An introduction to the coaching process
1) Make a list of what you really want in your personal and professional life. Coaching fosters the realization of extraordinary results when you have a clear vision that is based on your values. We will work on clarifying your vision during our initial coaching sessions.
2) Get to know yourself in a new way. Working with a coach is a powerful way to grow. Most clients hire a coach to accomplish several specific goals, and much of the time is spent working on these goals. Yet, with coaching, don’t be surprised if you discover new parts of yourself, or, if you find yourself adjusting your goals to match who you really are.
3) Expand your level of willingness. Part of working with me as your coach is that I will ask a lot of you, more than you may have been willing to ask of yourself. I will ask you to experiment with fresh approaches and to be open to redesigning the parts of your life that are not serving you. This, so you can more easily achieve your vision and live an integrated and fulfilled personal and work life. Here are some areas in which we may work together:
- Remove sources of stress in your life
- Redesign how you spend your time
- Create a vision and goals that are bigger than you’ve allowed yourself to have before
- Commit to self-care
- Re-examine the assumptions and decisions you’ve made
- Experiment and try new things
- Get the support you need to handle any problem that is getting in the way of your fully realizing your potential.
4) Come to the coaching session prepared, with an agenda. We have a set amount of time together, and you will want to have a focus for our meetings so you can get what you want from our session. I provide a session prep sheet form that you may choose to complete which includes:
- Successes and wins you’ve had since our last session.
- Challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve handled them
- Opportunities you’re generating
- The outcome you want for this coaching session
- What you would like to work on next with me
5) Enjoy our session. We have work to do together. It will be both challenging and fun.
6) Keep yourself well between our sessions. Coaching requires energy – emotionally, intellectually, and physically. Given this, I want you to take extraordinary care of your well-being. Only you know what this means for you, but I request that you go much further than you ever have in this regard. The place to start is to develop a list of daily habits that keep you well. They will probably change over time. Some examples to help you get started are:
- Exercise
- Reading
- Listening to great music
- Eating right
- Completing things that you’ve left “hanging”
- Getting more sleep
7) Do your fieldwork. These are the tasks, actions, results or changes that you do your best to complete in between coaching sessions. Apply yourself and use the fieldwork to help you achieve your personal and professional goals.