What is coaching?


No, not that kind of coach, you chump

What is coaching?
Coaching is a form of personal development that involves two people working together with one outcome. It is about you (the coachee) spending time in meaningful conversation with an individual ‘thought partner’ (the coach), to help you achieve your desired outcome. Coaching can provide the essential support that you need to confidently tackle important decisions and challenges, and offers you access to a dedicated and personal learning specialist to help you achieve your own goals.

Coaching really can be a very effective channel for personal development, and great for challenging those blockages that we all get from time to time. Many people find that  it isn’t always easy - or appropriate - to talk about the issues that are really challenging us, for a whole host of reasons. Having a coach from outside the organisation gives the opportunity to talk about issues - warts and all – to someone who only has one interest – getting the right outcome for YOU.

How does coaching work?
A skilled coach will use a suitable combination of observation, questioning, listening, encouragement, challenge, feedback and support to create a conversation  and development programme that offers the best match for your needs. Coaching is normally experienced as a number of sessions spaced over a period of time. Discussions are confidential and your coach will not break that confidence. As coaching normally takes place on a one-to-one basis the chemistry between you and your coach is important. Rapport is essential for the relationship to yield positive outcomes. Learning about each other is therefore an important part of the coaching journey and much of your first session will have this goal in mind. Hopefully by the end of it some potential objectives will be sketched out and the first steps of development will have begun.

What to expect from your coach
Your coach does not have a magic wand and cannot magically solve all your problems, but by the two of you working together in a responsible way the coach can help you to help yourself. Your coach holds your own stated aims as uppermost, and will work with you to help you achieve them. Coaching is not therapy, although it is true that some people can experience it as such. Instead it has at its heart a belief that individuals have it within themselves to fulfil their ambitions. It is the role of the coach to help the person realise that ambition. Your coach should follow a code of ethics and will hold a suitable qualification.  

Preparing for your first session
Your first session will normally last around 90 minutes during which time you and your coach will get to know each other. Specifically, your coach might like to hear about your career so far and will want to understand you on a personal level. What makes you tick? Think about what’s going really well for you right now and what challenges are currently facing you. What would you most like to change?

Coaching can look at short term wins and long term aims. Aside from challenges about how to get that all important quick fix, your coach will also be able to talk with you about your deeper values and ethics, and about your long term wishes and goals. Step into your future, imagine yourself in three, five or ten years from now. Imagine that your dreams have been realised. Where will you be, what will you be doing and how did you get there? What has changed compared to you as you are today?

Let your coach help you on your journey.  Contact us for more details

www.poppyfish.co.uk

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