You are behind the times if you have never worked with a coach

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

In the 21st century, it’s impossible to be truly successful if you don’t have a coach. Everyone has coaches: sports teams, Formula 1 winners, billionaires, celebrities, successful CEOs. If you've never had a coaching session, you're a dinosaur. Nowadays it is easy to find a coach not only in the capital, but also in any provincial town. But do not worry, you still have not lost everything. And right after reading my article, you can quickly catch up. But do not rush to google the phrase "looking for a coach", but read to the end so as not to get to the charlatan, of whom there are already a dime a dozen, however, as in any other profession.

In this article, I want to shed light on the topic of coaching, since a lot of controversial information about coaching and coaches has gathered in the post-Soviet space. Some people got to the right coaches and are very happy with the result, while others got to charlatans and realized that they had simply lost their money.

In addition, I will give you a few tools to get you a feel for what coaching is.

In this article I will tell you:

• Who is a coach (history, definition).
• The difference between a coach and a psychologist, coach, consultant.
• How to tell a coach from a charlatan.
• What questions do clients ask a coach for?
• How a coach can be useful to a client.
• What a typical coaching session looks like.
• How much a coach can earn.
• Can coaching be beneficial to you.
• Can you become a coach.
• What it takes to become a coach.
• My path as a coach: how I became one and what it gave me.

I am sure that my thoughts will seem objective to you, since, on the one hand, I am a certified coach, and on the other hand, coaching is not my source of income, since my main job is personnel management at the largest Ukrainian TV channel. In addition, I myself hire coaches for the development of company employees and I see different representatives of this profession.

I have been a certified coach for several years now. When I tell others that I am a coach, I am constantly asked the same questions:

• What is a coach? Is this a personal growth coach?
• How do you work with clients? You probably give them advice?
• Is it true that clients pay $ 100 for one coaching session?
• And you really only ask questions?

Everyone has heard the word "coach" for a long time. Each of us has different associations with the word “coach”. Someone imagines a personal growth trainer, someone a psychologist, someone a charlatan-information businessman, and someone, perhaps, an inveterate NLPer.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with coaching. It's just that all these people at one time caught the trend of the popularity of coaching and began, among other regalia, to ascribe to themselves the newfangled word "coach".

Real coaches don't teach anything at all.

But everyone will probably agree on one thing: coaches earn good money. And this is really true. A coaching session even from a novice coach costs $ 50, but experienced coaches charge from $ 100 to $ 200. But there are those who can take 500 or even 1,000 dollars, but these are usually very famous coaches who work with business owners, and this work is limited either to a series of intensive coaching sessions, between which there is a pause of 6-12 months, or, on the contrary, by occasional meetings once a month.

But what is most striking is that real coaches (and who is a real coach, I will tell below) do not teach anything at all. They don't tell you what decisions to make, they don't force you to work better or harder. And what is no less striking is that they do not talk with the client about his past, but, as a rule, about the future.

So why do people who ask questions about the future get thousands of dollars from their clients?

Let's try to figure it out. Let's start with the definition.

What is coaching?

Official version:

Coaching(eng.coaching - training, training) - a method of counseling and training, differs from classical training and classical counseling in that the coach does not give advice and harsh recommendations, but seeks solutions together with the client.

My version:

Coaching- this is a special type of work of a coach with a client, thanks to which the client achieves outstanding results faster, happier and easier than he himself would have worked to achieve them.

A bit of history

TIMOTHY GOLVI

It all started with Timothy Golvey, who was the author of the concept of inner play, which formed the basis of coaching. The concept was first presented in the 1974 book The Inner Game of Tennis. It is this date that can be considered the date of birth of coaching.

The idea of an inner game came to him while working as a tennis instructor.

Timothy Golvey American coach, author of the method of increasing personal and professional effectiveness "inner game"

The opponent in the head is much more dangerous than the opponent on the other side of the "net". The coach's job is to help the player remove or mitigate internal obstacles. As a result, a person's natural ability to learn and achieve efficiency will manifest itself. The purpose of the "inner game" is to reduce any interference with the disclosure and embodiment of a person's full potential.

JOHN WHITMORE

Author of the 1992 book High Performance Coaching.

He developed Galvey's ideas for business and management. John Whitmore is a British racing driver, one of the UK's leading business coaches, creator of the popular GROW coaching model.

