COACHING: ONE to ONE

“Coaching and mentoring are being used
more than ever to improve performance.”

CIPD – Coaching Climate survey report

What is coaching?

The basic premise of coaching is that, as individuals, we can solve our own problems and do have the capacity to manage our own situations. We simply need support to do this.
The role of the coach is to provide space and time where an individual can reflect, review, clarify, challenge and explore their own situations and perceptions, in order that they themselves identify the best course of action in their situation. The coach’s role is to facilitate a structured, goal focused conversation or series of conversations from which the individual can identify action for the future. The coach’s job is not to solve the problem but to help open doors in your mind so that you seek, find, refine and implement your own solutions

Who Benefits from Coaching?

Although Executive Coaching is often referred to, coaching has a place for everyone and anyone who deserves to feel confident and competent at work. It doesn’t matter what your role is or what level you are in the organisation – when you want to think through, plan and achieve goals and objectives, coaching can be an really effective way to help you to move forward.

When is Coaching Appropriate?

Anytime you need to or want to make a change or gain support to keep a plan on track. For example to master a challenge, tackle a new project, move in a different direction or be more effective in your current direction.
• Specifically many people use coaching for:
• Developing confidence
• Implementing a skill
• Getting clarity around a difficult or new issue
• Career and/or personal development
• Managing stress or relationships
• Supporting organisational change
• Keeping their plans on track

How Can Coaching Help After Training?

Coaching can be particularly useful after any training course or workshop to convert enthusiasm into Action! It is so easy to let the Action Plans from the training event gather dust on the shelf.
Even two coaching follow-up sessions is enough to galvanise that action plan and to ensure that change happens and challenges are met! Training is a starting point, not a destination – and coaching is a very effective way to ensure that you have a route map and that you arrive at the correct destination.

Telephone coaching is particularly suitable for this – no one has to leave their office and all it requires is an hour or two of purposeful, focused calm.
Telephone coaching sessions to follow up on training are usually 50 minutes and only £85 +VAT per session. Why not try it next time you book a training course.

How Will Coaching Work?

• Coaching Questionnaire – The start point is for the individual to consider their goals and a good way to do this is to complete a questionnaire before the start of the first coaching session. This is the individual’s view of what they want to happen the beginning of sharing their thoughts and goals with the coach.

• Individual Coaching Contract – This is an outline of expectations to be signed by both the delegate and the coach at the start of the 1st coaching session following discussions based on the questionnaire. This sets up the parameters for the coaching conversations and gives a clear initial map to both parties though the route may not always be a straight line of course!

The first session will initially discuss the coaching questionnaire to clarify goals and the individual’s needs and define and agree how the coach and individual will work together eg setting boundaries and expectations.

At the end of each session the individual will review progress made and decide whether further coaching/other support is necessary – the individual is totally in control.

• Coaching by Telephone is ideal post-training and is usually done in hour long sessions – 45-50 minutes for the conversation and allowing time after for both individual and coach to write up notes afterwards. We would recommend a minimum of 2 sessions initially. Thereafter further single sessions can be arranged or a longer term programme covering for example 3 or 6 sessions can be scheduled.

• Coaching Face-to-Face is usually done in one-and-a-half to two-hour sessions and it is good practice to set up a fixed number or a regular timetable for the sessions. However it is flexible and the individual is totally in control of how many, how often, how long and can call a halt at any time or extend the relationship. Often a mix of face-to-face and telephone contact is ideal.

How Much To Budget?

• Telephone coaching is from £95 + VAT for the hour session and is ideal after one of our training events, where no travel time or expenses are required.
• Face-to-face coaching is from £125 per hour with Executive Coaching from £225 per hour.

Face-to-Face versus Telephone Coaching?

Many people assume coaching is best face to face, however both methods have their place. The coach is not a best friend, therapist or counsellor but a respected catalyst who needs to be objective and able to ask probing, rigorous and sometimes tricky questions. This is often easier for both parties when there is professional ‘distance’ and the relationship is unhampered by emotion and feelings. Telephone coaching can provide just that relationship.

Sometimes though an individual might feel more comfortable face-to-face. The choice is best left to the individual. Just give us a call to discuss your particular case.