FAQs

What is coaching?

Professional coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Coaches help people improve their performances and enhance the quality of their lives.

Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has.

Coaches:

• Help people set better goals and then reach those goals.
• Ask their clients to do more than they would have done on their own.
• Focus their clients better to more quickly produce results.
• Provide the tools, support and structure to accomplish more.

How is coaching different from consulting? Therapy? Sports coaching? A best friend?

Consulting. Coaching is a form of consulting. But the coach stays with the client to help implement the new skills, changes and goals to make sure they really happen. Therapy. Coaching is not therapy. We don't work on "issues" or get into the past or deal much with understanding human behavior. We leave that up to the client to know and figure out while we help them move forward and set personal and professional goals that will give them the life they really want.

Therapy. A coach relates to the client as a partner. A coach does not relate to the client from a position of an expert, authority, or healer. Coach and client together choose the focus, format, and desired outcomes for their work. The client does not relinquish the responsibility for creating and maintaining these nor does the coach take full responsibility for them. Coaching is designed to help clients improve their learning and performance, and enhance their quality of life. Coaching does not focus directly on relieving psychological pain or treating cognitive or emotional disorders. Coaching can be used concurrently with psychotherapeutic work. It is not used as a substitute for psychotherapeutic work.

Sports. Coaching includes several principles from sports coaching, like teamwork, going for the goal, being your best. But unlike sports coaching, most professional coaching is not competition or win/lose based. We strengthen the client's skills vs help them beat the other team. It's win/win.

Best friend. A best friend is wonderful to have. But is your best friend a professional who you will trust to advise you on the most important aspects of your life and/or business? Have a best friend and a coach.



Who hires a coach and why?

People hire a coach because

• They want more.
• They want to grow.
• They want it easier.

It's as simple as that. Coaches help a client get all three. Quickly.



What happens when you hire a coach?

Many things, but the most important are:

• You take yourself more seriously.
• You take more effective and focused actions immediately.
• You stop putting up with what is dragging you down.
• You create momentum so it's easier to get results.
• You set better goals that you might not have without the coach.

Does the coach work on personal goals or business/professional goals?

Both, actually. And, with the line between personal and business life blurring more and more these days, the coach is the only professional trained to work with all aspects of you.



Why is coaching becoming so popular?

Coaching is becoming popular for several reasons:

1. Many people are tired of doing what they "should" do and are ready to do something special and meaningful for the rest of their lives. They want more, and not necessarily in a material sense. They are re-evaluating what matters most to them and are far more willing to realign their lives accordingly. (This has been brought home to us in a very big way following September 11th, 2001.) The problem is, many can't clarify what that dream or meaningful thing looks like, or if they can, they can't see a way to reorient their life around it. A coach can help them do both.
2. People are realizing how simple it can be to accomplish something that several years ago might have felt out of reach or like a pipedream. A coach is not a miracle worker (well, they are, sometimes) but a coach does have a large tool kit to help the Big Idea become a Reality. Fortunately, people now have time and resources to invest in themselves in this kind of growth.
3. Spirituality. If you've tracked the phenomenal success in recent years of authors such as Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Suze Orman, James Redfield, Neale Donald Walsch and many others, you get a sense of just how many people are willing to look at, and consider, the notion of spirituality -- both IN and OUT of the workplace. Wow. Many coaches are spiritually based -- even the ones who coach IBM and AT&T. America is getting spiritual quickly. (Our working definition of spirituality? "How connected you are with yourself and others.") The coach helps the clients to tune in better to themselves and others.

What about people who are already doing great in their lives. Why would they need a coach?

They might not "need" a coach. But it could be helpful to find out: Are they doing what they most enjoy? Are they tolerating anything? Is life easy? Are they going to be financially independent within the next 15 years? Do they have what they most want? We've discovered that, often, people need to expect more out of their lives. A coach can help in this process.

People who hire coaches are often extremely successful in their own right prior to working with a coach. But they find that having that coach "in their corner" as their own personal sounding board and strategic partner helps them achieve an even greater degree of personal balance and professional success. Successful people are willing to invest in themselves by hiring a coach as their partner in success.



Can coaching hurt someone?

No. How? We aren't doing psychological work or giving financial or legal advice we're not otherwise qualified to give. We're not trying to control the client's thinking. We're not telling the client what to do. The client is ALWAYS at choice and ALWAYS in the driver's seat in the coaching relationship. We're not cattle prods or parents; we're partners.



