I had a great chat the other day with a friend of mine about coaching. She was asking me how work was going and I was telling her that thankfully its going well (I am very grateful for this) as I am one of the lucky people who can still work away under the Covid restrictions, albeit in a different way and with occasional disruption and rescheduling due to peoples circumstances. All of my coaching work is carried out remotely on Zoom, Google Chat or MS Teams. People are so used to this and thankfully it still works really well.
“Why do people come to you for coaching?”
She asked me a question. “Why do people come to you for coaching?” That got me thinking . I’ve found that sometimes there can be some confusion around the motivation of working with a coach. I’ve had conversations with people where they feel that something needs to be wrong in order to work with a coach; that something is broken and it needs fixing. Then there’s the whole concept of being “sent for coaching”, as if it’s a punishment (as opposed to what it really is ; an opportunity to grow and develop). I often point out that the majority of the worlds most talented people (business people and sports people for example) work with coaches and they are the best at what they do! They just want to get better and better.
There are times when small business owners and managers come to me with a specific issue to work through. More often than not though, they come to me because they know that two heads are better than one at figuring out the best way forward for themselves and for their business. They are looking for positive change. They are looking for an independent, non judgemental, objective and professional sounding board to throw ideas around with. People say they like the freedom, creativity, possibility and reflection time that coaching provides.
Coaching sessions are very REAL conversations
Coaching sessions are very REAL conversations where people get to uncover some great insights into ways to progress their businesses and themselves. They get to come up with some very creative solutions. It can be powerful to talk about factors that drive them towards their goals and also to explore factors that hold them back (and what can be done to overcome those obstacles.) As a coach, I listen a lot. People I work with do most of the talking, based on good questions from me and quality reflection and discussion by all.
So, to answer my friend’s question; people come to me for coaching because they will get from where they are now to where they want to get to in less time, with more clarity and with less second guessing than on their own. It’s an awful lot easier than trying to figure it out by themselves. Its more energising and enjoyable.
Some of the main areas we cover in sessions include leadership, management, marketing strategy, sales / business development, accountability sessions, time management, organising / planning, corporate wellbeing, personal development and strategic business planning to name a few. In some upcoming posts, I’ll delve into these areas in a bit more detail.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.