How I Coach
What happens in coaching sessions?
The first thing I do when I start working with you is to ask questions. I ask a lot of questions. I want to find out where you are in your life, where you’ve been, where you want to go and what’s working and what’s not working and what you’ve tried before.
From this information I get a clear picture of what the focus needs to be and we come up with what your agenda is – the main agenda you want to work on. That is extremely crucial because it helps me keep you on track.
I send out questionnaires to you at the beginning of our coaching relationship so that, after answering the questions, you can get even more focused and have more clarity around what’s important to have in your life.
Typically my sessions are an hour long, once a week, four times a month. The majority of coaches work in 30-minute increments. However, I find the connection and bonding that occurs in an hour-long session allows me to help you move farther, in a shorter time frame. Also it allows me to more quickly create a safe and courageous environment – which is so crucial to coaching.
Each call begins with checking in on how you are doing and looking at the previous week’s assignment. There is always homework. What that homework will be evolves during the course of each week’s session and it is designed to deepen the learning and forward the action. And to keep you accountable to your agenda and purpose.
After reviewing the homework results, we then get into coaching on a specific area. That might be an area where you are feeling frustrated, or fearful, maybe you are stuck in a specific area, or maybe you are happy and have something important to celebrate.
The call always ends with creating the assignment – homework – for the week and an acknowledgment for your progress. This is so important because it is often difficult for us to see how far we’ve come, but as a coach I have a different perspective and a clearer eye.
People always ask me how long does it take to see results? How long before I see results? I typically recommend a commitment of up to six months but no less than three months. It takes some time to have learning, clarity and movement. And often one area impacts another so we want to separate them and enhance those areas as well. And it has usually taken a certain amount of time to have things not work, so then we need to spend the time changing and implementing what will work.
Usually at around three months you will begin to see results from shifting your perspectives, realizing and implementing new choices and changes. Whatever you are working on, things begin to focus at around three months. That’s why staying with coaching allows you to make big changes in your life.
I work on issues that create lasting life changes and for that you need to give yourself time. And wouldn’t you be thrilled to look at your life a year from now and see the changes you didn’t really know you could make. And realize that not only did you make those changes, you sustained them, as well. And there you are – the person having the life you always wanted or at least well on your way to that life.
My clients always tell me they are very glad they invested in themselves.
Please go to the next page Why Coaching? to learn about the advantages of Life Coaching and the specific advantages of coaching with me. See if it might work for you.