Individual & Group Coaching
Individual Coaching
Frequently-Asked
Questions
How does coaching work?
When you think
about how you've learned things in your life - it's through
a combination of practical experience and feedback from
life. Coaching fast-tracks the learning process and helps
you shine a "grow light" on the specific areas you want
to strengthen. Coaching works through a combination of four
activities:
- setting intent
- observation
- practice
- reflection.
Setting Intent:
Setting intent is very powerful. The overall intent is set
through a few sessions: first to test whether there's a
fit between the coach and prospective participant, and to
see whether the issue at hand is one which would benefit
from coaching. The coach may use various tools to help assess
and clarify the proposed goals. In some situations, this
may include direct observation of the participant in his/her
work, or collection of information from colleagues. The
coach then proposes to the participant a "coaching program"
that outlines an outcome and a set of observable changes
that will contribute to the outcome. Through a discussion
and revision process, the coach and participant agree on
the program. This sets the overall intent. With each subsequent
session, mini-objectives are set to be accomplished that
are designed to contribute to achievement of the overall
intent.
Observation:
One of the core activities of coaching is self-observation.
Throughout the process of working with a coach, you'll be
supported to "collect data" from your life related to your
intent and record it in a way that you can track progress
and see what's happening more clearly. This practice of
self-observation will serve you long after the coaching
has ended.
Practice:
Your coach will design practices for you that will help
you gently and safely begin to try new ways and build "muscles"
in areas of your life that will help you reach your goal.
These practices will be done in manageable steps and throughout
the process of practice, you'll be observing and reflecting
on what you experience.
Reflection: Reflection is
the process of re-aligning your practice and observation
against your beliefs and through reflection your "mind-set"
gradually evolves to support your intent. Mind-set - what
you believe about the world and how you see yourself in
it - is the nucleus of all that you create. As your mind-set
shifts to support your new intent, other aspects of your
life shift to support you there without conscious effort
on your part.
Where are you "coming from" in
your coaching?
Here are some
of the qualities, values and beliefs that shape my particular
coaching style:
- I believe that every challenging life situation is an
opportunity for growth and insight - we can choose to
take advantage of that opportunity or not. My preference
is to take advantage of challenges in this way.
- I believe that each one of us has creative power within
us - and that often life situations have been unwittingly
contributed to by our own actions and mirror unconscious
beliefs held within us.
- I believe that life circumstances call us forth into
what is needed. Our challenge is to open to an open
acceptance of what actually is... and develop to respond
to it with our full capacity -- combining intention and
attention.
- In my work I am used to viewing cases through an "ecological
model" of change - variously termed "systems" model, model,
"population health" model. I believe that policies, physical
environments, economics and many other factors contribute
to any individual's experience of life, and opportunities
in life.
- I ask questions as a way of entering conversation and
relationship.
- I tend to be results-oriented. I value process when
it is linked to results.
- I continue to grow and learn through my active affiliation
with the Ginger Group Collaborative (www.gingergroup.net),
my community of practice and colleagues in business supporting
leadership, organizational and system transformation.
If I enter into coaching with
you, how much time will I need to spend?
An hour for a session every two to
three weeks, and an average of 15 minutes a day on practices
and observation exercises. Generally, it would be
good to think of this kind of commitment over about six
to eight months. It may need less, it may need more - we
will be monitoring your progress as we go.
How do I figure out what to work
on?
As you're going through your day
to day routine, hold the question: "Are there areas of your
life in which you're feeling stuck, dry, or discouraged?"
Come to our first session prepared to talk with me about
these. We'll take it from there together.
How will we know if there's a
good client-coach "fit"?
Matching the coach
to the participant is very important to the outcome (McGovern
et. al. 2000). How do you ensure a fit? Have an initial
meeting with the prospective coach and ask them about their
approach, beliefs, experience. Talk about some of the issues
that you're facing in your life and work right now and through
the dialogue that the two of you have, you will notice whether
you're feeling a sense of rapport, engagement, and mutual
respect. Discuss what it will take to fully engage in the
coaching process: cost, time commitment, family and workplace
support. This will help you assess whether it's feasible
for you right now.
