Why A Professional Coach?

Coaching can be a powerful force for achieving breakthrough results and breakthroughs for people.

If you have ever felt frustration in your attempt to demonstrate extraordinary leadership, or thwarted in producing extraordinary results in the very human and often imperfect environment of today’s corporation , or caught in the conundrum of how to advance you career, you will find something of immense value in a relationship with a committed – effective – professional coach. All you need is a sincere commitment to reaching your goals and priorities, together with a willingness to be coached.

I know you are asking yourself – Is coaching really for me?
Good coaches have one intention in mind – to cause your success. They start by standing in your greatness and giving you coaching and feedback in that context, never reducing our support for you even when you fall from it.

Coaching is for highly talented, successful people who seek an edge or advantage.

People who see the opportunity in coaching are those who in sports have the profile of a champion, or who in the performing arts see their picture on billboards outside concert halls , or who in business show up in the pages of Fortune and Fast Company. They are the kind of people who want to take their game to a new level and to do so seek out effective professional coaches.

People who are not so talented, successful, or ambitious tend to have lower goals and aspirations, avoid change, and adopt the “ Home Depot Do It Yourself “ attitude. They keep trying to work on the same old golf swing, get down the ski bumps with the same old ski techniques, grow their business by the same old business model, or get ahead by being a good soldier.

It is interesting and fascinating that coaching clients come from very different kinds of organizations yet are very often similar in many respects. A CEO in New York or Cleveland, or Canton, Ohio faces the same business and leadership challenges as one in Tokyo, Paris, or London.

A mid level manager who has a sincere intention to make a difference is as likely to feel thwarted by tyrants, walls and organizational absurdities in high tech, finance or textile companies.

An emerging leader, a female executive, or a human resource guy is likely to face the same issues in any enterprise.

Just what is coaching?
Coaching happens in extraordinary conversations. Coaching conversations are not mere exchanges of opinion, nor are they conversations about predictable goals and obvious plans, and they are not conversations where the two parties indulge in gossip or rumor.

They are conversations where you are both challenged and supported to reach your highest goals and aspirations. They may be conversations where you reinvent your organization, or career, recognizing that to do so you have to reinvent yourself first.

What do we mean by challenge?
Good Coaches often start by asking people to make declarations about the future they want to create, as well as the past they want to free themselves from. For Example; I want to become the head of my division or organization within the next two years and I am going to change my attitude and behavior to shed all doubts in my own ability and any negative influences from myself or my co-workers.

What do we mean by support?
Effective coaches must believe that you are committed to being the kind of leader ( player ) who makes a difference, who has an impact, who is effective and join you in that commitment. Their focus is not on what’s wrong with you , it is on providing what is missing that will produce a breakthrough in reaching your goals.

We mean leadership lessons that are powerful, profound, and practical and that apply to most people – and in this case more specifically to you.

Finally, here are the things I believe will make coaching work for you:
To make your experience with a coach rewarding, you must make a serious commitment to suspend any notion that you are a super successful person who can do it yourself and surrender to the idea of being coached for a while. Commit to empower your coach by being committed to taking his or her ideas and putting them into action.

• Write down your organization, business, leadership and career challenges and repeat the process several times to improve them, making sure they are something that will stretch your mind and skills.
• Compose a request for coaching. Write down your coaching objectives: Goals you are struggling with, issues and dilemmas you need resolved.
• Keep asking yourself – Is the coaching relationship extraordinary or ordinary? If it is ordinary, what do I need to do to make it extraordinary.>

A Professional Coach
Definition: Someone who, through interactive conversations, encourages, supports, guides, mentors, teaches, admonishes, educates, shares experiences and insights, questions, listens, answers, and advises a client in matters related to personal, professional and corporate Values, Vision, Mission, Goals, Obstacles, Strategy, Plans, and Tactics, to help the client achieve maximum performance.