Life Coaching, Business Coaching, Performance Coaching, Workplace Coaching, Career Coaching, Personal Coaching & Mentoring.
Frequently Asked Questions FAQs
[International Coach Federation (ICF)
Formed in 1995, today the ICF is the leading global organization, with over 14,000 members, dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high professional standards, providing independent certification, and building a network of credentialed coaches ]
What is coaching?
The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
Professional coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Coaches help people improve their performances and enhance the quality of their lives.
Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has. ICF>>>
What are some typical reasons someone might work with a coach?
There are many reasons that an individual or team might choose to work with a coach, including but not limited to the following:
•There is something at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity), and it is urgent, compelling or exciting or all of the above;
•There is a gap in knowledge, skills, confidence, or resources;
•There is a desire to accelerate results;
•There is a lack of clarity, and there are choices to be made;
•The individual is extremely successful, and success has started to become problematic;
•Work and life are out of balance, and this is creating unwanted consequences; or
•One has not identified his or her core strengths and how best to leverage them. ICF>>>
What has caused the tremendous growth in the coaching industry?
Coaching has grown significantly for many reasons. Coaching is a useful tool to deal with many of those changes. For example, coaching is a great tool for today's challenging job market. There is more job transition, more self-employment and small business. Some of the real life factors include:
•Rapid changes in the external business environment;
•Downsizing, restructuring, mergers and other organizational changes have radically altered what has been termed the "traditional employment contract"-companies can no longer achieve results using traditional management approaches;
•There is a growing shortage of talented employees in certain industries-to attract and retain top talent, companies must commit to investing in individuals' development;
•There is a widening disparity between what managers were trained to do and what their jobs now require them to do in order to meet increasing demands for competitive results;
•There is unrest on the part of many employees and leaders in many companies-people are wrestling with fears around job insecurity and increased workplace pressures to perform at higher levels than ever before;
•Companies must develop inclusive, collaborative work environments, in order to achieve strategic business goals, and to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction; and
•Individuals who have experienced the excellent results of coaching are talking to more people about coaching. In short, coaching helps people focus on what matters most to them in life: business and personal. People today are more open to the idea of being in charge of their own lives. Coaching helps people do just that; so the industry continues to grow. ICF>>>
How long does a coach work with an individual?
The length of a coaching partnership varies depending on the individual's or team's needs and preferences. For certain types of focused coaching, 3 to 6 months of working with a coach may work. For other types of coaching, people may find it beneficial to work with a coach for a longer period. Factors that may impact the length of time include: the types of goals, the ways individuals or teams like to work, the frequency of coaching meetings, and financial resources available to support coaching.ICF>>>
Isn’t it enough for me to get some training in the areas I want to improve?
Not if you want lasting results or need permanent thinking or behavioural change. The statistics strongly state that while training is a great way of gathering information it is the implementation and application of knowledge that is critical in achieving results and making changes that improve your life. A great coach will always be looking for opportunities for you to learn and grow and then support you to get the results. Its a good idea to ask trainers what the returns on the training will be, what have past attendees changed, improved on, benefited from through doing the training. Coaching is less linear than training, is tailored and flexible. Coacing supports the training process.
Why do coaches use assessments?
A variety of assessments are available to support the coaching process, depending upon the needs and circumstances of the individual. Assessments provide objective information which can enhance the individual's self-awareness as well as awareness of others and their circumstances, provide a benchmark for creating coaching goals and actionable strategies, and offer a method for evaluating progress. ICF>>>
How can the success of the coaching process be measured?
Measurement may be thought of in two distinct ways. First, there are the external indicators of performance: measures which can be seen and measured in the individual's or team's environment. Second, there are internal indicators of success: measures which are inherent within the individual or team members being coached and can be measured by the individual or team being coached with the support of the coach. Ideally, both external and internal metrics are incorporated.
Examples of external measures include achievement of coaching goals established at the outset of the coaching relationship, increased income/revenue, obtaining a promotion, performance feedback which is obtained from a sample of the individual's constituents (e.g., direct reports, colleagues, customers, boss, the manager him/herself), personal and/or business performance data (e.g., productivity, efficiency measures). The external measures selected should ideally be things the individual is already measuring and are things the individual has some ability to directly influence. ICF>>>
What does it cost?
Anywhere from $150 - $20,000. Coaching will cost an individual client anywhere from $150 - $300 per session for qualified, experienced and/or proven coaching, businesses can expect to pay $200 - $500 per session. Coaching Packages and Programs range from $500 – $20,000 depending on what you need, how quickly you need to get there, what level of return the results get you and skill level required. As a general rule, coaching returns a great deal to clients not only financially, workwise and careerwise but emotionally, spiritually and physically.
Is coaching as effective over the telephone as face to face?
Yes. Telephone coaching has taken off, quite simply because of the flexibility and ease of undertaking a session anywhere, at any time. Telephone coaching is very effective in the workplace, clients do coaching at lunchtime; in a spare office at the end of the day or get in early and have your session before your work begins. Employers benefit from the conveniences and cost savings. It saves you travel time and minimises travel expenses and you can use the session just prior to a presentation or an important meeting to get the most out of the situation. Our brains process emotional information in the Limbic System. This part of the brain responds to Auditory communication which is why telephone coaching is so effective.
