| FAQs
About Coaching from International Coach Federation
What
is coaching?
How is coaching different from consulting?
What is the basic philosophy of coaching?
Who hires a coach and why?
What happens when you hire a coach?
Does the coach work on personal goals or business/professional
goals?
Where does the coach focus with an average client?
Why does coaching work?
Why is coaching becoming so popular?
Please, give me some context about coaching...
What about people who are already doing great
in their lives. Why would they need a coach?
Can a dependency be created between coach and client?
Can coaching hurt someone?
Can I hire a coach just for a short-term, special
project?
How long must I commit if I start working with a coach?
What does it cost to hire a coach?
What
is coaching?
Coaching
is a new profession. Coaches:
- Help
people set better goals and then reach those goals.
- Ask
their clients to do more than they would have done on their
own.
- Focus
their clients better to more quickly produce results.
- Provide
the tools, support and structure to accomplish more.
How
is coaching different from consulting? Therapy? Sports coaching?
A best friend?
Coaching
is a form of consulting. But the coach stays with the client
to help implement the new skills, changes and goals to make sure
they really happen. Coaching is not therapy. We don't work on "issues" or
get into the past or deal much with understanding human behavior.
We leave that up to the client to know and figure out while we
help them move forward and set personal and professional goals
that will give them the life they really want.
Coaching
includes several principles from sports coaching, like teamwork,
going for the goal, being your best. But unlike sports coaching,
most professional coaching is not competition or win/lose based.
We strengthen the client's skills vs. help them beat the other
team. It's win/win. A best friend is wonderful to have. But is
your best friend a professional who you will trust to advise
you on the most important aspects of your life and/or business?
Have a best friend and a coach.
What
is the basic philosophy of coaching?
Simply
put, that we humans are great, that we're all discovering what
we really want and that we get can get what we want faster and
easier by having a coach who's been there and who can help us.
Who
hires a coach and why?
People
hire a coach because:
- They
want more.
- They
want to grow.
- They
want it easier.
It's
as simple as that. Coaches help a client get all three, Quickly.
What
happens when you hire a coach?
Many
things, but the most important are:
- You
take yourself more seriously.
- You
take more effective and focused actions immediately.
- You
stop putting up with what is dragging you down.
- You
create momentum so it's easier to get results.
- You
set better goals that you might not have without the coach.
Does
the coach work on personal goals or business/professional goals?
Both,
actually, and, with the line between personal and business life
blurring in the 90s, the coach is the only professional trained
to work with all aspects of you.
Where
does the coach focus with an average client?
We
focus where the client needs us most. And, we tend to weave in
the following discussions:
- Getting
the client's Personal Foundation strengthened.
- Helping
the client beef up their Reserve.
- Helping
the client set goals based on their Personal Values.
By
including these with what the client wants from us, we help the
client have fewer problems and focus on what's going to make
them the most successful. We've found that clients really enjoy
the approach.
Why
does coaching work?
Coaching
works for several reasons:
- Synergy
between the coach and client creates momentum.
- Better
goals are set -- ones that naturally pull the client toward
the goal rather than goals that require the client to push
themselves toward the goal.
- The
client develops new skills, and these skills translate into
more success.
Why
is coaching becoming so popular?
Coaching
is becoming popular for several reasons:
- Many
people are tired of doing what they "should" do
and are ready to do something special and meaningful
for the rest of their lives. Problem is, many can't see
it, or if they can, they can't see a way to reorient
their life around it. A coach can help them do both.
- People
are realizing how simple it can be to accomplish something
that several years ago might have felt out of reach or like
a pipedream. A coach is not a miracle worker (well, they are,
sometimes) but a coach does have a large tool kit to help the
Big Idea become a Reality. Fortunately, people now have time
and resources to invest in themselves in this kind of growth.
- Spirituality.
If you've tracked the phenomenal success of James Redfield's
Celestine Prophecy on the NY Times best-seller list during
1994, you get a sense of just how many people are willing
to look at, and consider, the notion of spirituality. Wow.
Many coaches are spiritually based -- even the ones who
coach IBM and AT&T. America is getting spiritual quickly. (Our working
definition of spirituality? How connected you are with yourself
and others.") The coach helps the clients to tune
in better to themselves and others.
Please,
give me some context about coaching...
A
personal coach does just what an athletic coach or music teacher
does, only in a more complete and bigger way. A coach challenges
you and takes the time to find out what winning in life means
to you. A coach is your partner in living the life you know you
can accomplish, personally and professionally. A coach is someone
to hold you accountable for your life, to make sure you really
do live up to your potential.
No
matter where you are in life, there is always a desire for more:
more success, more money, closer relationships, a deeper feeling
of meaning in life, etc. It is the nature of people to want to
attain more, become more, be more, and we all struggle with how
to get what we're looking for.
Most
people believe that "hard work and doing it on your own" are
the keys to finding the life, success, money, or happiness that
they seek. They believe that a price must be paid to attain what
they want, and often that price is poor health, not having enough
time to enjoy life, strained family relationships or lessened
productivity. The saddest part is that, even though this effort
may result in more of something, it is often not the something
you had in mind, and you are back where you started, or worse,
further from your real intentions.
Athletes
and performers know about this trap. They know they need someone
else, a trained someone else to help them set goals, discover
real needs, and work effectively toward ultimate goals of excellence.
So, they are willing to hire a coach or a teacher. No serious
athlete or musician would expect to progress very far without
one.
What
about people who are already doing great in their lives, why
would they need a coach?
They
might not need a coach. But it is helpful to find out: Are they
doing what they most enjoy? Are they tolerating anything? Is
life easy? Are they going to be financially independent within
the next 15 years? Do they have what they most want? We've discovered
that, often, people need to expect more out of their lives. A
coach can help in this process.
Can
a dependency be created between coach and client?
Not
really. The client may "need" the coach in order to
maximize an opportunity or accelerate their growth, yet not be "dependent" on
the coach. Anyone who's up to something "needs" structure,
advice, support and a place to brag, so in that sense, the coach
is necessary. But an emotional, psychological dependency is not
created. The coach works with people who are just fine and strong
enough on their own. Remember, we're not resolving issues here.
The coach is helping the client to create a better future: More
success, more money, and a higher quality of life.
Can
coaching hurt someone?
No.
How? We aren't doing psychological work. We're not trying to
control the client's thinking. We're not cattle prods; we're
partners.
Can
I hire a coach just for a short-term, special project?
Yes.
Some clients hire a coach to help them accomplish specific goals
or projects. Usually, however, the client keeps working with
the coach after that because there are even more interesting
things to accomplish.
How
long must I commit if I start working with a coach?
Most
coaches ask for a three to six month commitment but usually let
you stop immediately if coaching is not working for you right
now. Some
coaches ask for a written agreement or contract. For
the corporate client, however, a signed agreement is simply good
business.
What
does it cost to hire a coach?
Most
coaches working with individuals charge about $200 to $450 per
month for one half-hour call per week. Executive coaches charge
more and some clients work with a coach for an hour or two a
week. It all works out to about $100 to $150 per hour. Obviously,
corporate coaching or programs is more, often running $1,000
to $10,000 per month. |
