Chapter 1:
"How to Quickly Get Started in Professional Coaching: The Truth About What It Really Takes!"
Before you take another step toward becoming a professional coach, you need to know the truth about . . .
What is Coaching
By Christian Mickelsen
1. What is coaching?
2. What is a professional coach?
3. How does coaching work?
4. What is the format of coaching?
Q: What is coaching?
A: “The Facilitation of Growth and Change.”
If you ask 10 different people in the industry “what is coaching”, you’ll probably get 10 different answers. I think mine is the by far the best I’ve heard. Of course, I’m probably biased. Many people are very uptight about the definition of coaching. They hold it sacred and put coaching into a very tight box. I destroy the box!
“The Facilitation of Growth & Change”
It’s a simple, yet powerful definition. If you’ve heard the saying “everything and everyone around me is my teacher”. I believe the same is true of coaching. Everything and everyone around me facilitates my growth and change. Especially, books, movies, friends, family, and even the guy that cuts me off in traffic. And of course, my own professional coach.
Q: What is a professional coach?
A: Anyone that gets paid to facilitate growth and change.
To become a professional at anything you simply need to be paid for it. I learned that in fifth grade. A professional coach is someone that gets paid to facilitate growth and change.
Some specific types of growth and change people will often hire coaches for are:
Business growth
Getting into a relationship
Relationship turn-around
Starting a business
Finding the right career
Finding meaning in their lives
Making sound “Executive” decisions
Getting employees to work well together
Facilitating a smooth merger
I’ll elaborate more on this later in the section on why people buy coaching.
Q: How does coaching work?
A: Generally the coach helps clients achieve goals.
There is no exact formula for what happens in coaching. And depending on your training and experience, your coaching process will vary. In general, when a professional coach has a “coaching session” with a client, a few things happen. First, the coach finds out what the client wants to change, usually things such as starting a business, getting a better job, finding a mate, making more money, losing weight, etc. Sometimes the clients will know exactly what they want, and sometimes figuring it out is part of the coaching process.
Next, the coach and the client create a plan for achieving their goals. They may also identify the challenges that could stand in the way of successfully achieving change and figure out a way to address these challenges.
Then, they will measure progress. Is the client moving closer to the desired result or not? If yes, it might be worthwhile to investigate how the process could be sped up. If the client isn’t getting closer to the desired result, the coach and the client discuss where the break down could be. Is there a problem with the plan, or is the plan not being followed properly, or is the client afraid of something and feeling “stuck”?
The process of checking in and helping the client stay on course for change will go on until the client feels like progress is steady and there are no “bumps in the road” or until the desired result is accomplished. But, most clients are often working on more than just one thing at a time. So, even when one thing is going very well, there is usually a lot more to work on.
This is a big simplification of the coaching process. There’s a lot more to it, but it doesn’t take a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist to figure it out.
Q: What is the format of coaching?
A: It varies, but most coaching is weekly phone sessions.
There are a lot of formats for coaching. Remember that coaching is the “facilitation of growth and change”. With this in mind, coaching shows up in a lot of shapes and forms. The premium version of coaching is 1-on-1 coaching either over the phone or in person. Many coaches do 1-on-1 coaching and also work with clients in small groups. Usually, group coaching will revolve around 1 goal that all of the clients (or participants) have in common. However, what is commonly thought of as “coaching” is 1-on-1 over the phone.
Some coaches meet with their clients in person. However, there are a lot of advantages to phone coaching. It’s more convenient for the coach and the client. The coach can work with clients all over the world. You can move your business anytime or even coach from the beach!
Some coaches meet with clients 2 times/month, some every week. Sessions can be 20 min. long or even 90 min. Personally, I meet with clients weekly for 30 min. per session.
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