This initial interview
is as important for the prospective coach as it is for you.
The coach will be looking for the same kind of rapport,
engagement and mutual respect you'll be looking for. S/he
will also be listening for your issues and will be assessing
whether they think that coaching is right for you at the
moment, or whether you might be better suited to mentoring,
counseling, training or some other kind of support.
At the end of this initial interview,
you should both agree explicitly whether or not to proceed,
not proceed, or to explore further in another session.
What assessment tools do you
use?
There are a number of "lenses" that
are used to inform the assessment - some more formal than
others. And, there's an intuitive process that's engaged
to help bring all the fragments of observations from these
tools together into a nugget that, I hope, will hit the
nail on the head for you.
What is the difference between
coaching and counseling?
Coaching focuses
on developing specific observable outcomes related to competencies.
It does not focus primarily on emotional healing. Coaching
deals with the present and future, and is not focused on
the past.
That being said,
every opening for growth and transformation, no matter whether
at work or other areas of life, has a related emotional,
spiritual, mental, and physical component to it. So, competency
development within a coaching context draws upon and stirs
aspects of being that are likely to be tender and vulnerable.
In fact, if it's not entering into territory that is somewhat
uncomfortable, then likely the coaching isn't yielding significant
change. Discomfort comes when you're outside your usual
arena of what you know and believe. In coaching, you and
your coach will be acknowledging and working gently with
these areas as well as aspects of yourself in which you
feel more confidence.
You and your coach will not be working
to address the hidden roots of behaviour from the past.
If you come across issues that need to be dealt with through
counseling, your coach may suggest that you seek complementary
help.
What is the difference between
coaching and consulting?
Given that I've
been working as a consultant for many years, this question
is particularly relevant to me. Every consultant develops
his or her own way of practicing. Coaching is one intervention
that can be offered within a spectrum of consulting services.
The "client"
focus is different. In my consulting practice, I generally
am contracted to do a job that will serve the client organization
or group of organizations to help them advance towards specific
goals. Interventions are diverse - they may include working
with individuals or groups. In coaching, I'm working with
an individual or a team to help them progress towards goals
that are defined with them and by them. While the organization
benefits, the specific client is the individual or team.
Confidentiality
is held in a different way. Within coaching, there
is an agreement to maintain strict confidentiality within
the relationship between the person being coached and the
coach. In consulting, the consultant maintains confidentiality
outside of the client "system". Often, the consultant plays
a role as an agent of change within the system, and may
be sharing information within the organization or set of
organizations to enable change. Agreements to maintain strict
confidentiality may be made with specific individuals regarding
specific pieces of information or interactions - these agreements
are made explicitly in situation-specific circumstances.
A coach does not provide content
expertise. A coach is not there to provide expertise
in the specific content area. Sometimes a consultant provides
content expertise, such as research and analysis or leadership
training. A coach is informed by expertise in the nature
of human development and change.
Is there evidence that coaching
works?
Yes. Every coaching
process involves setting observable outcomes and then checking
progress against them, so progress is concrete, and there
is built-in accountability. For me, personally, it's been
very helpful in helping me to structure my time and my business
to free myself up for the things that really give me life
energy. There's also research that shows evidence of cost-effective
results.
McGovern et. al.
published a study on the effectiveness of coaching in The
Manchester Review, Vol 6 # 1, 2001 entitled "Maximizing
the Impact of Executive Coaching". They studied the impact
of coaching on 100 executives in the U.S. who completed
coaching between 1996 and 2000. Executives were typically
coached over a period of 6 - 12 months, and all coaching
programs used standard assessment procedures. Study participants
were asked to self-report the tangible benefits to business
that came from the coaching. "Stakeholders" (their managers,
co-workers, and people reporting to them) were also interviewed
to verify results. Participants reported 73% of the goals
they set in their coaching program to have been achieved
at least "very effectively". Stakeholders reported that
85% of the goals were achieved at least "effectively". A
majority reported improved relationships with reports (77%),
improved relationships with co-workers (71%), improved teamwork
(67%), improved relationships with peers (63%) and improved
job satisfaction (61%). Fifty-three percent reported improved
productivity.
