Professional Coaches » coaching

4 Things that High School Taught Me About Coaching

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:54:20 +0000

When I look outside of my office window around 8AM and around 3PM, I see herds of high school students wandering first to school then home again. It takes me back a few (okay more than a few) years to my high school days. And while I’m thinking about it, it inspired this blog. So, here are 4 things that high school taught me about coaching.

1. High school students seem to be always just one Facebook Wall post away from a crisis: Sam was seen with Brenda, what could that mean? Or, Joe didn’t say hello to April, it’s the end of the world. The same holds true for some of our coaching clients: They are in a potential state of near crisis. I do mean this humorously but not disrespectfully. Our clients don’t know the stuff that we’re working with them in. It is a big deal with them. Our job is to navigate the situation with some sanity.

2. High school students need to balance dreams with reality. They might aspire to be a teacher or cop or rocket scientist but they also need to face reality. Do they have the marks to make it? Do they have the dedication? You don’t want to crush their dreams but you also don’t want them to run down a futile path. Again, that’s like our job as coaches. We need to help our clients understand their dream of (for example) creating the next Twitter with the reality that (for example) they have no social networking experience. Our job is to help them find a real path that will take them close to their dream.

3. There are a lot of things competing for the attention of high school students: Their school work, an after school job, a budding romance, friends, and all that kind of stuff. These take on a priority in the student’s mind and it’s hard for the lower prioritized stuff to get the attention it needs. It’s the same as a coach: We can give plenty of advice and guidance to our clients, but we’re only speaking into their lives for an hour or two a week. The rest of the time they’ve got work to do, family life to live, the dog to walk, and the garbage needs to be taken to the curb. Our job, then, is to help them follow through on the advice we give (obviously we don’t want to do the work for them) but to make it easy for them.

4. Fashion is a ridiculously important element in high school. (I guess it’s important outside of high school, too, actually, but it seems to be more critically urgent in high school because of the impact that it can have on peer relationships). This kind of "cool" also appears in our work, too. I don’t know about you, but I often get clients who come to our sessions with the latest, most fashionable flavor of marketing idea to implement in their business. My job, in these cases, is to help them weigh the value and determine whether or not it’s truly going to help their business. As mom said, just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s right.

Brought to by you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

@ContemporaryVA on Twitter. Follow the team to stay updated on business resources we deliver that cover strategies and tips, social media and more!

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

Coaches on Coaching

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:44:14 +0000

This is a great video about coaching. It’s actually just a 3 minute teaser for a much longer (paid) coaching video but it’s still a fantastic synopsis about what coaching is from different perspectives. But it’s not just a video for beginner coaches: I’m a coach and every time I watch this I think "hey, that’s a great way to think about coaching". It gives me a new perspective and "refreshes" my thinking on what my opportunities are with my clients.

Brought to by you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

@ContemporaryVA on Twitter. Follow the team to stay updated on business resources we deliver that cover strategies and tips, social media and more!

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

But I’m a Coach

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:43:25 +0000

The coaching profession is a helping one. In many ways, it’s like a psychologist or a medical doctor: A client comes to you for help on a particular issue and you "diagnose" the problem and work with them to resolve it.

But there’s a problem with these helping professions that doesn’t get enough attention. The problem is this: They are businesses but it is almost taboo to call them businesses. Businesses generate leads and convert prospects into customers and they earn revenue and try to earn a profit. Helping professions, though, don’t like to be associated with those business / sales / marketing terms because it seems less helpful. In this blog, we refer to these business terms without apology because we believe that helping professions and business are NOT diametrically opposed.

With that in mind, we now turn our attention to an important business topic that is bypassed in the coaching profession: metrics.

Metrics are measurements. In other businesses, there might be a metric measuring inventory turnover or profitability or prospect-to-customer conversion rate. But these are rarely measured in coaching because of the anti-business taboo. Yet, your job could be so much easier if you spend some time thinking about your metrics.

With so little attention focused on metric in coaching, it is hard to determine what to measure. After all, how do you measure a customer’s success at overcoming their fears or dealing with their obstacles?

You may not be able to measure those but you can measure other things:

You can measure the number of leads you get from your website
You can measure the number of people who agree to a free initial consultation
You can measure the number of people who have a free initial consultation who go on to sign up for a series of sessions with you.
You can measure what is the number of sessions people have with you
You can measure how much revenue you earn per person over their lifetimeYou can measure your profitability each month
You can measure your profitability each month

What is your first reaction at reading this? Does the thought of measuring these things repel you? It’s possible that some coaches might even be offended by the thought.

On the other hand, the coaching profession is like every other business – it needs to earn a profit to stay in business and by paying attention to these numbers, you can help more people and increase your likelihood of staying in business. You don’t have to focus on the numbers or obsess about how to earn more per-client profitability, but thinking about the metrics listed above can help to know how your business is running.

Contemporary VA

@contemporaryva on Twitter. Follow us to stay updated with our many resources that include business, accounting and bookkeeping, social media, and much more!

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

International Coaching Federation

admin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:41:54 +0000

The International Coaching Federation (ICF), is an organization that not only awards credentials for professional coaches, but also offers a goldmine of information and resources to its members.

