something they have so far been unsuccessful in. Coaching can help both groups of people. It just takes a different amount of courage to take the next step.
After the first conversation we will book our first session. These are usually 60 minutes long and can be by telephone, face to face or by virtual technology. In this first session I will help you identify what is is you are stuck with or firm up your goal and explore the actions you might take to get there. This can take some time to complete and it can feel unsettling as we work through why that goal is important to you and the steps you might need to take to achieve it. By the end of the first session many people feel exhausted but invigorated by the ideas that have been generated and how coaching has opened up their thoughts and curiosity about what they can achieve.
The following sessions will be of the same length and will build on this work. Some people find making their own notes during the sessions about ideas, thoughts or feelings helps.
I encourage all my coachees to take time to reflect after each session as this is often the time when these thoughts, feelings and ideas begin to make more sense and can be developed in order to help reach their goal.
The cost of each 60 minute session is £55. The amount of coaching sessions needed varies but most people find 2 – 4 sessions works well. We can discuss and review this after each session.
There is no expectation to book a certain number of sessions.
Find out about me ...
Please get in touch ...