Factors that improved
the results from the coaching: a good coach/participant
relationship, the quality of the assessment, participants'
commitment, and managers' support.
Factors that detracted
from results, where participants had not sustained new behaviour
for at least one of the developmental priorities: participant's
availability to the coaching process, unresolved communication
issues, and lack of organizational support.
The authors conclude
that to maximize the impact of executive coaching, it is
important to:
- Select coaches with care - the relationship between
participant and coach is paramount to success
- Provide strong organizational support. If the organization
is initiating the coaching, it's important that the communication
about the reasons for suggesting coaching be clear, and
that there be clear communication within the organization
about coaching in general. Coaching should be positioned
as a positive opportunity and a sign of the organization's
commitment to leadership development.
- Measure and communicate the impact. Reviewing impact
can be motivating and energizing, and can help participants
reinforce gains they have made.
How can I interest my organization
in supporting me in coaching?
Some people choose
to enroll in coaching outside of their work environment
and to be relatively private about it. Others need and want
the support of their organization. Often coaching is part
of a package of leadership development options that an organization
makes available to its rising stars as part of building
organizational capacity and keeping promising people engaged
and challenged. If coaching is already a positively-viewed
tool that's openly used within your organization, then making
the case can be part of your annual performance review and
career development planning with your manager. Before you
broach the subject with your manager, you may wish to do
some homework with people in your organization's Human Resources
Department, to find out how the organization has supported
coaching to date and what the results have been, and what
options may be open to you.
You may want to
have some contact with one or more coaches that your organization
has used in the past and ask one of them to help you make
the case - they may have success stories to provide you
with, or evidence of the return on investment that organizations
typically realize from investing in coaching. You can always
use the McGovern article as evidence from research.
If you are working within a smaller
organization, and coaching is new in your sector or network,
then you may need to take more time to make the case. Check
out our paper on Coaching
for Voluntary Sector Leaders. Try to think of
some examples of the kinds of skills or changes you'd like
to make through coaching. Provide some kind of estimate
of how tangible progress could save the organization time
or money. Look for examples of colleagues in similar organizations
who have benefited from coaching and see if they would be
willing to attest to the value. Perhaps propose a time-
and cost-limited agreement followed by a review of results
with your manager or board to decide whether the services
are proving their worth.
What's the difference between
the Integral
Coaching® approach and other coaching approaches?
The Integral
Coaching®
approach is comprehensive and works with a participant's
underlying "way of being" as it contributes to the
presenting situation or issue at hand. By addressing the
underlying way of being related to a topic, the Integral
Coaching® approach leads to more sustainable
results and to a participant's capacity to course-correct.
My experience of the Integral
Coaching® approach is that it is grounded in
a holistic understanding of how people grow and change.
This approach is informed by research in psychology, organizational
development, behavioral science. It is also informed by
models arising from spiritual teachers from various spiritual
traditions and from philosophy, as summarized by Ken Wilber's
Integral Model (www.integralinstitute.org).
Are you certified?
I am certified by New Ventures West
and Integral
Coaching Canada as a Professional Integral Coach®.
Many people who offer coaching are not certified.
I am licensed as a Professional Certified Coach by my professional
body, the
International Coach Federation.
Why don't you just give some
tips about how a client can tackle the situation?
To answer this
question, there may be times when I take off my coaching
hat and put on a consulting hat and offer you tips, analysis,
or advice related to your work.
In general, as a coach, if you're
needing tips, I will be helping you to sort out how you
can access that kind of support in your environment - so
that you'll have access to those tips after I'm gone. I'll
also be supporting you to clarify the tips you're learning
from your own observations and practices through reflection.
