The post What is coaching and why it works appeared first on em-powerkit - Coaching and Consulting.

“Coaching should be both a joy and a challenge. But first and foremost, it is about trust.” Carol Kauffman

The challenges of choosing the right professional

Finding a coach is easy. But finding one that is a good fit for you is more challenging.

But before we get to the coach, we need to look at the earlier aspect. Most people won’t consider engaging in a coaching process because: they are not sure they need coaching.

Why?

1. It is often unclear what the process is about and how it can help.
2. You might believe it is only for corporate executives.
3. You may be unsure of what you want to work on.
4. There are many professionals and different approaches – the overwhelm of options leads to no decision.
5. When you finally decide to go for it, you ask yourself “Where do I even start?”

Start here: targeted steps to ease your decision-making

I.Steps to check your readiness and get clarity on your coaching needs

1. List 5-7 specific goals you want to work on in the upcoming 6 months – 1 year. Assess the dominant area – are they related to your personal or professional life? Can you narrow down the topic even more?
2. If you are not sure on any specific goals – reflect on what would you like to be different in your life in 6 months / 1 year (how would you like to feel and what visible changes you want to see)? Be as specific as possible.
3. Why have you not achieved those goals so far? If you are already working on them – where do you need support?
4. How do you want to be supported by a coach? Outline 3 expectations. (“I want a coach to provide support with….. ” )

II.Steps to sketch a profile of your coach 

1. Think of a professional (or personal) relationship that helped you grow in the past 1-3 years. What was the relationship like, how did you perceive the person and yourself in relation to them?

Would you resonate with someone similar or different? In what ways?

2. Ask for recommendations in your network AND check the following:

• their professional profiles and presence – does that resonate with you and what you need right now?
• are they engaged in continuous self-improvement? – the deeper they walked towards themselves, the better they are to guide you towards yourself
• results they had with other clients
• their experience and/or expertise – coaches do not have to be domain-experts, because the coaching process is non-directive and therefore it is not focused on knowledge-sharing, in some cases, however, you may prefer someone who has a basic understanding of your field
• their qualification(s)

 3. Schedule a Discovery call with someone you think might be suitable.

Most coaches will offer an introductory conversation, where you can both assess if you are a good fit – without any contractual obligation.

Be present and assess whether they create an environment of trust where you are being listened to and it feels safe, to be honest, and vulnerable. It is also important to receive support and discuss an initial strategy that will help you make progress towards your goals.

Conclusion

The coach-client fit can be decisive for the effectiveness of the process (both in terms of personality and expertise). Therefore, invest time in doing your research, ask for recommendations, and also listen to your intuition.

Remember, there is no perfect fit from day 1, no professional will tick all your boxes and like every other relationship, this one needs time to be built too.

The post How to find your coach appeared first on em-powerkit - Coaching and Consulting.

“The only constant in life is change.” (Heraclitus)

What makes the unique difference in our results is the extent to which one reflects and integrates the insights and lessons intentionally into their future choices.

Even though the self-help industry has a massively growing tendency, we are wired for human connections, we experience insights through interaction or guidance, and we transform more rapidly in supporting relationships than on our own.

Therefore, helping professions make it easier for anyone to engage in a process with a specialist and get the right help.

Top 2 questions about ‘Coaching’

1.“So what exactly is coaching?”

People rarely have a clear picture of what a coaching process is about, and why to invest in it in the first place. You will find answers to this question in some of my previous articles.

Why Coaching?

Read This Before You Engage With A Coach

2. “Do I need a coach? Or should I seek a therapist, a mentor, or another professional?”

Find below some high-level differences between these professions:

What they all have in common is the ability to help you accelerate your growth and remove barriers, while building a ‘toolkit’ for future individual use.

So we may work with all of these professionals in different phases/areas of our life or business.

We often see mixed roles and processes, either because someone is trained in more than one area or their job requires them to wear multiple hats.

Choosing the right professional is crucial if you want to avoid investing time and resources in a process that is not targeting your real needs.

Do you wonder what you should be looking for when choosing a coach? I’ve outlined a few ideas here that might help you.

Are you considering an investment in coaching but still have questions? Pick a time in my calendar for a Discovery conversation and let’s discuss.

The post Difference between therapy, coaching, consulting, mentoring appeared first on em-powerkit - Coaching and Consulting.

There is an extensive focus in organizational research on exploring the impact coaching can have as a development tool for teams, and especially for leaders. Training internal leaders in coaching skills and developing a coaching culture show significant increases in retention, engagement, productivity, and performance, as well as ROI (17x) (Rock & Donde, 2008; Milner, Milner & McCarthy, 2020).

In a research conducted in 498 Spanish companies, Utrilla et al. (2015) found that coaching impacts both individual performance and organizational performance indicators, while helping companies improve their competitive position, maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Coaching creates a safe space, where individuals or groups can explore and connect ideas, resources, possibilities, analyze consequences, strengths, and opportunities for development.

