Coaching with Andy at Jubilee Leadership
What is coaching?
Coaching is more easily experienced than described! Essentially though, it is a guided and shaped conversation between two people – a thinker and a coach. It sounds almost comical, but the role of the coach is to help the thinker think! The role of a coach is to work in partnership with the thinker to create the context and process for the thinker to have fresh insights about their issue. A coach does this by listening carefully, and asking questions.
Coaching is different to therapy in that it is future focussed. Coaching is different to consultancy because the coach is helping the thinker to discover their own insights into the situation. Coaching is different to mentoring in that it is a thinker led process.
Why do people have coaching?
There are a wide variety of questions which bring people to coaching from ‘How do I deal with a difficult person in my team?’ to ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?!’ What all thinkers have in common is a desire to grow as a person. Good coaching should be a life giving experience. It should enable people to access new ways of thinking and living that align with their goals and aspirations.
Who is coaching for?
The ideal thinker is someone who is hungry to grow. They will be willing to think deeply, speak openly and work hard at what they decide is important to them.
What are some of the benefits of coaching?
- Increased self-awareness
- A clearer sense of direction
- Fresh perspectives and insights on challenges
- Increased performance and effectiveness
- Greater resilience
What does a typical coaching conversation look like?
A coaching session lasts for about an hour. It begins with a check in and then a careful process of clarifying the purpose of the conversation. The whole session is thinker led. The coach asks questions for the thinker to answer. Usually 70-75% of what is said during a session comes from the thinker as they literally think aloud. The conversation normally lands by clarifying one or two action points.
How many and how often?
This depends entirely on the issue the thinker brings to coaching. If it is a crisis at work it might be 2 sessions every week. If it is starting a new role, it might be 1 session a month over 6 months. It often takes the first session to properly scope out what the piece of work is going to be. Other than one off coaching sessions to look at a specific issue, a course of up to 6 sessions for a deeper piece of work is not unusual.
How much does coaching cost?
Jubilee Leadership has different coaching rates depending on who is paying for the sessions and how many sessions there are. For an initial, no commitment (on both sides) exploratory conversation, please email andy@jubileeleadership.co.uk.