On your personal development coaching journey you will:
- Have accountability, this is one of the primary benefits of having a coach. Be motivated to carry out actions, being accountable to your coach as you take those important steps each week.
- Be facilitated and supported through purposeful questions as you unpack and unravel each session.
- Give yourself the much-needed time to explore and reflect, with a confidential space to go deeper, look at who you are at your core, explore your life areas, goals identification and steps to achieving them. Time is taken to explore the blockers that often stand in the way of achieving goals.
- Take action, in the form of homework if you like, but away with the stereotypes of what homework is… boring, tedious etc., rather these are actions which will be identified and agreed during the sessions. These form tangible steps to support development, growth and progress.
- Be furnished with session notes/recordings, this supports the process of reflecting post sessions. There is so much discussed in a session it is hard to capture and retain it all. This way you are equipped with points to go back to and review. You will often find it incredibly helpful to consider previous discussions, whether it is simply to consolidate thoughts in an area, review change over a period, or in the future when you tackle a similar area and want to draw on your already gained knowledge to see you through.
The role of a coach is to:
- Facilitate and empower you.
- Be supportive and encouraging as well as challenging you along the way.
- Facilitate as you unlock and unpack.
- Support identification and clarity.
- Help you have a better understanding of who you are at your core.
- Furnish you with the tools and techniques you need.
- Support you to capture your vision, define your goals and take the necessary steps to achieving them along the way.
- Provide you with a toolbox that you can reuse at any point as needed.
A key element is accountability, you will have agreed actions, these are bespoke, and your coach will support and encourage you as you see these through, as you remove the blockers and transform those areas that would limit you as you move ahead. The sessions are directed by you, you decide the areas of importance for each session, these may flow naturally from session to session, be identified through actions or simply something new that has come into play.
Your coach will send you written notes or a recording following your session, this is an invaluable resource, you can reflect on your thoughts, some of which at the time of saying, leave your mind just as easily as they came! You can consider the evidence you have discussed in previous sessions or reflect on your thoughts over time and regularly observe the outcomes of particular actions. You will find that often latter sessions evolve from earlier sessions and you will have a written record/recording to call upon as needed.
During your sessions your coach may carry out some exercises or pull on some bespoke techniques to facilitate you as you unravel certain areas. Your coach may also support you by incorporating some suggested exercises as follow on actions/homework from the session.
At first it may feel unusual to have some devoted focus time on yourself, exploring, your thoughts, aspirations, dreams, goals and challenges. Having known this person for a short time, this may feel strange, but over time this feeling generally changes. As you carry out the actions for that week, you will often feel a sense of liberty and come readied to talk about specific areas/topics that come to light as the week progresses. You will quickly feel a sense of moving and achievement at a pace which works for you.
Coaching is looking to the present and the future, providing clarity on your goals right through to achieving them. On this journey you may uncover areas which you may unpack with a view to supporting your future goals. It is a co-creative, proactive process of steering to support the client as they work through the many paths of discussion. Coaching is usually a short-term engagement. Clients will leave with a plethora of resources to draw on and may return at intervals should they need to address further areas and would benefit from accountability and support.
The NHS (UK National Health Service) terms counselling as a ‘talking therapy that involves a trained therapist listening to you and helping you find ways to deal with emotional issues. There are a number of therapists out there, some are qualified.’
The UK Council of Psychotherapy define ‘Psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling as talking therapies. They are used to treat emotional problems and mental health issues. As well as talking, the therapy could use a range of methods including art, music, drama and movement.’
Mentors often exist within an organisation amongst colleagues, and as such often involve professional development, this is often a long-term relationship and can be delivered informally.
An analogy – Climbing a mountain you have two choices, you could take with you a:
- Guide – if you are in good health, you may want a guide to help you get to the peak. This illustrates the role of a coach.
- Doctor – if you have ill health and need support for your health in order to achieve this climb the guide will be of no help. This illustrates a therapists role.
Another analogy would be where there is scattered Lego a coach might help you put the Lego together.
Finding the right coach can be a bit of a minefield! Generally, you will be able to see their primary focus areas across their website/marketing information. You can sometimes find you can relate to their own personal journey and some of the areas they have tackled, normally shared in their story. You will also be able to ask any further questions and gauge if you would like to work with them and if their style of coaching could work for you during your complementary discovery call (should they offer this).
View My story.
Committed to the process, take ownership for doing the follow up actions/homework in preparation for the next session, being open to trying new things. This coupled with the practical points of arriving promptly to the sessions and providing your coach with adequate notice for a cancelled session (48 hours), will help sessions run smoothly.
All sessions are preceded by a 30 minute discovery call.
It’s important that you find the right coach for you. Considerations may be based on your purpose for exploring coaching to choosing someone who you feel you could easily be open and honest with. The discovery call is an initial conversation between you and your prospective coach, here you can field any questions you may have, and your prospective coach will share information to allow you to make an informed choice.
Zoom, Skype, phone and face to face (face to face clients in North West London only and additional costs will apply).
With 12 session clients often feel that they manage to make good headway in their journey and take firm steps to achieving their goals. Whether you achieve them within the timeframe will be dependant on the goals you are aiming for. There is typically a lot to unpack along the way.
6 sessions are a good starting point for some, you would get a clearer idea about what coaching can offer you and should expect to obtain some clarity and unpack some areas to help you move forward.
3 sessions can give you a taster of what you could achieve over the coming weeks. You will get the opportunity to uncover some aspects with a view to deciding if coaching is right for you.
For those that have had coaching before, you may find you just need some specific area progress or require accountability. This can be accomplished by a few tailored sessions, ad hoc as needed.
If you are just trying to find out what coaching is all about you could opt for the 3 week initial sessions. This will help you decide if coaching is the way forward for you.
You can view the Services page for more information.
Generally, clients prefer weekly sessions, this retains momentum in the actions taking place and the ability to realise the benefits quickly. Equally, it may be necessary for clients to choose longer intervals in order to carry out the actions identified. The sessions are tailored and therefore can be adjusted as needed.
There are a lot of self-help resources out there, there are some fabulous books and the whole internet is full of interesting and helpful information. Typically, people that usually take up coaching are those that:
- Feel stuck along their life journey. They might find themselves navigating through self-help resources, which produces a lot of great thought, but the onward action can feel slow or limited.
- Have been coached before and have seen the benefits of the accountability and support.
This is where coaching steps in, you are accountable to someone on your journey, there are actions as part of the process and you will likely see the fruits of this quicker as you have someone who is there facilitating, supporting, encouraging and challenging you along the way.
The choice is yours of course. Some people work really well with self-help options. They are motivated and driven to action, others welcome the benefit of being steered during sessions, where we ourselves will only see a single path ahead, your coach will support you in broadening those opportunities.