Question 1

What is coaching?

Accepted Answer

Coaching is a collaborative professional partnership of equals, a form of self-enquiry and learning in which a coach supports you in making progress. Progress might include reaching a goal, solving problems or creating learning and change.

Question 2

How does coaching work?

Accepted Answer

Coaching is a comprehensive process that will likely touch on all areas of your life including work, finances, health, relationships, education and recreation.

Combining questioning, listening, observation and feedback, coaching creates a conversation rich in personal insight and learning. By focusing attention solely on your own circumstances, thoughts and goals, coaching encourages you to develop greater awareness and understanding, develop new ideas and approaches and take constructive decisions and action to get you the results you want.

Question 3

What are the benefits of coaching?

Accepted Answer

Clients often report one or many of the following benefits:

Improved sense of direction and focus
Increased knowledge of self/self-awareness
Accelerated learning around a specific development area
Improved performance in a distinct area such as career, health, relationships, finances
Increased motivation and sense of accountability
Improved personal effectiveness, such as focussed effort on priorities
Increased resourcefulness and resilience to accept and manage change.

Question 4

Will coaching give me the answers or tell me what to do?

Accepted Answer

Simply put, no. Coaching is non-advisory and non-directional. It is a conversation or series of conversations that offer an uninterrupted and non-judgemental opportunity for you to be heard and have your thoughts and expressions reflected back to you so that you can find your own answers.

I may prompt or challenge your thinking and encourage you to look at things differently in order to achieve this or I may offer my observations of patterns that I see emerging over time. But you will always be in the drivers’ seat and are ultimately responsible for the results you create.

To be clear, coaching is not to be used as a substitute for professional advice by legal, medical, financial, business, spiritual or other qualified professionals. You should always seek independent, professional guidance for legal, medical, financial, business, spiritual or other matters, as all decisions and actions in these areas remain your sole responsibility.

Question 5

How is coaching different from therapy or counselling?

Accepted Answer

Unlike therapy, which tends to dwell on unpacking past experiences and unresolved trauma, coaching is present and forward facing. So, although we’ll sometimes look at the past to understand where you are right now, our focus will remain firmly on the present and the future.

Coaching is not a substitute for counselling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, mental health care or substance abuse treatment and it must never be used in place of any form of diagnosis, treatment or therapy. If you are currently in therapy or otherwise under the care of a mental health professional, I request that you consult with the mental healthcare provider regarding the advisability of working with a coach and make this person aware of your decision to proceed with our complimentary coaching relationship.

As a client, you remain fully responsible for your physical, mental and emotional well-being, including your choices and actions.

Question 6

How will I know if you’re the right coach for me?

Accepted Answer

Having trained with the Animas Centre for Coaching, I am qualified and accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and the Association of Coaching (AC).  Coupling a unique psychological approach with my lived experience, I have the ability to work with you at depth to create lasting change in your career, relationships, workplace and sense of self.

By consulting free of charge to understand your personal or business objectives and then agreeing the appropriate programme of support to respond to that, you will have ample opportunity to decide if I am the best fit for you or your team.

Coaching is most effective when you’re fully invested and feel that you’ve found the right coach to meet your needs. So if I’m not best suited to help, I can refer you to an alternative coach within my network or another trained professional.

If you'd like to try coaching but are not sure how many sessions you really need, perhaps begin with one of my standalone packages and then secure additional sessions if you feel that would add further value.

Once a commitment has been made, I will of course check in with you against agreed measures of success and invite ongoing feedback to refine our approach as needed.

Question 7

What will coaching ask of me?

Accepted Answer

Coaching is a collaborative process, so I ask you to stay committed to the coaching process.

This means contributing to our conversations open and honestly, digging deep to examine underlying intentions and reasons behind certain thoughts and behaviours, or perhaps remaining curious when being challenged.

You know yourself best, so I ask you to work in the most effective way possible for you. That might be making notes within each session, keeping a journal between sessions or taking agreed actions and coming ready to report back on your progress.

The strength and power of coaching relates directly to the level of openness and trust in the relationship. I will always approach our sessions thinking the very best of you and with a belief that you are whole and capable of the results you seek.

Question 8

What about confidentiality? Will my information or the content of our coaching sessions be shared with anyone else?

Accepted Answer

I am qualified, accredited and bound by the code of ethics of the ICF, EMCC and AC which protects the privacy of my clients.

As such, all information shared with me, whether verbal or written, will be held as strictly confidential, except as required by law, with the exclusion of session recordings and transcripts which may be shared with an authorised mentor for supervision purposes. The content of any recordings and associated discussions within the supervisory session will remain strictly confidential and the coach mentor will be held to the same standards of privacy as myself as the coach.

Although I will only disclose employee-specific information where I have permission to do so, formal employee feedback will be a key tool in understanding the benefits that coaching is delivering for your team and how it can be refined to add even greater value on a programme and organisational level.

Working with clear, shared objectives, my reporting will include key themes and recommendations to inform your planning and strategy as well as process and procedural refinements where these have been identified.

Question 9

Where are your coaching sessions held?

Accepted Answer

Coaching sessions are held 1:1 on Zoom as standard, in order to maximise my reach across locations and time zones.

If you require face-to-face coaching within your organisational setting, this can be secured on a half or full day basis as part of your final coaching proposal.

Question 10

How long do sessions last?

Accepted Answer

This very much depends on your objectives and the support you invest in to meet them.

For personal clients, standalone sessions are 90minutes, with the option of a shorter 40minute follow-up should you choose this, whilst my coaching packages offer a comprehensive framework of four or eight 60minute sessions.

As a business client, this may look slightly different with me spending regular half or full days within your business, to include:

•  1:1 employee coaching sessions (either 60 or 90 minutes)
•  an informal coaching clinic
•  collaborative meetings to share consistent themes and recommendations that may inform ongoing planning and strategy.

Employee coaching could also be conducted remotely via Zoom over 60 or 90 minute sessions, away from the office setting.

Please note that session duration relates to the agreed start time of a session, so if an employee is late or cancels a session (without prior agreement), this will reduce our time and possible effectiveness.

Question 11

How often are sessions held?

Accepted Answer

A standalone session can be scheduled at our mutual convenience. If you choose a standalone session with follow-up, this must take place within 4 weeks of our primary session.

The 4-session package can be delivered weekly or fortnightly to give you time in between sessions to process and initiate change whilst maintaining our momentum.

The 8-session package should be scheduled weekly or fortnightly for at least the first four sessions of the package. If you’d prefer, we can then meet 3-weekly or monthly for the final sessions, to offer greater time to embed your desired level of change whilst continuing to check in on your progress.

Question 12

How much does coaching cost?

Accepted Answer

I have designed a number of packages depending on the level of investment you’d like to make in yourself, so please take a look to decide what works best for you.

As a business client, I will work to understand your objectives and the level of investment you’d like to make in your people in order to create a bespoke proposal and costings, based on my single session, half day or full day fees.

Whatever your needs, my aim is to design an affordable solution to meet them.