Its added value is greater than the direct results it facilitates, given that it helps individuals develop beyond the coaching focus,

e.g. when a leader engages in a coaching process with the goal to improve communication with their team and they succeed in doing so, this can indirectly improve performance and engagement within the team, and an increased satisfaction can be observed in the leader’s relationship with themselves too.

Below, you will find a list of benefits depending on the beneficiary of the coaching process i.e. individuals, teams, organizations, leaders.

Benefits organizations can have from coaching:

Benefits for employees and/or teams:

• improved communication and decision-making
• clearer goals, roles, and responsibilities
• increased self-awareness
• reduced conflict
• more efficient teamwork
• increased self-organization within teams
• increased engagement and commitment
• connecting personal values with professional values
• clearer career path perspectives

Benefits for the organization:

• improved productivity
• more structure and clearer direction in objectives and long-term goals
• restructuring/optimizing processes and procedures
• improved clarity on the mission, and values of the company
• better alignment between personal and organizational values
• identification of high-potential individuals
• creating a culture of wellbeing and adopting a people-focused mindset

Benefits for managers and leaders:

• less firefighting
• increased trust in their capabilities and increased impact through their work
• improved communication, creating a better experience in 1:1 conversations or performance reviews
• using coaching as a leadership tool
• thinking outside the box
• personal coaching for self-leadership, building new skills, and unlocking their own best performance

When a trainer or mentor is invited to support an employee’s performance, the individual is likely to achieve more. When the same employee is engaged with a leadership coach, the individual is likely to transform and grow (Stoltzfus, 2005).

The post Benefits of organizational coaching appeared first on em-powerkit - Coaching and Consulting.

“Coaching is a partnership between the Coach and the Client in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires the client to maximize personal and professional potential. It is designed to facilitate the creation/development of personal, professional or business goals and to develop and carry out a strategy/plan for achieving those goals.” – as defined by the ICF (International Coaching Federation)

A few basic assumptions of coaching, based on the definition of Jarosz (2016)

1. Clients are mentally healthy and do not suffer from mental illness that may obstruct their ability to achieve their goals.
2. Clients are not empty receptacles for the coach’s knowledge and experience but are creative, resourceful, adaptive, and whole.
3. Clients possess the ability and inner resources to change their thinking, belief systems, and behaviors in pursuing growth.

What to expect from a coaching session?

• a trustworthy and non-judgmental partner for your journey
• a safe and friendly environment
• deep listening and holding space for you to unfold
• many questions – designed to a.) expand your awareness and guide you to identify resources and solutions you already know but may doubt, undervalue, or treat as insignificant; b.) generate new ideas, perspectives, solutions
• identify and set realistic and inspiring goals for your personal or professional development
• exercises, tools – designed to help you include self-awareness and self-assessments in your daily practices, discover patterns and create space for new ideas, solutions to emerge
• learn about your values, beliefs, emotions, performance, soft skills and how these create your reality
• learn ways to develop new skills or unlearn old behaviors to help you live a more fulfilling life
• being challenged – when the time is right (one of the responsibilities of a coach is to take the client out of their comfort zone and into the learning zone)
• honest feedback or mirroring so that you can see yourself more clearly (yes, sometimes the coach might be the person who gives you the feedback others may fear giving)
• support and encouragement
• non-disclosure
• someone who does not tell you what to do
• a reminder of your strength and greatness, when you are too tired or overwhelmed to see it yourself

Don’t choose coaching if:

• you are not willing to make a commitment (coaching is a process that requires commitment and consistent work with yourself, which will be both rewarding and challenging)
• you are not comfortable with feedback and operating outside of your current habits, systems
• you are not willing to learn how to honestly open up about your thoughts, emotions, actions
• you are not curious to explore other perspectives than your own
• you are looking for someone to tell you what to do and take responsibility for your life
• your current life and choices feel comfortable, even if they are not fulfilling
• you are not ready to invest your time, energy, and resources into a transformation that may not always feel comfortable

Another reason why coaching might not be an answer is that another specialist could be of better help in your current situation. In this article I’ve outlined some high-level differences between a therapist, a coach, a consultant, and a mentor.

Benefits of individual coaching include (but are not limited to):

• living more in the present by cultivating self-awareness and observation
• building healthier routines and boundaries
• developing new skills
• increased ability to use strengths and overcome obstacles in achieving goals
• improved relationships
• feeling more focused and aligned
• confidence and resilience in handling difficult situations and conversations
• increased emotional intelligence
• increased performance
• finding a mission or purpose and building steps to turn it into reality
• decreased self-doubt and self-criticism
• less overthinking
• avoiding burnout
• focusing more on opportunities than fears

The post Know these before you engage in a coaching process appeared first on em-powerkit - Coaching and Consulting.