5 Great Questions About Coaching
This week lots of coaches are celebrating International Coaching Week.
It’s a weeklong global celebration of the power and impact of professional coaching.
So in honour of the week, I thought I’d answer the 5 main questions people have about coaching.
1. What is coaching?
The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.
If you want to grow, change, achieve but don’t know how, then coaching is a very good option.
2. Who’s it for?
Well, it’s for anyone who wants that thinking partner to help maximise their potential!
Oprah Winfrey, Eric Schmidt, Cristiano Ronaldo, even Jeff Bezos have worked with a coach.
No matter who we are, we all have goals we want to reach, challenges we’re striving to overcome and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with a coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfilment.
3. How does coaching work?
Essentially, a coach will work with you to help you deepen your awareness of who you are, what you want, what’s holding you back so that you can move forward with action.
The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.
It’s also a completely confidential space just for you to talk about anything with a person who is only invested in your growth.
I think it was Hugh Jackman who said, ‘A coach just has a different perspective. The best have coaches because the coach can see what you can’t see because you’re in the forest and they’re outside of it.’
4. How to choose a coach?
In theory, any professionally trained coach could coach anyone. The coach is there to hold the space for you.
But in my experience, clients, that’s you, tend to like to go for a coach who has some understanding of their world. For example, most of the people I work with are either leaders in the creative industries or senior women leaders across others.
But in the same way there are lots of personal trainers who have different styles for your physical fitness, there are lots of different coaches who might focus on different things: leadership, confidence, wellbeing and so on.
When choosing a coach, check out their credentials - are they professionally qualified with the International Coaching Federation, do they have bona-fide testimonials from past clients, do you like the way they present their information.
Most importantly, book a discovery call sometimes known as a chemistry session. This is a free 30-minute session in which you get to talk to the coach and work out if you are a good fit.
5. How much does coaching cost?
Well, this depends on the coach and you, if it’s corporate coaching (the company pays) or private coaching (you pay), if it’s senior leadership coaching or mid-career.
I know one coach who charges £185K per year, another is 10% of your salary. It ranges!
Most coaches will do a coaching package, for example, 6 sessions over a certain amount of time. There will be a coach to suit you and your budget, no matter what how large or small.
Many trainee coaches need practice clients and often that can cost a fraction or nothing.
Remember, this is an investment in you and the impact it has to your life.
So think about it from that point of view - if coaching were successful and your life and career blossomed, would the investment have been worth it?
Are you worth it? Of course you are!
And don't forget, Be fearlessly you.
Tracy