According to the ICF, the following are the core competencies of professional coaches:

Setting the Foundation
Co-Creating the Relationship
Communicating Effectively
Facilitating Learning and Results

Regardless of what type of coach you are, these core competencies ring true. Without them, it would not be possible to support or guide clients toward an appropriate goal. But, do these competencies look the same in all types of coaching? Are they applied the same by life coaches and executive coaches? Or is it more about the individual coach rather than the type of coaching? Every coach implements these competencies in one way or another, but depending on the coach, more focus may be given to one competency over another.

Members of the ICF are also listed in a directory on the website. A potential client can enter in several pieces of qualifying information including geographic location and type of coaching desired, and then a list of ICF member coaches is displayed.

This added marketing benefit may be reason enough to join, the additional credentials notwithstanding. For many potential clients, additional credentials can be a relief. There has been some buzz over recent years regarding the regulation of the coaching industry. As such, having additional credentials may put potential clients at ease.

They are in the process of updating and redesigning their website so we’ve found that a few of the links aren’t working but we’re sure they’ll be fixed once they get the kinks ironed out.

Lisa on behalf of Contemporary VA

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

Parent Coaching Part II

admin — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:52:20 +0000

Coaches are also keen to stress that parent coaching is about ensuring the well-being of the parent, rather than focusing on the child. If the parents are happy and secure, their children will automatically feel safe. Parent coaches can help parents crack negative parenting patterns, understand their child’s developmental stages. Main issue is that parents are not being confident in their own behavior! They’re not sure if they’re doing their job well enough, and this insecurity can be taken advantage of by their children. So coaches try to teach parents relationship skills which will help them respond well to their children. Coaches also stress how important it is for parents to have time for them – leave the washing-up till the next day and relax in the evening. If you’re constantly trying to be perfect something’s got to give, whether it’s your health or your temper. Families are scattered across the globe and the network of community is frequently weakened or lost through separation, divorce, relocation, job demands and other changes. Even when you do have close access to family members who have "been-there-done-that", you may not get the best advice from them. Best friends or parents may think they know what’s best for you, but they often promote their own staunch, old-fashioned opinions without considering the child’s personality, long-term goals or other factors in a situation. These difficulties indicate an area where coaching is needed, and where you may become proactive by teaching your children to make decisions using their best judgment and problem solving skills. Parent coaching educate them by setting and defending our own boundaries and by negotiating and accepting the boundaries of our siblings or playmates. A parent’s job is not to solve children’s problems, but to teach them how to make compromises and solve problems on their own. The aim of coaching is to allow children to take control of their lives and their learning, to think beyond the present and instant gratification, and realize they are responsible for the impact their decisions have upon themselves, the ecosystem and others. Coaching provides parents with an opportunity:

to gain skills and knowledge to face change with confidence,
to discuss strategies to deal with the challenges that modern day parents face,
to become observers of their own behavior as we can only change what we notice,
to make choices about changing their way of being,
to put steps into place to approach their relationship with their children differently,
to be accountable to themselves for the changes they wish to make,
to maintain close family relationships, which in our constantly changing world are more important than ever.

We will become a far more positive society when reaching out for support to help us deal with modern day parenting challenges is seen as a healthy thing to do instead of a sign of weakness. After all it is our next generation we are talking about here and they deserve the very best start in life that we as parents can give them. Are you a ‘Parent Coach’? Are you a business personal or professional coach? we would like to hear from you, write us at admin [at] contemporaryva [dot] com Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

Parent Coaching Part I

admin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:17:40 +0000

Coaching is a guideline or it is pen book that teaches you each time and build confidence, powerful thinking, and decision making. During our life at some place and some time it is difficult to manage it, at that time we need support and share our problems with someone else. So we need coaching guide lines to overcome these life issues, the coaches and parents, they work as team and achieve that parents need. Coaching face challenges, not knowing your son or daughter’s abilities, can make impossible to take decision, so here you need some of coaching discipline to get assistance. Is it important for parents getting coaching? Yes it is important, because the feelings of child are created or he/she feels in environment around them, or anywhere else, they share with parents. Parents have a key role to play in reducing behavioral problems in child and also proven to increase a child’s social stability, educational achievement, and even their potential to have a solid marriage as an adult. The children are also more curious about the world around them and develop greater problem solving skills. An effective Parent Coach is a highly trained individual who listens intently, asks key questions, provides Information, and offers specific suggestions to implement new attitudes and strategies in your family life.

Are you wishing for help when confronting issues related to kids electronics of all kinds?
Are you expecting your first baby and fretting about child care, or going back to work, or nursing, or caring for your new infant?
Do you feel baffled about your toddler’s tantrums?
Are you worried about a lack of patience?
Do you wonder how to relate to your teen?
Are you having challenges with a blended family?
Are you feeling guilty about working outside the home?
Are you having trouble balancing work and family?
Do you wish you could stop yelling so much?
Are you wondering how to get your kids to listen?
Do your teens tune you out?
Are you worried about appropriate boundaries for your teens?
Do you feel like your kids are out of control?
Is your child having a hard time going to bed or sleeping at night?
Is sibling rivalry driving you crazy?
Are you concerned about your child socially?
Are you concerned about meeting your kids needs related to divorce?

