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About Coaching

Below are some of the questions I'm often asked about my coaching structure. Just click on the question you want answered, or scroll through the answers below.

What is coaching?  

The International Coach Federation defines coaching as:

"an ongoing partnership that helps clients produce extraordinary results in their personal and professional lives.  Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life."

And this is from a client's point of view:

"It's like I'm playing football in a large stadium.  I'm on the pitch, running with the ball, and trying to think who to pass the ball to, what's the best way forward, how and when to shoot for goal. 

When I meet with my coach, I get to take a breather and go and sit up high in the stands. I get a different perspective on the game and clarity around what's the best and most efficient way to move forward,  I am better able to spot and consider the potential challenges and obstacles coming up.  I can discuss how I might deal with them, and how I can improve my performance.  Most importantly, I have the time to check in with myself: do I still want to be playing this game, or is there another game I could be playing?  Coaching gives me the clarity and focus I need so when I get back in the game, I'm refreshed, and ready to go."

What's the difference between coaching and...?

Coaching is not training.  It's not consulting.  And it's definitely not therapy, psychiatry, or counselling. 

Training aims to teach you a concrete skill, which typically you are then expected to replicate in your own environment, without any ongoing support.  A consultant is an expert who tells you what he/she thinks you should do (and sometimes helps you implement it).  Therapy, psychiatry and counselling are all aimed at so called 'dysfunctional' individuals to help them overcome negative or painful emotions, and experiences in the past.

Coaching is about partnering with healthy, whole, well-functioning individuals to foster personal development, learning and improved performance to create a richer and more satisfying present and future.

So how does coaching work in practice? 

The coaching relationship is an alliance designed by you & your coach in a way that fits you best. There are many different styles of coaching, and not every style will be a good fit for you.  We always begin any coaching relationship with an initial meeting to establish whether coaching is right for you, and whether we are a good match for one another.  Personal chemistry is important in coaching: it is critical that you feel comfortable and able to trust your coach.

Once we decide to proceed together, we will design our ideal partnership. This includes how frequently and for what duration each session will be, as well as the length of our initial coaching agreement.  I work with clients both in person and on the telephone - and both methods have their advantages.  Meetings/calls can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, and we typically schedule 2-4 sessions per month.  The benefits of coaching build over time, so I will ask you for a mental commitment of 3 months.  Many of my clients work with me for a lot longer than this, and of course, if you feel at any time that you need to terminate our relationship, I will honour this request.

So, imagine we are working together.  You have made an important and valuable investment in  your own development.  What will we work on?  The agenda is entirely yours.  Issues you bring to our sessions may include:

• wanting some focussed support to help you through a particular challenge
• relationship or communication issues you want to sort out
• performance related issues: how to be a better manager or leader
• wanting to achieve something important that you have never tried before
• dealing with some kind of conflict or a stressful situation
• addressing feelings of dissatisfaction or 'stuckness' and how to create some new possibilities in your life
• how to take a step up to the next level, whether personally or professionally.

It is likely that you will have already discussed your issues with friends, family members or colleagues.  The difference in the coaching relationship is that as your coach, I am totally unbiased, have no agenda, and can provide a confidential sounding board.  I stand for your personal growth, development and success.  My training and experience in working with people allow me to hear on many levels what you have to say, to provide feedback, different perspectives, to show you your blind spots, challenge your thinking and to elicit from you what action is right for you in any given moment.  I will offer you tools, frameworks, concepts, assessments or other resources that are relevant to our discussion, and ocassionally will invite you to do some homework. 

Over time, you will begin to gain clarity, and insight into the issue at hand, as well as increasing your self awareness, and ability to ask yourself the right questions to uncover the right solutions for yourself.  At this point, you will decide that our coaching relationship, whilst valuable and helpful to you, is no longer required, and we will terminate our work together.

Coaching is a new concept for many people. The best way to find out what coaching is and how you can benefit is to experience it for yourself! We offer a free, no obligation, introductory consultation to allow you to discover whether coaching is right for you.  Please contact us to set up your complimentary session.

What kind of people do you work with?

People from all walks of life use coaches to help them be, do or have more of what they want.  As an executive coach, I work mainly with executives in the financial services and banking sectors, and with successful business owners, although I do also work with clients outside these areas.  I am able to work with clients all over the world by telephone, and in person in Moscow, Russia.

Some typical client assignments are:

• An employee with a 20+ year career in the banking sector makes a successful transition to starting her own property lettings company.
• Short-term emergency support for a business owner facing burnout and overwhelm
• A senior banking executive who lacked professional recognition find a position of authority and influence in her organisation, and started to attract promotion offers from competing firms.
• A civil-servant dealing with an ongoing difficult family situation, who wanted a fresh perspective and ideas on how handle the situation in the best possible way.
• An HR professional who was working so hard that there was no time to pursue any personal goals, and who wanted to have a personal life.
• A CEO who was facing imminent retirement, and wanted to create a strategy to transition out of a full time role, but still maintain some kind of active business contribution.

What benefits can I expect?

Studies on executive coaching (The Manchester Review, 2001; MetrixGlobal, 2001) have demonstrated that a well-executed coaching programme can achieve 500%-600% return on investment. The results from coaching vary from individual to individual, as would be expected. However, typical benefits reported include (CIPD, 2004 training & development survey):

How can I be sure that coaching is right for me?

We offer a no-obligation, free consultation for you to find out more about coaching and for us both to see whether we would be a good match for each other.

If you feel that this kind of relationship could work for you, and are serious about making changes in your life, please contact us!