John was a student of Timothy Golvey. In 2007 he received the International Coaching Federation (ICF) President's Award recognizing his work in promoting coaching around the world.

THOMAS LEONARD

Considered the creator of coaching as we know it today.

Thomas was a financial consultant. He once noticed that his most successful clients were not asking him for financial advice as much as asking for personal business advice. Business leaders and top executives of companies were interested in learning how to quickly respond to the changing economic environment, how to effectively manage employees, and someone simply could not formulate their further professional goals.

Here are just a few of Thomas' accomplishments:

• Founder of Coach University -, International Coach Federation (ICF), International Association of Certified Coaches (IAC) and the project.
• Developed 28 personal and professional programs.
• Author of six books for coaches and 14 internal exclusive works for University of Coaching students.
• Among more than 28 programs developed by him, Clean Sweep is very popular.

How coaching evolved

• From the 70s to the mid 80s - the stage of the birth of coaching in the United States.
• Mid 80s - Coaching began to spread in the United States.
• Mid 80s - Coaching is active in Germany.
• End of the 80s - in Germany, the development of personnel through coaching began.
• The beginning of the 90s - the division of coaching into specializations started in Europe and the USA.
• Mid / late 90s - Coaching is gaining momentum in Europe and America.
• From 2002 to the present day - a phase of in-depth professionalization.

The difference between coaching and other types of assistance and counseling is shown in the graph:

Thus, coaching is the only way of consulting in which it is the client who is the expert, and the coach only asks questions.

How can you tell a real coach from a real charlatan?

Coach	Charlatan
Studied at a certified school coaches (ECF or ICF) and can present their certificate	Didn't study coaching at all, studied from books, studied with another coach, studied at an uncertified school
It inspires trust, does not put pressure on its authority, does not impose services	Does not inspire confidence, convinces of the need for its services, uses manipulation techniques
Asks a lot of questions	He talks a lot, gives advice
When asked about the price, he gives a direct answer with a specific figure.	Does not name the price, asks how much you expect, offers to pay "how much you can"
Has specialization (career coaching, life coaching, business coaching)	Ready to work with any request
Can talk about his own successful experience in the chosen field. For example, offering executive coaching might tell about his at least 5 years of experience in managing a team of 20 people	Cannot confirm the presence of experience in the selected topic. So, for example, engaging in relationship coaching, he himself does not have a partner.

»

I would also like to tell you about the "coaches" who studied at Erickson University of coaching.

It is worth noting that due to the fact that Marilyn Atkinson spent many years of her life, calling her former teachings of NLP the newfangled word "coaching", now many students of this school are perceived as coaches. I do not want to challenge their right to be called what they want, but I must shed light on this issue.

Who is Erickson, after whom his teachings are called:

• So, Erickson (Erickson) Milton Hiland (1901-1980) - one of the most popular American psychotherapists XX century.
• Wrote over 140 papers on psychotherapy … In 1923 he developed a number of techniques hypnotherapy, including the method of raising the hand.
• Erickson - Founder and President of the American Society clinical hypnosis (American society of clinical hypnosis), founder and editor of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. Regularly held his famous seminars hypnotherapy and a short straight psychotherapy.

Erickson's biography does not indicate that he was a student of one of the well-known coaches at that time (they are on the list above). In addition, Erickson himself did not call himself a coach, but his science - coaching.

But then Marilyn Atkinson appeared, teaching her NLP followers. However, at some stage, she began to call herself a coach, without indicating who she studied with. Here is information about her:

• Marilyn Atkinson - President of Erickson International University, doctor of psychology, coach, world famous trainer, student Milton Erickson, a famous psychologist.
• Marilyn is the author of many works, since 1985 has been teaching and consulting for leading corporations in the world, is the founder and president of Erickson International University (Canada) to this day.
• Marilyn is the author of books on coaching: "THE SKILL OF LIFE: the internal dynamics of development", "ACHIEVING GOALS: a step-by-step system", "LIFE IN FLOW: coaching."

Therefore, internationally certified coaches often challenge Atkinson's right to call herself a coach, like her students.

What questions do clients ask a coach for?

