Coaching
Mastery News is a monthly newsletter for professionals committed
to excellence in coaching. Each issue focuses on a theme that
emerges in coaching relationships. What questions or issues
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The
Change Process and Coaching – Part I “You will have wonderful surges forward. Then there must be a time of consolidating before the next surge. Accept this as part of the process and never become downhearted.” Eileen Caddy Coaching is a process of action and learning. Clients come to coaching to make changes in their lives. They take action, and then pause to reflect on the impact of the action. Based on the learning from this reflection, they take action again. It is this cycle of action and learning that sustains change over time. The change process evokes a range of feelings from excitement to fear to joy to frustration. The coaching partnership provides clients with a safe environment to integrate these emotions (emotion = energy in motion) to move forward and achieve their goals. From
the very first coaching conversation, coaches can educate
their clients about the change process and prepare them
for change. Clients begin coaching with great enthusiasm---they’ve
made an important decision to move forward in their lives,
and that decision alone can be quite energizing. At some
point, typically between the second and third months of
coaching, there may be a dip in enthusiasm. Clients have
been engaged in the process long enough to realize that
coaching is not magic, and it is not a ‘quick fix’.
In order for sustained change to occur, clients have to
do the work. While they may have known this intellectually,
experiencing it feels much different. That is why it is
important to establish an initial coaching agreement of
three to four months. It gives the client time to understand
what it means to be a client. I recommend a three month
check-in to evaluate how the coaching is going. I email
my clients a list of questions and ask them to set aside
some time at our next call to discuss them.
The three month review is critical for a number of reasons: it provides both you and your client with an opportunity to evaluate the coaching; you, the coach, get helpful feedback from the client to use going forward; and it honors the relationship as a partnership. Some clients decide at the three month point to end the coaching relationship. Perhaps they came to coaching with a specific project that they wanted to begin or complete and have reached that goal. Or they may not be ready to do the work that is required to make significant changes in their lives. They know the door is open to pursue coaching again in the future. For now, they are ready to take a break. Fortunately, many clients decide to stay with coaching for a longer time period. They recognize that they are on a path that requires more time, energy and focus. Does that mean that coaching is smooth sailing from here? Not necessarily. However an important milestone has been reached. This milestone represents a kind of surrendering-to-the-process. Clients now understand the power of the relationship in effecting change, and they recognize that this power is a direct result of their commitment to coaching and to their personal growth. Next
month: The Change Process and Coaching – Part II COACHING MASTERY UPDATE Coaching
Mastery™ provides coaches with a safe learning environment
to further develop their coaching excellence. Here’s what two participants had to say about their recent group experience: Spring,
2004 Level I participant: "As a newer coach,
the Coaching Mastery telegroup was an ideal complement to
my coach training. With expert facilitation and personal experience,
Lisa creates a safe and productive space for the group to
discuss challenges, explore possibilities, and create solutions.
In just 6 short weeks I was able to dramatically increase
my confidence as a coach and implement practical suggestions
to better attract and serve clients." Winter
2004 Level II participant: “I have long
known Lisa Kramer to be a seasoned, caring, and effective
coach. I have also known her to be an engaging and enjoyable
teleclass leader. But now I know, perhaps, one of the more
important reasons that Lisa is here on the Planet. Lisa is
an incredibly sensitive and honoring "Master" of
the Coaching Mastery process. She brings coaches together
to explore the nature of the craft...she handles the coaching
situations as the art forms that they are...and she responds
quickly to the changing rhythms of the sessions. I highly
recommend her Coaching Mastery to everyone who is ready to
move deeper inside this artful and wonderful profession".
Business Success Partnership™
Building a successful coaching business is a daunting task
for coaches who come to the profession as sole proprietors.
Coaches face the formidable challenge of having to do it all:
marketing, bookkeeping, business development, coaching. Working
independently, they often experience a persistent sense of
self-doubt and isolation which---at its worst--- can sabotage
their ability to successfully create a thriving business.
A Business Success Partnership™ (BSP) is a professional
relationship created by two self-employed individuals for
the sole purpose of ensuring that each individual’s
business becomes wildly successful! It replaces overwhelm
with synergy, and results in greater ease, momentum and enjoyment.
Upcoming Events July
15, 2004: Becoming a Masterful Coach: A Conversation with
Four Coaches
Copyright © 2004. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or distribute the Coaching Mastery™ News as long as nothing is added, changed, or deleted, and this copyright notice is attached. The author is Lisa Kramer, Living with Intention Coaching, Training and Coaching Mastery™ www.livingwithintention.com |
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