Coaching Perspectives Volume II

Each year, coaches who complete their ICF-approved coach training with the Center for Coaching Certification are invited to participate in writing a chapter for a book.  The feedback on the content has been excellent and the success of this quality book ensures it continues.

Book Review:
Coaching Perspectives provides excellent insights for those who want to become a business coach, attend life coaching certification, complete career coaching certification, or expand opportunities with executive coaching certification.

Summary:
The chapters of Coaching Perspectives are:

Powerful Goal Setting for Results by Cathy Liska
A step-by-step guide on how to set goals so that you achieve them.

Two Experts in the Coaching Process by Ruth Dillon
A demonstration of how the client is their own best expert and the coach is the process expert.

Positivity is Key to Effective Coaching by Pamela Lewis
Honing in on the power of choosing positivity and the language that supports it.

The Path to Coaching Effectively by Cynthia Foster
Working with the first coaching client after training.

Building Credibility and Success by Peggi Peaslee
The importance of how you present yourself as a coach.

Selling by NOT Telling by Erica Torres-Dudziak
Offering coaching services as an option and an opportunity.

Present Your Way to Profits by Megan Huber
Speaking as a way to build your coaching business.

I’m a Great Person – I Think by Nicole Stragalas
About coaching individuals with fragile self-esteem.

Coaching and Christians by Sharon Wilcox
Understanding the hesitations of a Christian and moving forward with coaching.

Defining Your Journey to Success: Career Coaching by Ahfeeyah Thomas
Exploring the impact of career coaching.

Building Leaders at Sigma-Aldrich Corporation – A Case Study by Erick Koshner
The application of coaching leaders within a corporation.

Moving Beyond Metrics with Performance Based Coaching by Jeanne Hathcock
Coaching for engagement and productivity in a corporation.

The Bad:  Each chapter is unique both in content and in writing style so this book is 12 e-books combined.

The Good:  The flow of the chapters does work in terms of content, and the broad overview combined with specialized expertise is excellent.

Conclusion:  A great read for coaches, clients, and those thinking about coaching.

3 Pillars of Leaders and Coaches

Coaching is the fastest growing industry in our country.  The role of a leader has changed, and now leadership is more aligned than ever with coaching certification.  Three of the skills are pillars of both roles, so this post considers the application and implication of each. 

1. Listen
How often have you observed a conversation and thought to yourself, “they really don’t get what is being said?”  Communication is a top deficiency in the workplace (and often in relationships) and because listening is the first communication skill, those that develop listening skills create more opportunities.
What happens without listening skills? Miscommunication, conflict, missed deadlines.
What happens with listening skills? Understanding, productivity, creative thinking.
ICF-approved coach training teaches how to listen intentionally – focus physically and mentally on the speaker, anticipate rephrasing everything they say, and work to understand both their feelings and what they aren’t saying.

2. Ask
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to come up with a solution to others situations?  Is the follow-through as assured if the idea is someone else’s?  Telling is easy; asking is effective.
What happens without asking? Intimidation, resentment, shut-down.
What happens with asking? Engagement, commitment, motivation.
Executive coach certification teaches how to ask questions that empower – ask others their thoughts and ideas, and how to make it happen so that they develop the action plan and timeline to follow.

3. Support
What is support?  More than just assisting, support is encouragement, empowerment, and backing someone up whether or not you agree.  To earn the support of others, a leader starts by giving support.  A Coach is a partner and by definition of the relationship, supports the client.
What happens without support? Minimal effort, disinterest, mistakes.
What happens with support? Loyalty, enthusiasm, trust.
Support because people matter through life coaching certification – show you care to earn the privilege of leading or coaching.

Whether you want to become a business coach or enhance your leadership skills, coach training makes sense.

Coaching Certification to Provide Service

The decision to become a business coach, earn life coaching certification, complete career coach certification, or open doors with executive coach certification through an ICF-approved coach training is foundational for offering coaching services.

The majority of small to medium sized businesses in North America invest in a coach.  This often means success instead of failure because a coach serves to explore the possibilities, strategize, create an action plan, and ensure accountability.

Consider what happens in the day-to-day operation of a medium-sized business.

David and Maria started a new business together.  David has a network of contacts that he easily parlayed in to customers.  Maria has a background in finance and bookkeeping and naturally runs a tight ship.  They quickly built their business and hired employees.  Their approach to business is very different.  If they don’t have a coach, what happens? 
They might disagree on decisions and the conflict snowballs. 
Perhaps they run their areas of the company independently and then the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. 
Sometimes they each work hard in their area of expertise and both neglect other key management areas.

What does the coach do for David and Maria?  Because David and Maria already had a business plan that included their goals, when the coach began working with them the benefits for David and Maria to manage their differences and effectively collaborate became the top priority.  The coach met with David and Maria separately and asked each what worked well and what they wanted to change.  Next the coach asked them how they wanted to make it work for everyone.  As David and Maria gained insight, how they communicated changed.  The coach scheduled time with them together to explore goals and discuss specific processes.  Through coaching, David and Maria developed communication and people skills that served them in their interactions together as well as when dealing with employees and customers.  David and Maria decided how to build on what did work for them to change what didn’t work.  Because of their work with a coach, David and Maria continued to grow their business successfully.

Become a Business Coach

Chances are you have heard about coaching certification and perhaps you are familiar with the statistics that cite a Return on Investment (ROI) of 570% (Manchester) to 1000% (Triad Performance Technologies).  Coaching is the second fastest growing industry because it works – become a business coach through an ICF-approved coach training.

What does working with someone who has their executive coaching certification mean for a small to medium business owner?  What exactly does a coach do?  The text book answer is that the business coach serves as a sounding board and strategy partner for defining specific goals.  Sounds good – what does it really mean?  Consider the following.

William starts a small business and because he does excellent work it grows.  His success becomes his challenge – while William knows how to do the work, running the business is an entirely different type of expertise.

What does someone with career coach certification do for William?  The coach starts by asking William to explore his goals for the business.  The coach asks questions about time, energy, and money.  William chooses how much time and energy he wants to invest in his business.  Then William is asked to determine how much money he needs to make and how much he wants to make from his business.  The next step for the coach is to explore with William where his business is at in terms of structure, organization, resources, competition, and opportunities.  Over time William works with his coach to explore strategies and possibilities to accomplish the goals William set.  Without his coach, William would have continued working at capacity; with his partner who had life coaching certification, William determined what he wanted, set his course, and achieved results.