What is coaching?

Coaching is a partnership designed to help you achieve success -- however you define success in your life. Each partnership is different depending on the client's goals. Coaching includes clarifying vision and purpose to addressing behaviors and tolerations that create barriers to success to problem solving and more. The relationship is strictly confidential.

As a client, your coach will help you:

• Implement the plan of action, working through the inevitable changes and any obstacles
• Maintain a healthy balance between your personal and professional life
• Keep looking ahead to take advantage of opportunities that are just now formulating
• Bring out your personal best, keeping focused on your needs, values and vision.

Why does coaching work?

Coaching works because it brings out your best. A coach believes you have the answers and is trained to bring them out (painlessly!) Specifically, this is what a coach will do with you during your coaching sessions:

Listen. A coach listens fully. You are the focus. The coach listens to what you say, what you are trying to say and what you are not saying.

Share. A coach will share ideas, thoughts and views on your situation, dilemma or opportunity, speaking the truth from her or his perspective.

Suggest. A coach wants a lot for you. A coach wants you to be healthy, happy and successful. A coach wants you to be on a strong financial track. A coach wants you to enjoy your family and friends. A coach wants you to have a life that inspires others and yourself. A coach believes in your greatness. To that end, your coach will make requests and suggestions to guide and challenge you.

A coach works with you to:

• Brainstorm options for effective action
• Update or expand your vision and goals
• Increase your ability to see high leverage opportunities
• Find balance in life between work, family and community
• Improve communication and languaging skills
• Develop your management and executive leadership teams

How is coaching different from consulting? Therapy? Sports coaching? A best friend?

Consulting. Coaching is not an expert model of consulting. The coach facilitates a process of reflection and action. A coach also stays with the client to help implement the new skills, changes and goals to make sure they really happen.

Therapy. 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.

Sports. 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 versus help them beat the other team. It's win/win.

Best friend. 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.

Coaching Improves Performance

• Productivity
• Quality
• Organizational strength
• Customer service
• Employee retention
• Cost reductions
• Bottom-line profitability
• Teamwork
• Working relationships with direct reports, immediate supervisors, peers and clients
• Job satisfaction
• Conflict reduction
• Organizational commitment
• An average return on investment of 5.7 times the initial investment in a typical executive coaching assignment or a return of more than $100,000.

Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching, Manchester Review, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2001. Results based on a recent study of 100 executives.