What Is Coaching?
Coaching is about assisting people to move forward in their lives to create the results they want – using all of the resources they have. It is a way of being with people in posing powerful questions about what they want out of life, within their families and careers, and what they can do to create it.
It is not about giving advice or telling people what they need to do or projecting judgments onto others. Coaching is most effective when working with individuals, families or businesses when involved in change, i.e., managing adolescent and family issues, business or career changes, goal achievement, or health changes. Coaching assists in providing clarity and designing the framework that will best support an environment of change and growth.
WHAT IS FAMILY COACHING?
When a teenager, or any-age child for that matter, rebels against authority, tries to take over the household, or starts unwanted behaviors, parents have very few options. Instead of sending the child away to a boarding school or intervention program for thousands of dollars per month, family coaching is a HOME INTERVENTION. For a fraction of the cost of sending a child away, parents can learn how to handle even the trickiest situations, and take charge of the family. Parents will confidently resolve the problems AT HOME. This is what a Family Coach is for: support the parents, build them up and guide them to be the best parents they can be!
HOW IS COACHING DONE?
Coaching is done either face to face with a client, or it is done on the phone. This gives great flexibility to the relationship and can be conducted at great distances and practically any time that is suitable to the coach and client. The call/meeting is usually about one hour long and is a weekly commitment. The coach believes that the client has the answers and is capable and resourceful. The following is something you can expect from the coach during a session. The coach can:
- Asks questions to help clients find their own answers
- Challenge clients to take action
- Looks at the results together with the client
- Decide if course correction is needed (Decide vs. Explore with the client)
- Build parenting skills
- Celebrate the wins when they occur
Coaches learn from their clients – this is where neutrality and being curious are some of the best assists coaches can bring to their clients.
THERAPY/TEACHING VS. COACHING
While coaching like teaching or counseling requires a set of specific skills it differs on how the interaction with the client or student is maintained. Counseling and teaching professionals are grounded in the context that the teacher or counselor knows something and is intent on sharing that knowledge with others. It can be didactic in nature and have a proven set of models or tools to be followed that builds competency in specific areas. Counselors must know how to communicate, listen and share information effectively. Much of counseling looks at the past to understand the best way to move forward.
EMPOWERING THE CLIENT
Coaching is about working in a co-active relationship with others that applies deep listening skills and powerful questions designed to have the clients become self-aware. Effective coaches must be willing to work with a client without their agenda being involved. This means that the coach holds the position that the client has a natural knowing of what will best serve them in moving forward to achieve desired outcomes.
From this way of working together the client is empowered with feedback from the coach to design the best strategy and plans to achieve what is important to them. Coaching is about forward movement and does not focus on historical experiences or references. Coaching is extremely valuable in organizations and with individuals who have a clear goal and desire to invent or be in a creative place to move forward.
VALUE OF COACHING
There is terrific value to coaching. Everyone during times of change can benefit by having a coach. Someone committed to you and your goals, who can be there to see objectively where you are, listen to what you want to create and change and who can be trusted to help you explore new possibilities.
GOOD COACH’S ATTRIBUTES
Attributes of a great (Quantum) Coach are:
- Coaches ontological ground of being
- Explores worldview
- Knows how to discern and make distinctions to create clarity
- Coaches from purpose and well-defined outcomes
- Opens possibilities and understands accountability
- Uses feedback and observation to expand awareness
- Empowers committed action
- Builds skills
- Uses language to inspire and generate committed actions
- Understands the power of enrollment
- Asks powerful questions designed to create awareness