Executive Coaching
What is Coaching?
Coaching is a form of personal development, where a Coach supports a Coachee to develop and improve their performance in ways that work for them. People use coaching to positively help them to make changes that they want to make and are committed to making. It is about setting goals, exploring options, taking action, preparing for challenges and celebrating success, but above all, its about finding out what works for you.
We promote an appreciative and strengths based approach, and encourage the development of emotional intelligence (now widely acknowledged to be more important than IQ in business success).
We will help you and your teams identify personal and professional goals, raise awareness of issues, reality test and explore the options you can choose to take. We will also support you with your action planning and to develop new skills to ensure you and your organisation realise your inner potential.
People enlist the services of a coach because they want to improve their situations and achieve goals. They want to learn new ways of thinking and approaching situations, in order to get better results. Common goals are being more effective and organised at work, gaining confidence in certain situations, or simply relating to other people more effectively.
A skilled coach uses a combination of observation, questioning, listening and feedback to create a conversation rich in insight and learning. For the coachee, they will experience a focus and attention that enable them to develop a greater awareness and appreciation of their own circumstances. In addition, they will also create new ways to resolve issues, produce better results and generally achieve goals more easily.
Common benefits people experience from coaching include:
- Improved performance
- Improved sense of direction and focus
- Increased knowledge of self / self-awareness
- Improved ability to relate to and influence others
- Increased motivation
- Improved performance effectiveness, e.g. focussed effort
- Increased resourcefulness / resilience, e.g. ability to handle change
- Increased confidence.
What coaching is not.
Coaching is NOT any of the following:
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Structured training, e.g. classroom learning
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Performance management
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Therapy, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy
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A way of someone else solving your problems for you
Having made contact with your coach, you can expect an initial "chemistry" session when you and your coach can get to know each other and start to develop a rapport and trust. It is the first time when you can both see whether you think you will be able to work together in a coaching relationship. You will both need to agree to proceed.
If you decide to continue, you will agree, and both commit to a programme including how, when and where you will meet.
We will create a bespoke programme for you according to your needs and the level of support you would like.
Your mutually agreed contract will be based on this discussion.
Your coaching sessions can be held face to face, on line or a combination of both. The number and frequency of sessions, and their length, will vary according to your needs. For example, someone seeking to find a new job may want weekly sessions to work ont heir CV and interview technique, whilst a senior manager running a complext programme might want monthly or bimonthly sessions.
Your coach will provide you with a kind of support which is different from any other. He/she will focus solely on your situation with the kind of attention and commitment that you rarely experience elsewhere.
You can expect your coach to listen to you, with a genuine curiosity to understand who you are, what you think and generally how you see things. Your coach will reflect back to you, with the kind of objective assessment that creates real clarity. During conversations, your coach will encourage you to rise to challenges, overcome obstacles and get into action.
Depending on the programme you agree, you may or may not have contact with your coach between sessions.
Because the relationship is based on trust and openness, the contents of your discussions will be confidential. Where a third party has requested the coaching for you, the coach will agree with you the best way to keep them involved or updated.
Your coach will be looking for commitment from you and will encourage you to stay committed to the coaching process. That means showing up for sessions, taking your own notes where appropriate, and keeping any agreements you make during sessions. You will get out of the sessions what you put in.
In addition, your coach needs you to be open to the potential of coaching. That means contributing to conversations honestly and openly. For example, if something is not working, your coach needs to know. If you have concerns or problems, voice them. If you know why a problem is occurring, say so. The strength and power of coaching relates strongly to the level of openness and trust between the coach and the coachee.
