LIFE COACHING   AUSTRALIA
International Life Coaching Service based in Canberra
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OUR COACHING SERVICES

    - Coaching FAQ (Based on ICF pronouncements)

 

What is professional 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.  Coaching honors the client as the expert in his/her life and work, and 
believes that every client is creative, resourceful, and whole.  Standing on this 
foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:
  • Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve;
  • Encourage client self-discovery;
  • Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies; and
  • Hold the client responsible and accountable
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.

How can you determine if coaching is right for you?
To determine if you could benefit from coaching, start by summarizing what you 

would expect to accomplish in coaching. When someone has a fairly clear idea of 
the desired outcome, a coaching partnership can be a useful tool for developing a 
strategy for how to achieve that outcome with greater ease 

Since coaching is a partnership, also ask yourself if you find it valuable to collaborate,

to have another viewpoint and to be asked to consider new perspectives.  Also, ask 
yourself if you are ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes 
in your work or life   

If the answer to these questions is yes, then coaching may be a beneficial way for 
you to grow and develop

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); 
  • 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

What does the Coaching process look like?
Coaching typically begins with a personal interview (either face-to-face or by 

conference call) to assess the individual's current opportunities and challenges, 
define the scope of the relationship, identify priorities for action, and establish 
specific desired outcomes.  Subsequent coaching sessions may be conducted in 
person or over the telephone, with each session lasting a previously established 
length of time  

Between scheduled coaching sessions, the individual may be asked to complete 

specific actions that support the achievement of one's personally prioritized goals.
The coach may provide additional resources in the form of relevant articles, 
checklists, assessments, or models, to support the individual's thinking and actions 

Is there more than one method in Coaching? 
Concepts, models and principles: 
A variety of concepts, models and principles drawn from the behavioral sciences, 

management literature, spiritual traditions and/or the arts and humanities, may 
be incorporated into the coaching conversation in order to increase the individual's 
self-awareness and awareness of others, foster shifts in perspective, promote fresh 
insights, provide new frameworks for looking at opportunities and challenges, and 
energize and inspire the individual's forward actions 

Appreciative approach:
Coaching incorporates an appreciative approach.  The appreciative approach 

is grounded in what's right, what's working, what's wanted, and what's needed 
'to get you there'.  Using an appreciative approach, the coach models constructive 
communication skills and methods the individual or team can utilize to enhance 
personal communication effectiveness  

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


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.   Some coaching programs have a defined 
path with a number of sessions specified within the program.  One-off top up
sessions, are often made available if they meet the individual's or team's 
requirements.  For certain types of focused coaching, 3 to 6 months of 
working with a coach may achieve the desired result.  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 a coaching partnership include: 

The types of goals, the ways individuals or teams like to work, the frequency 
of coaching meetings and the financial resources available to support coaching
Ultimately the duration of the coaching relationship will vary between
coaching clients depending on the individual's (or the team's) personal 
needs and preferences

How do you ensure a compatible partnership?

Overall, be prepared to design the coaching partnership with the coach.  

For example, think of a strong partnership that you currently have in your 
work or life.  Look at how you built that relationship and what is important 
to you about partnership.  You will want to build those same things into 
a coaching relationship.  Here are a few other tips:
    * Have a personal interview with one or more coaches to determine "what 
       feels right" in terms of the chemistry.  Coaches are accustomed to being 
       interviewed, and usually, there is no charge for an introductory conversation
    * Look for stylistic similarities and differences between the coach and you 
       and how these might support your growth as an individual or the growth
       of your team
    * Discuss your goals for coaching within the context of the coach's specialty 
       or the coach's preferred way of working with an individual or a team
    * Talk with the coach about what to do if you ever feel things are not going well; 
       make some agreements up front on how to handle questions or problems
    * Remember that coaching is a partnership, so be assertive about talking with the 
       coach about anything that is of concern to you about your coaching at any time

Within the partnership, what does the coach do?

The role of the coach is to:
    * Provide objective assessment and observations that foster the individual's 

       or team members' enhanced self-awareness and awareness of others
    * Practice astute listening in order to garner a full understanding of the

       individual's or team's circumstances
    * Be a sounding board in support of possibility thinking and thoughtful planning 

       and decision making
    * Champion opportunities and potential
    * Encourage, stretch, and challenge, commensurate with personal strengths 

       and aspirations 
    * Foster the shifts in thinking that reveal fresh perspectives
    * Challenge blind spots in order to illuminate new possibilities
    * Support the creation of alternative scenarios

Finally, the coach maintains professional boundaries in the coaching 

relationship, including confidentiality, and adherence to a code of 
professional and ethical conduct.

Within the partnership, the individual do?
The role of the individual or team is to:
   *  Create the coaching agenda based on personally meaningful coaching goals
   *  Utilize assessment and observations to enhance self-awareness and 

       awareness of others
   *  Envision personal and/or organizational success
   *  Assume full responsibility for personal decisions and actions
   *  Utilize the coaching process to promote possibility thinking and 

       fresh perspectives 
   *  Take courageous action in alignment with personal goals and aspirations 

   *  Engage big picture thinking and problem solving skills
   *  Utilize the tools, concepts, models and principles provided by the coach

       to engage effective forward actions

What does coaching ask of an individual?
To be successful, coaching asks certain things of the individual, all of which begin 
with intention.  Additionally, clients should:
   *  Focus - on one's self, the tough questions, the hard truths, and one's success
   *  Observe - the behaviors and communications of others
   *  Listen - to one's intuition, assumptions, judgments, and to the way one sounds 
       when one speaks
   *  Self discipline - to challenge existing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and 
       to develop new ones which serve one's goals in a superior way  
   *  Style - leveraging personal strengths and overcoming limitations in order to 
       develop a winning style
   *  Decisive actions - however uncomfortable, and in spite of personal 
       insecurities, in order to reach for the extraordinary
   *  Compassion - for one's self as he or she experiments with new behaviors, 
       experiences setbacks-and for others as they do the same
   *  Humor - committing to not take one's self so seriously, using humor to lighten 
       and brighten any situation
   *  Personal control - maintaining composure in the face of disappointment and 
       unmet expectations, avoid emotional reactivity
   *  Courage - to reach for more than before, to shift out of being fear based, into 
       being in abundance as a core strategy for success, to engage in continual self 
       examination, to overcome internal and external obstacles


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.  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.

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 internal 
measures include self-scoring/self-validating assessments that can be 
administered initially and at regular intervals in the coaching process, changes 
in the individual's self-awareness and awareness of others, shifts in thinking 
which inform more effective actions, and shifts in one's emotional state which 
inspire confidence.

What are the factors that should be considered when 
looking at the financial investment in coaching?
Working with a coach requires both a personal commitment of time and energy 

as well as a financial commitment. 

Fees charged vary by specialty and by the level of experience of the coach.  It must
 
be noted however, that in certain circumstances, some coaches may have pro bono 
arrangements in place to cater for the Life Coaching needs of people experiencing 
financial stress, or other such road blocks on the path to engaging the services of
a Life Coach.

Individuals should consider both the desired benefits as well as the anticipated
 
length of time to be spent in coaching. 

Since the coaching relationship is predicated on clear communication, any 

financial concerns or questions should be voiced in initial conversations, 
and attended to, before the coaching agreement is signed by the parties.

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