Your Questions About Coaching

Coaching FAQ's
www.thefitzcoach.com

If you have never experienced coaching you might be wondering what it is, what does it involve, and how it works. This month I thought I would try to answer some of those questions for you.

1. What is coaching?

Put simply coaching is about helping you (the client) to achieve your true potential in life. It’s about helping you figure out what you want in life, and turning those ideas and dreams into reality.

The coaching process creates a safe environment where you gain greater focus, commitment and enthusiasm to follow through on those dreams. Above all coaching is about results. Tangible results that can be seen, experienced, measured and quantified.

Your coach will not provide advice or answers. Instead they have a belief that you have the answers within yourself. A skilled coach will help you find those answers from within and bring them to the surface where they can be converted into positive actions to achieve your ideas and dreams.

We believe you know what actions you need to take to succeed; but you may not have the capacity or time in our fast-paced busy modern world to work through the thought process on your own. That is where a coach can help.

2. What is involved in coaching?

Coaching can be done on a one to one basis or in groups. For the purposes of this article I will cover one to one coaching only.

Typically, one to one personal coaching is done via Skype, over the phone, in person, or a mixture of these. You agree the most appropriate method with your coach up front.

The number of sessions required depends on you and what you want to get out of coaching. But typically coaches require a minimum commitment of 6 sessions over three to six months so you can experience the full benefits of coaching.

The frequency of the sessions is driven by you, and what you want to get out of coaching. Typically, the sessions are weekly, fortnightly or monthly. The important thing is to give you sufficient time to take action and build any learning into your life between sessions, but not too much time that you lose momentum.

The duration of a single coaching session is usually 45-60 minutes, but some coaches offer shorter sessions of 30 minutes.

Each session is unique and tailored to you. You decide on your session goal. Your coach will help and encourage you to uncover and build an action plan so you can achieve your session goal.

3. How does Coaching differ from Counselling, Therapy or Consulting?

Counselling, therapy, consulting and coaching use similar skills to help their clients; but they go about it in different ways. The easiest way to describe the difference is to use a simplified example.

Imagine you wanted to learn to ride a bike. You have the choice between a therapist, a counsellor, a consultant and a coach. How do they each approach enabling their client to ride a bike?

  • The therapist or counsellor will approach the bike with you and ask you how it makes you feel and what associations you have with bikes from childhood. Counselling and therapy both focus on the past, dealing with issues that have already happened in your life.
  • The consultant will get on the bike for you, ride it and then write a report setting out how best to ride it. Consultants provide detailed advice.
  • The coach will encourage you to get on the bike and will stay right by your side until you can ride it on your own. Coaching is future focused. It’s about moving you closer to your dream and developing a better understanding of yourself as you do it!

In Summary

Coaching is about helping you achieve your true potential. It is supportive and future focused. You book a series of at least 6 sessions of 50 minutes duration which are done over Skype or the phone. You decide on your session goal. The result is you will achieve more in less time than you would on your own, gain clarity on your vision, build your self-confidence, and be more focused and motivated.

It’s like having someone in your corner listening, encouraging and supporting you. It's all about YOU achieving the greatness you want and deserve in life.


If you would like to find out more about my coaching please e-mail me on help@thefitzcoach.com or call me on +44(0)20 3287 3165 for an informal chat.  Follow me on Facebook