| What
is the scope of coaching?
Coaching is client
specific. Each situation is different; however, there are
many common themes we have seen in our coaching. Some frequent
areas of coaching are:
- Clarifying
vision
- Planning
- Congruency of
personal mission statement and organization's mission statement
- Balance in life
- Follow-through
on plans (execution on plans)
- Personal introspection
and accepting responsibility
- Managing crucial
conversations (those with high stakes, high emotions, and
differing opinions)
- Overcoming unpleasant
task avoidance
- How to avoid
career derailers
- Managing stress
- Gaining support
of subordinates
- Managing personal
growth (reading, health, social-emotional stability)
- Clarifying the
roles and responsibilities of leadership and management
- Understanding
career stages and how to progress through them
Team Coaching
We provide team
coaching for economies of scale. This provides the organization
with the powerful benefits of coaching with an economical
fee structure.
| What
is our process?
We begin
with an assessment
that helps identify any gaps between the "Is" and the
"Ought." This helps us (the client and coach) determine
where the client is personally and professionally versus
where he/she wants to be. We jointly determine how we
want to move forward. The assessment is a face-to-face
interview followed up by an on-line profile assessment.
This first meeting requires a minimum of four hours.
Subsequent
coaching sessions can be held on-site or via phone.
Sessions can be regularly scheduled once a week, every
other week, or every three weeks. Sessions usually require
30-60 minutes depending on the issues. |
|
| |
The coach is available
via phone and e-mail at any time for the client to discuss
issues that may come up (and often do) in between regular
coaching sessions. Clients find this real-time access to the
coach to be highly valuable. Having on “on call executive
coach” can be very worthwhile. This service is part
of the monthly coaching fee.
The duration of
coaching should be a minimum of six-months to expect significant
results. Often the coaching relationship may continue for
a year or more.
What are the
benefits of coaching?
One of the most
valuable benefits from executive coaching is the ability of
having a seasoned coach serve as a confidential sounding board.
Other benefits include:
- Managing organizational
change
- Tapping higher
levels of discretionary effort for you and your employees
- Learning best
practices for team development
- Learning where
you are in your career and the four stages of performance
- Becoming better
organized
- Becoming more
creative
- Resolving conflicts
- Creating a long-term
integrated plan for life
- Improving decision-making
process
- Improving learning
process.customized reading and retention methods
- Managing interpersonal
relationships
- Learning tools
to develop own team around mutual purpose and mutual respect
- Having more
confidence in presenting self without being arrogant
- Discovering
what matters most
- Learning to
enhance relationships and results
Other results?
Coaching used in
conjunction with a specific plan, such as a turn-around, or
start up or other major change effort can facilitate the success
of that plan. It requires significant resilience to stay on
task and not be diverted from a tough plan, and the coach
can help the client stay focused.
What is the
difference between coaching versus other types of professional
development?
Rifle vs.
shotgun: Many off-site development programs are designed
to address issues that would be common to most participants.
Many participants, however, experience some degree of unrelated
material they need to sift through to get to the issues directly
related to them. This shotgun approach has value, but we find
that the rifle approach with coaching focuses solely on the
issue of the client, and these can (and often do) change from
month to month.
Flexibility:
The coach and client determine when, where and how frequently
to meet.
Access: The
coach is available to respond to the client as often and soon
as practical via phone, e-mail or fax.
Openness
and Candor: The client can be forthright with the
coach knowing all issues are strictly confidential.
Practical:
Often off-site development programs require attendance
multiple days at a time such as a seminar, etc. Scheduled
coaching sessions are brief (30-60 minutes) 3-4 times a month.
Behavioral
change: One time seminars (several days at one session)
have limited value in producing sustained behavioral change.
Coaching on the other hand is an ongoing process where commitments
are reviewed and the client is able to give an accounting
of his performance. The wording of "able to give an accounting"
is a careful deliberate choice of words here. It means that
the client seeks the help of the coach to help him/her be
more accountable to deliver on commitments.
Cost:
The fee for one-on-one coaching is considered cost effective
for the benefits experienced. Studies have shown the ROI for
coaching is 6:1! One client commented after three months of
coaching: “I had great expectations as I began this
coaching process, but I had no idea how valuable your counsel
would be how this would impact the financial results of our
company!”
Conclusion
Executive coaching
has proven to help many professionals. The effective executive
coach has only one vested interest: the
success of the client. |