The range of questions that clients turn to a coach is really very large. Here is some of them:

• Business planning, budgeting, goal setting.
• Striking a balance between work and personal life.
• Solving difficult situations.
• Achieve maximum productivity at work.
• Solving business and personal problems.
• Making key decisions and developing strategies.
• Increased sales.
• Control your life instead of letting other people control me.
• Increase the profitability of my company by at least….
• Remove adrenaline from my life so that I don't burn out.
• Accelerate my own development.
• Develop a path for my own growth.
• Which career development to choose.
• How to eliminate your weaknesses in order to become a marketing director.
• Learn to manage a company (a person recently became a partner).
• How to talk to a shareholder about your development.
• Increase your income level by 50% in 6 months.
• Create passive income of $ 200 in 10 months.
• Buying a car (not on credit) for 1 year.
• Career growth to the position of a manager in 1 year.
• Reducing stress and tension so that work is enjoyable.
• Find a boyfriend by the end of the year.
• Finding a balance in life (so that work is not at the expense of other areas of life).
• Improving the level of well-being and energy.
• Learn to manage your time, identify your capabilities and effectively determine the deadlines for completing tasks.
• Putting order in life (instead of the existing chaos).
• Lose weight by 5 kg in 3 months.

What does a typical coaching session look like?

A typical coaching session lasts 60–90 minutes. If meetings are frequent, it can be reduced to 30–45 minutes. Meetings usually take place in a cafe or restaurant, as well as at the client's workplace (in his office or meeting room). Less often, the client comes to the coach's office.

Before the coaching session, the client forms his request - a certain task for the session. During the session, the client and the coach will have to find a solution to his request.

The result of a coaching session is a clear understanding of the client, what to do to achieve his goal, and an action plan, usually for a week.

During the session, the coach asks the client questions and uses various coaching tools.

A typical coaching session follows the GROW modelwhich Whitmore came up with:

• Goal - what is your goal? What do you want to achieve?
• Reality - Describe your situation now.
• Options - what are the options for achieving the goal? Who can help you? What do you need? Let's brainstorm.
• Will - what needs to be done to achieve the goal? What are the next steps? When could you do this?

One of the coach's tasks is to raise the bar for the client. That is, helping the client set higher goals so that he achieves more in life.

Now, as promised, I am giving you one of the coaching tools.

This is a tool for a comprehensive assessment of the client's life and finding weaknesses in it.

There are 30 questions here. Each question must be answered "yes" or "no".

Now calculate your grade separately in each area. If the sphere scored less than six "yes", then there are problems there. If eight or more - everything is fine. Between six and eight would be worth improving.

Now your goal is to do so in 90 days to collect all 30 yes. Weak?;)

How much can a coach earn?

Most often, the coach charges $ 100 per coaching session.

Clients do not apply once, but buy on average 5-10 coaching sessions (private clients usually take five, corporate clients - 10). In such cases, the coach can offer discounts.

The coach is not loaded 100% of the time. A good load is considered to be 40-60%, since the remaining time is required to move around the city, attract new customers, maintain sites, and so on.

Many coaches conduct trainings, which in general also charge about $ 100 per hour.

Let's take a typical human working day - 8 hours. With a load of 40%, our coach will work 3 hours a day. This will be three coaching sessions of 60 minutes each. For such a day, the coach will earn $ 300 (provided that the coach did not give discounts).

In 20 working days, the coach earns $ 6,000.

This is a person who is not involved in any other activity besides coaching. There are not many of them, but I know several representatives.

More often, the coach's income fluctuates in the region of $ 3,000-10,000.

If coaching is not the main activity for a person and besides him there is a permanent job, such a coach spends no more than one session a day. And he does not have clients for all 5 days. Usually it is 3-4 days. Which gives 300-400 dollars a week or 1,200-1,600 dollars in additional income per month.

There are also coaches who practice coaching solely to maintain their experience and conduct one session per week. Which gives $ 400 a month.

Can coaching be beneficial to me?

Are you ready for coaching?

Rate from 1 to 4, where 1 is incorrect, 4 is completely correct.

