FAQs

What are the Benefits of Life Coaching?

• You have a trained professional who is there to listen to you and help you achieve your desired goals

• The topic of discussion is chosen by you, the way forward is chosen by you, and you are responsible for the outcomes, you have total control over your life

• The coach does not provide his/her opinion, but helps you find your own answers and reach your own conclusions

• The coach is a sounding board, someone who will keep the discussions confidential and without judgement

• By promoting open conversation, listening and inquisitive questioning the coach allows you, the expert, to make suggestions and choose the path right for you

• The coach has no hidden agenda and will therefore provide honest feedback, alternative ideas and perspectives, and challenge your ideas, all with a goal of helping you

• Sometimes the road is long, for this reason the coach will motivate you and keep you on track to achieve your goals in the timeframe you have set out for yourself

Is Coaching for Me?

Are you value-driven?  Seeking to be the best you can be?  Temporarily stuck?  Coaching can help you think outside the box, identify your obstacles, and discover your maximum potential.

Coaching is for you if you want to:

• Increase your effectiveness and productivity

• Create plans and take action to achieve your goals

• Break through previous limitations

• Increase your enjoyment and fulfilment in life

• Unleash your passion and creativity

• Tap into your inner wisdom and intuition

• Reclaim personal power

• Improve your personal or business relationships

• Develop more effective personal habits

• Experience a greater sense of balance and completeness

How is Life Coaching different to Counselling or Consulting?

• Coaches can be self-disclosing if it will benefit their clients in some way. This decreases the power differential in a coaching relationship. Counsellors try to avoid self-disclosure and keep a distance from their clients.

• Coaches are free to make suggestions, requests and/or confront and challenge the client, if it will result in the advancement of the agreed goal. Counsellors rarely give advice.

• Coaches will acknowledge the historical impact of past events but will not explore these in-depth. They endeavour to move the person out of their feelings and into action. Counsellors tend to focus on the resolution of past pains and issues.

• Coaching does not seek to resolve any underlying psychological problems. It assumes a person does not require a psychosocial intervention. Counselling can be used to address psychosocial issues.

• Coaching tends to be about goal setting and forward movement, whereas, counselling tends to be about past-related feelings.

• Coaching attempts to turn problems into solutions and options, helps the client to set goals, and promotes action. Counselling primarily explores feelings and emotions.

Using the analogy of learning how to drive a car, this is how the following professionals would provide assistance:

Consultant: Provides you with the instruction manual and answers any questions you may have, then leaves. The consultant will return in six months to see how you are doing.

Counsellor: Discusses with you what might be holding you back from driving the car. What past experiences are causing you to believe that you cannot drive.

Coach: Allows you to sit in the driver’s seat of the car, then sits in the co-driver seat, encourages and supports you until you are familiar with the car and how to drive it. You are then able to drive without further assistance.

What can I expect from a coaching session?

Each coaching session is structured and tailored to your individual needs and goals. In the initial session, we discuss what it is that you would like assistance with, what your expectations of coaching are, and what I see as my role. We will then begin by looking at your current situation, your strengths and “improvement” targets, and what may have already been attempted. From there, together we will devise specific strategies you believe will progressively move you towards the achievement of your set goals. The effectiveness of those strategies is evaluated at regular intervals in order to refine and tailor the approach and ensure the successful accomplishment of your goals. Sessions normally last one hour, and can be done in-person or over the phone. As part of the coaching process, we will draw upon a combination of self-assessments, exercises, and other resources to help identify and clarify specific concerns, set goals, and manage progress.

How long do you anticipate we will need to work together?

Each case is individual and will depend on the number of areas being addressed, your personal development style, and the depth of the subject matter we are dealing with. Our normal practice is to set ‘review' sessions at predetermined intervals, where we discuss your progress so far and agree on whether further meetings will be necessary. This allows for a set time to reflect and does not pose any time restrictions or barriers to your development.