How long must I commit if I start working with a coach? Can I hire a coach just for a short-term, special project?

Most coaches ask for a three to six month commitment but usually let you stop immediately if coaching is not working for you right now. Very few coaches ask for a written agreement or contract when coaching a client privately that will "lock the client in" to the coaching. For the corporate client, however, a signed agreement is simply a good business practice.

Yes, you can hire a coach for a short-term purpose. Some clients hire a coach to help them accomplish specific goals or projects. Usually, however, the client keeps working with the coach after the goal or project has been achieved, because there are even more interesting things to accomplish next.



How does the actual coaching take place? How often do I meet with my coach?

Different coaches have different ways they prefer to work with clients. Most coaches offer in-person coaching but many prefer the convenience and ease of coaching by telephone - this works very well when the coach and client are in geographically different locations, and is also helpful for clients who tend to travel quite a bit (you can usually always get to a telephone even when you're on the road).

Coaches typically will meet with a client 2 to 4 times per month. The meeting length can range from 30-45 minutes for telephone coaching to 60-90 minutes for in-person coaching. Coaches are sometimes available to work with clients for half-days or even full days.



What does it cost to hire a coach?

Most coaches working with individuals charge about $200 to $500 per month for one half-hour telephone coaching call per week. In-person coaching tends to cost more than telephone coaching, because it takes more of the coaches time. Some coaches make group coaching available at a lower rate than private coaching. Executive coaches charge more, and some clients work with a coach for an hour or two a week which will increase the cost. Obviously, corporate coaching or group programs cost more, often running $1,000 to $10,000 per month.

When you are choosing a coach, it may be tempting to view coaching as an expense or a luxury, which might cause you to choose your coach based on what the coach charges. A more productive approach would be to view coaching as an INVESTMENT you are making in yourself, in the same way you might invest in your formal education by pursuing a college degree, or in your physical health by investing in a personal trainer or health club membership. Choose the coach who feels like he or she is the best fit for you personally, and the coach who feels like the best INVESTMENT of your time, energy, AND money.



I'm ready. How can I find a coach?

Coaches are everywhere, and it's easy to find the perfect coach for you!

You might start by asking a good friend or professional colleague if they know a good coach - you might be surprised to find that your friends are already working with their own coaches, and they might be able to give you a personal referral. You don't have to disclose WHY you are seeking a coach -- that's your business -- but you can just ask if your friend happens to know of a good personal or business coach.

There are several excellent Coach Referral Resources available on the web. The first is our own NJPCA Coach Referral Service , where you can search by coaching specialty or keyword to find a coach who is located here in New Jersey.

The International Coach Federation's Coach Referral Service is also an excellent resource, and can provide you with the ability to search by an extensive list of search criteria, making the ICF's 4,000+ membership available to you in just minutes.

It is a good idea to interview 2 to 3 coaches before making your choice - all coaches have unique personal styles and backgrounds, and by talking to more than one coach you can see whose style fits best with your personality. A good "fit" is important in a coaching partnership! Before conducting your interviews, write down a list of the questions you want to ask each coach about his or her training, background, coaching style, how they work, what they charge, how they can best help you - and don't forget to write down what you are looking for as the expected outcome of the coaching partnership! You will want to share this information with the coach, because the coach needs to know what you are looking for so he/she can evaluate if this is a good fit. (If it's not, a good coach will be happy to refer you to a colleague who might be a better fit for your needs.) The more clear YOU are on what you want and expect from a coach, the more likely you are to get it.

By the way, don't be surprised or turned off if you ask a coach for references and they decline to provide them -- this is NOT an indication that the coach is either inexperienced or that he/she has something to hide. Coaching is a very confidential business, and just as in other professions where deeply personal information is being shared (doctors, dentists, lawyers, therapists, accountants), coaches will often not feel comfortable giving out contact information on their clients for the purposes of providing references. When you go to your doctor or therapist, do they give you references of other patients? Of course not, and you probably wouldn't expect them to. Respecting client confidentiality is very important to any ethical professional coach.

And in truth, even if you DO get a reference from someone about a particular coach, it won't ensure that YOU will necessarily have the same experience as the other person had, because YOU are a unique individual -- you might or might not "click" with a certain coach, even if your friend absolutely raves about them.

When choosing a coach, the best rule of thumb is - do your homework, know what you are looking for, and trust your instincts. Choose the coach that feels like the best overall match, and then sit back and trust the process!