You can count on me to arrive on time for meetings	1 2 3 4
I will abide by agreements and keep my word	1 2 3 4
I want to listen to and accept advice from my coach	1 2 3 4
I speak bluntly and promise my coach a "no games" relationship	1 2 3 4
I will tell the coach right away that I am not getting the desired result, if i get this feeling	1 2 3 4
I guess I have limiting beliefs my development, and now is the time to take steps to move forward	1 2 3 4
I am ready to expand my scope and replace the ineffective behavior more efficient	1 2 3 4
I am completely ready to go to the next level in my life.	1 2 3 4
I want to experiment with ideas and concepts, which the coach will offer	1 2 3 4
I will tell the coach right away that he is crossing my personal boundaries, and in this case I will ask him to change his approach	1 2 3 4
I am ready to change HERE and NOW	1 2 3 4
I know what I want and I will use a coach to achieve it.	1 2 3 4
I am fully aware that all responsibility for the results lies with me.	1 2 3 4
I want the coach to always tell me the truth under any circumstances.	1 2 3 4
I have the necessary resources to pay for coaching, and I think coaching is a worthwhile investment in my life	1 2 3 4

»

_ total score

Outcome:

• 60–53. You are a very good coaching candidate!
• 52–47. Are you ready. Light resistance holds you back. This is where coaching can begin.
• 46–39. You're in a wait-and-see attitude. Before we get started, we'd better first talk about why you are thinking about coaching.
• 38–0. Come back when you're ready to make a decision. Now you are not ready to take responsibility and make significant changes in your life. Coaching for those who are READY. Now may not be your time yet. This slice gives you an understanding of where you are now.

Can I become a coach myself?

You can safely give a positive answer to this question if you can answer “yes” to all points:

• You want to help other people achieve their goals.
• We are ready to become a model for them and for this to achieve their goals in different areas of life.
• We are ready to allocate time for training and basic coaching practice (over 100 hours).
• You have time to conduct coaching sessions after graduation.
• We are ready to learn, to train to conduct sessions in the presence of others, to receive feedback from the trainer.

What does it take to become a coach?

The algorithm is as follows:

1. Choose the school that is right for you in terms of location, course times, reviews and is ICF certified.
2. Collect money for the course (1,000–2,000 dollars).
3. Take a course (on average 1-3 months of intensive classroom instruction 2-3 days a week or 10-12 months of online classes once a week for 60-90 minutes).
4. Start hosting free coaching sessions. You need to spend at least 100 hours.
5. Start telling others that you have become a coach.
6. Create your website.
7. Start attracting customers.

My coaching journey: how I became one and what it gave me

Initially, I went to study coaching not at all to practice coaching, but to improve my leadership skills. My team grew from 2 to 10 people, and it was necessary to learn how to manage them effectively. Since I had read all the main books on management at that time, I looked for management advice in the field of leadership.

Leadership training did not generate interest and respect in me, so I switched to coaching. I met a coach who told and showed me what coaching is, and my training began. I studied at the International Academy of Coaching MAXIMUM (don't count it as an advertisement) with Maxim Tsvetkov for 10 months, every week for 90 minutes in the format of webinars.

As I completed all my homework assignments, I began to set goals for myself, work on achieving them and saw the effectiveness of coaching as a way to achieve goals (although I just wanted to learn how to manage people).

Coaching works like magic: you just need to set a goal and realize the ways to achieve it, and you automatically start working on it.

By the end of the course, I already had clear goals in all areas of life. In addition, my staff have noticed a change in my management style, and our relationship has improved by an order of magnitude.

To get a certificate, I needed a coaching practice, so I began to coach everyone I knew. It so happened that many of them very quickly achieved their goals. One of my subordinates, after a month of coaching, went to a higher position in another company with a salary twice as high.:)

I realized that coaching works like magic: you just need to set a goal and realize the ways to achieve it, and you automatically start working on it.

I received the certificate and began to inactively coach those clients who came to me mainly on the basis of a recommendation. Over time, there are more such clients. But for me the main priority is my career: I want to become a CEO in 5 years, so I don’t devote as much time to coaching as I could. For me, it is rather an opportunity to earn pocket money for my favorite toys (phone, laptop) on weekends.

What coaching gave me:

• Achievement of a number of goals (career, health, salary).
• Experience in managing people in a more democratic style.
• Meeting new and interesting personalities.
• Awareness of your destiny.
• A more balanced life.
• Improving relationships with others.

For more information on coaching and development, visit.:)

The author of illustrations -