What is coaching?

The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Coaching honours the client as the expert in his/her life and work and believes that every client is creative, resourceful, and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:

• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve;
• Encourage client self-discovery;
• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies; and
• Hold the client responsible and accountable.

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.

What Is Co-Active Coaching?

Co-Active Coaching has impacted the lives and careers of thousands of managers, leaders, and coaches around the world. It has led to CTI becoming the world's first ICF-accredited coach training program, the most widely used text book in coaching, the largest number of certified coaches globally and a powerful, experiential leadership program that unlocks participants' unique and natural leadership strengths.

CTI coaching holds that people are naturally creative, resourceful and whole - completely capable of finding their own answers to whatever challenges they face. The job of a Co-Active Coach® is to ask powerful questions, listen and empower to elicit the skills and creativity a client already possesses, rather than instruct or advise.

What's the Difference Between Coaching and Therapy?

Psychotherapy generally deals with people with emotional/behavioral problems and disruptive situations - and seeks to bring the client to normal function by focusing on dysfunction. The primary focus is on healing.

Coaching, on the other hand, deals with functional people who want to move toward higher function - and achieve excellence while creating an extraordinary life. The primary focus is on evolving a manifestation of potential. And, healing is often a side effect.

Additionally, the expectations and focus the client brings to the professional relationship sets the context as coaching or as therapy.

How can you determine if coaching is right for you?

To determine if you could benefit from coaching, start by summarizing what you would expect to accomplish in coaching. When someone has a fairly clear idea of the desired outcome, a coaching partnership can be a useful tool for developing a strategy for how to achieve that outcome with greater ease.

Since coaching is a partnership, also ask yourself if you find it valuable to collaborate, to have another viewpoint and to be asked to consider new perspectives. Also, ask yourself if you are ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes in your work or life. If the answer to these questions is yes, then coaching may be a beneficial way for you to grow and develop.

What value does coaching hold for organisations?

Smart businesses know the value of coaching. Manchester Inc. recently released the results of a study that quantifies the business impact of executive coaching. The study included 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies. Companies that provided coaching to their executives realized improvements in productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service and shareholder value. They received fewer customer complaints, and were more likely to retain executives who had been coached.

In addition, a company's investment in providing coaching to its executives realized an average return on investment (ROI) of almost six times the cost of the coaching.

Among the benefits to companies that provided coaching to executives were improvements in:

• Productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
• Quality (48%)
• Organizational strength (48%)
• Customer service (39%)
• Reducing customer complaints (34%)
• Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)
• Cost reductions (23%)
• Bottom-line profitability (22%)

What value does coaching hold for individuals?

There are many wonderful benefits associated with professional coaching. Did you know individuals who engage in a coaching relationship can expect to experience fresh perspectives on personal challenges and opportunities, enhanced thinking and decision making skills, enhanced interpersonal effectiveness, and increased confidence in carrying out their chosen work and life roles?

Consistent with a commitment to enhancing their personal effectiveness, they can also expect to see appreciable results in the areas of productivity, personal satisfaction with life and work, and the achievement of personally relevant goals.

According to the 2009 ICF Global Coaching Client Study, individual clients reported a median return on investment of 3.44 times their investment.

Among the benefits to executives who received coaching were improved:

• Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of executives)
• Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
• Teamwork (67%)
• Working relationships with peers (63%)
• Job satisfaction (61%)
• Conflict reduction (52%)
• Organizational commitment (44%)
• Working relationships with clients (37%)

Why do people seek coaching?

Coaching can help with a variety of goal areas. Findings from the 2010 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study, showed that more than two-fifths (42.6 percent) of respondents who had experienced coaching chose "optimize individual and/or team performance" as their motivation for being coached. This reason ranked highest followed by "expand professional career opportunities" at 38.8 percent and "improve business management strategies" at 36.1 percent. Other more personal motivations like "increase self-esteem/self-confidence" and "manage work/life balance" rated fourth and fifth to round out the top five motivation areas.  

How long does an average client commit to working with a coach?

Most coaches ask for a 3- to 6-month commitment, with the understanding that the client decides how much and how long.According to the International Coach Federation survey, the duration of a coaching relationship is on average 8.8 months. Many coach/client partnerships extend to several years and beyond as clients continue to pursue new and more challenging goals.

 

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