Coaching
You are the common denominator. When your view of the world shifts, everything and everyone around you shifts: new possibilities are seen, relationships can be redesigned, opportunities are seized and breakdowns are handled in a way that forwards your commitments. Our clients report they are successfully creating innovative solutions and taking on bigger challenges and are more engaged and energized than ever before. Those are just some of the benefits you’ll receive from our coaching.
Whether you are a corporate leader, a manager, an individual contributor in an organization or an entrepreneur, your Work In Progress Coaching solution will focus your efforts where you’ll get the best results and teach you how to generate new levels of performance and continual development on your own.
Frequently Asked Questions About Coaching
1. What is coaching?
2. What does the coaching process look like?
3. How long does coaching last?
4. Why be coached?
5. What are the benefits of being Coached?
6. Why do you focus on values?
7. How do I know the coaching is working?
Got a question? Please ask us, we will be happy to respond.
1. What is coaching?
Coaching is a response to a request to make something happen that isn’t currently happening. It takes place inside a unique relationship designed to open up new possibilities and produce the desired results for the person (that would be you) being coached. (It may be obvious, but an “organization” cannot be coached – only people can.) Coaching is about your perspective, your view of yourself and of the world. Coaching is a context, a space, that helps you get clear on where you are and how to get where you want to go. The confidential relationship is based on open and honest communication, accountability and responsibility. The coach does not give you “the answer”, but trusts that you will discover your best answers in the process.
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2. What does the coaching process look like?
The process is simply: learn, act, feedback and discuss what happened … learn, act, feedback and discuss what happened… repeat. Learning is fundamental to the process. The most powerful learning comes through personal experience. Because you’ll be trying new out new behaviors, your mistakes and success are expected and embraced without judgment or criticism. Regular, usually hour-long and weekly, coaching conversations are essential, focusing on what’s happening, what results are being produced and providing you with the encouragement needed to move forward.
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3. How long does coaching last?
Typically, the minimal time for a coaching arrangement is three to four months, within which 10-12 hours of coaching conversations take place. This gives both the coach and the person(s) being coached time to build their relationship and put new thinking and acting into practice. People often choose to extend the coaching relationship for months or years to expand the results they are achieving and deepen the mastery of the new skills and ways of being.
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4. Why be coached?
Coaching is an opportunity to accelerate achieving what you are committed to. If you seek coaching, you are choosing to be supported, and that is a very powerful place to be. All of us have times when we just can’t seem to break through to achieve what we desire. We feel frozen, unable, and even unsure of our commitment. The coach is 100% on your side, through thick and thin, sometimes holding on to your commitments when your grip is slipping. Having a coach and being coach-able can make the difference between wishing something would happen and having it happen. Coaching is an opportunity to experience what George Elliot meant by saying “It’s never too late to be who you always wanted to be.”
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5. What are the benefits of being coached?
Each person’s experience is unique. In general, the benefits of being coached might be characterized as “having a new way of being that supports people making the biggest contribution they want to make and having relationships that really work.” Other descriptions of benefits include:
* Produce measurable results that exceed previous performance levels
* Step beyond automatic habits that restrict your performance
* Be more focused, self-generative
* Understand yourself better and reawaken your ability to consciously choose
* Understand those around you better, why they do what they do
* Respect others more, trusting others and being trusted
* Create relationships that are fulfilling and empowering
* Make a difference in the lives of others
* Communicate better with all types of people, especially in difficult situations
* Be a better leader, a better manager, a better team-player
* Feel more integrated at work.
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6. Why do you focus on values?
Our approach is based on the premise that when actions are aligned with core values – the values that energize and motivate-performance and satisfaction naturally increase. By the same token, a misalignment of values and actions often reveals itself in friction and uncertainty, both detriments to performance and satisfaction. We’ve found that this approach helps individuals become aware of their personal core values and their unconscious habits of thinking and action that limit their potential. As their awareness increases, they are returned to being “at choice” in what actions they take, rather then “at the affect” of their unconscious habits. Once this personal insight is gained, individuals begin to accomplish goals and relate to others more effectively. Communications open up, “difficult people” that were a source of stress and irritation become easier to work with, differing points of view are expressed and heard more easily, disagreements contribute to solutions rather than alienate.
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7. How do I know the coaching is working?
It’s simple. You will look at your results and say whether it’s working or not. We’ll look at quantifiable results (for example, getting your product to market 20 days before plan, reducing department expenses without laying people off, getting the “go” for a project) and qualitative results (for example, less grumbling, being happier what you are doing, focus on a future of possibilities, rather than feeling doomed by circumstances).
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Got a question? Please ask us, we will be happy to respond.