Above is only a short list of the multitudes of issues parents deal with. There are so many things that rob parents of their confidence, their peace of mind, and their sense of joy in parenting their children. This is where parent coaching, with a trained parenting professional, can really help parents feel better, capable and successful in achieving the results the parents are hoping for. Are you a ‘Parent Coach’? Are you a business personal or professional coach? we would like to hear from you, write us at admin [at] contemporaryva [dot] com Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

Performance Coaching

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:34:00 +0000

Today we are going to define Performance Coaching, using David Kolb’s Learning Cycle. Many coaching clients will seek coaching for performance enhancement rather than the rectification of a performance issue. Coaching has been shown to be highly successful intervention in these cases. When an organization is paying premium rates for development services, performance is usually the key pay-back they are looking for. Even if an executive or manager receives support in balancing work and home life, it will be with the aim of increasing their effectiveness and productivity at work and not for more altruistic reasons. Performance coaching derives its theoretical underpinnings and models from business and sports psychology as well as general management approaches. As a performance coach you should advocate David Kolb’s Learning Cycle:

Life gives us "gifts" in the form of opportunities to have experiences.
Coaching provides the opportunity to get feedback from these experiences – this is achieved by questioning and clarifying.
Further probing and questioning creates insights and common themes which lead to the learner reflecting on the experiences, the action that was taken and the consequences of this action.
From these insights and personal discoveries, conclusions are drawn that, if sufficiently powerful, can relate back to other current or past situations.
The valuable lessons learned from this exercise are then applied to future situations in the form of experiments.
From these experiments, experiences are provided as well as further opportunities to learn more and the cycle goes around again.

Being a Coach you will find, Kolb’s learning cycle becomes so much more effective when approached from a coaching perspective. Are you a ‘Coach’? Are you a business personal or professional coach? we would like to hear from you, write us at admin [at] contemporaryva [dot] com Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

Executive Coaching

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:03:29 +0000

There is a great deal of overlap between executive and business coaching (read our last article about Business Coaching). Many people will offer either service, but there is a growing body of professionals in the world especially in US who are calling themselves executive coaches and are differentiating themselves in the marketplace. The key differences between business and executive coaching are that Executive coaches typically: Have a track record in professional and executive roles, Work exclusively with the high-flyers or with those who have potential to be a high flyer, Work at board or CEO level within high profile or blue-chip organizations, Offer total confidentiality, Work with potential ‘captains of industry’ and high profile business leaders. Are you a ‘Coach’? Are you a business personal or professional coach? we would like to hear from you, write us at admin@contemporaryvacom

Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy:

What is coaching and how does it work?

admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:59:03 +0000

Dear Readers, since it is the first post in our blog, which is about coaching, I was thinking in various directions on how to write the first post today. I was lost in an ocean of words, but suddenly something happened and it flashed in my mind where I was going, why shouldn’t I just keep it simple?

I will start with the basics, coaching, and will then move on to business coaching, professional coaching, a few tips and expert reviews.

What is coaching? Coaching is “a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to improve. To be a successful a Coach requires a knowledge and understanding of process as well as the variety of styles, skills and techniques that are appropriate to the context in which the coaching takes place“

Above definition is taken from “The Manager as Coach and Mentor (1999) page 8″, The book is written by Eric Parsloe who is a respected author and Director of OCM In light of the above definition, let’s continue.

Coaching is a process or combination of processes that enables clients to achieve their full potential. Coaching services may be offered paid or free depending upon the business, profession or coach; however regardless of whether the coaching session is at cost or free, coaching sessions will share one or more of the following characteristics:

Facilitate the exploration of needs, motivations, desires, skills and thought processes to assist the individual in making real, lasting change.
Use questioning techniques to facilitate client’s own thought processes in order to identify solutions and actions rather than takes a wholly directive approach.
Support the client in setting appropriate goals and methods of assessing progress in relation to these goals
Observe, listen and ask questions to understand the client’s situation
creatively apply tools and techniques which may include one-to-one training, facilitating, counseling & networking.
Encourage a commitment to action and the development of lasting personal growth & change.
Maintain unconditional positive regard for the client, which means that the coach is at all times supportive and non-judgmental of the client, their views, lifestyle and aspirations.
Ensure that clients develop personal competencies and do not develop unhealthy dependencies on the coaching relationship.
Evaluate outcomes of processes, using objective measures wherever possible to ensure the relationship is successful and the client is achieving their personal goals.
Encourage clients to continually improve competencies and to develop new developmental alliances where necessary to achieve their goals.
Work within their area of personal competence.
Possess qualifications and experience in the areas that skills-transfer coaching is offered.
Manage the relationship to ensure the client receives the appropriate level of service and that programs are neither too short, nor too long.

Think about the above, is coaching right for you?

We feature various coaches from time to time in our blog and in our blog roll on the right hand side – feel free to check them out.

Until Next Time,

Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

Share and Enjoy: