We define ourselves as Results Coaches. This means that our sessions are about creating the results that you want by following well researched methodology. We make sure that the result we achieve are perfectly aligned with our clients’ core values and are representative of who they are as a person. This process is not rigid and can cycle back and forth. We do however follow a structure outlined below that consists of the following elements: Set-up, Foundation, Goal Setting, Learning, Action/Accountability, and Completion.
This is where we start the co-creation of our coaching relationship.
We figure out how we are going to work together, when, where and how long, what we can expect of each other, what’s OK, and what’s not.
This is where we usually explain that we will get to make requests or give challenges to the client, and they get to say “yes,” “no,” or counteroffer.
This process may feel awkward at first, but after people see how well it works, they start applying it to their other relationships.
We also clarify the client’s specific goals for the coaching engagement.
This phase is a foundation for our work together. Clients develop their life purpose statements, or their personal mission statements; they identify their top values, and assess how these values are being honoured (or not) in their lives. They reconnect with the parts of themselves that have been neglected for a while, and rediscover more joy in their lives.
This work serves our clients long after our coaching engagement is completed. They walk away with a structure and a method for making decisions based on integrity.
Goals are an integral part of coaching. If there are no goals, we are not coaching. Our clients come to coaching with a great variety of goals, including:
We encourage clients to set resonant and thrilling goals – goals that align with their values, and that seems a bit out of reach. Ultimately what matters is not whether or not the client achieves the goal; it is the growth and learning that occur as the result.
Any situation – good or bad – is an opportunity to learn.
We listen to what the client is saying, and also to what they are not saying. Sometimes, we see a very clear disconnect between what the client is saying, and how they are saying it. Sometimes, we can just sense that there is something that is not being said right there in the space between us.
We share all of this information with our clients, and the clients assigns meaning to it. This is how they move to a new level of learning about themselves. Clients become more aware of their feelings, thoughts, drivers, and reactions.
This new level of awareness allows them to approach their situations from an entirely new perspective.
If there is no action, we are not coaching.
Clients commit to taking certain actions based on what they learn during the coaching session. This new course of action provides new learning, and that’s how forward movement happens.
What makes coaching work is accountability. As human beings, we are very good at honouring external deadlines, and we tend to put our own last. Coaching creates external accountability for something that the clients want for themselves.
At the end of each session we may give a client a request or a challenge, or simply ask, “What would you like to get done before we meet again?” Once the client makes a commitment, we will hold them accountable. Regardless of whether or not they were able to follow through, we extract the lessons they learn from the experience.
Closure is a very important part of a coaching engagement.
We spend 1-2 sessions at the end of the engagement talking about the client’s breakthroughs and breakdowns, major shifts, beliefs and ways of being in the world they are leaving behind, and new supportive beliefs they will be taking with them.
We talk about the way forward – new thrilling and inspiring goals, the habits and structures that the client will put in place to continue the forward motion after the coaching engagement has been completed.
It does not end there. We will at some point in the future, reach out to each client to see how they are holding up and if they require any further encouragement.
Typical Coaching Sessions
There are a variety of different formats that we use to cater to our clients’ needs. These can be but are not limited to walk and talk, phone, Skype. Most coaching sessions however, are conducted in person either at our offices or at the clients’ location.
Depending on the nature of the coaching engagement, a typical coaching contract is between 3 to 6 months long. This is for one-on-one coaching only. Corporate programmes vary in length to a greater extent. We try to meet at least once a week, in order to maximise the results, we hope to achieve.
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