Frequently asked questions

Unfortunately, there isn't an agreed-upon definition of coaching which can, at times, cause confusion. However, the main coaching bodies do share some general principles which can help to shed some light on the process: It's a non-clinical, future-focused partnership between the coach and the client It's about helping the client to achieve their potential. It's goal-orientated and solution-focused and involves lots of self-reflection, learning, growth and behaviour change. People who come to coaching usually want things to be different in some way or are at a transition point in their life. For example, they might have a burning issue to resolve or a significant goal to achieve. The role of the coach is to help you to dig deep, motivate you and be your accountability partner - helping you to develop well-formed goals and reach them. In short, coaching is about optimising growth and potential to improve your life. It takes you from where you are now to where you want to be.

A coaching conversation is a purposeful one. It involves skilled questioning by the coach held in a reflective space for you. It isn't about the coach giving you all the answers. It's about asking the right questions to help you to dig deep. This enables you as the coachee to work on what is important to you and find the solutions that work for you.

It's little wonder that when starting out on your coaching research journey, it can be truly overwhelming to know which way to turn as there are thousands of coaching niches. For example, mindset coaching, wellness coaching, relationship coaching and so on. However, as a basic guide, coaching falls into three distinct categories: business, sports performance and life coaching. While the first two are straightforward to understand, life coaching is a bit more nebulous. However, Dunbar's (2010) definition of life coaching perhaps describes it best as "a catch-all term for any type of coaching focusing on goals which fall within the personal sphere rather than the work/employment or sports spheres".

My primary focus in coaching is in the workplace - working with professionals who want to go from functioning to phenomenal. However, I'm also very conscious that our professional lives don't exist in a bubble. They're also impacted by what's going on in our personal lives, our wellbeing and other people. That's why I adopt a holistic approach and hold the space for my coachees to talk about anything that they need to. I use a blend of established coaching techniques, coaching psychology and positive psychology. Coaching can help you to improve in most aspects of skills, performance and development. However, if you'd like to do a deep dive into any of the below areas, I've got some specific evidence-based tools and techniques that can help you. Confidence (and understanding the difference between self-confidence, self-efficacy and self-esteem) Comparing yourself to others (social comparison theory) Decision making (beyond making a pro's and con's list - using a blend of system 1 and system 2 thinking) Goal-setting (and goal-getting) Imposter syndrome Mindset (adopting a growth mindset) Motivation (self-determination theory) Wellbeing (using positive psychology)

In counselling and therapy, the focus tends to be on looking at the past. Coaching is about looking to the future. Unlike counselling, coaching is a non-therapeutic intervention and is aspirational, not remedial. The goal of a counsellor or therapist is to take you from feeling dysfunctional to functional. The goal of a good coach is to take your from surviving to thriving.

Coaching and mentoring are similar in lots of ways but mentoring involves giving lots of advice and guidance. Mentoring is usually career-related but coaching can be much broader than this. In coaching, the coach asks a lot of questions to draw out the answers. However in consulting, the client is told what to do. However, as a coach, I believe that my experience of something will be very different to yours and therefore I won’t impose this on you. While I may use my knowledge, skills and experience as a foundation, I will always try to guide you to find the solution that works best for you.

To get the best results from coaching, you need to: Participate fully with an open mind Be willing to learn Take personal responsibility for following up on agreed actions Consistently show up for yourself

In the very first instance, we'll have a 20-30 minute chat about what brings you to coaching, what you want to achieve and to give you the opportunity to ask any questions (either over the phone or via Voxer). This is completely free as the purpose is to gauge if we're a good fit for each other, if coaching is the right thing for you and discuss how we might work together (see my Services page for more info). You might hear these called discovery calls, chemistry conversations or connection calls. If we decide to proceed, we'll have a separate 30-45 minute conversation to develop our working contract. This includes agreements on how we'll work together such as the practicalities (e.g. format of sessions, payment, confidentiality etc) as well as the deeper things such as challenge vs support and what you might need from me as a coach. Depending on your aims, I might give you a coaching tool or questionnaire to help you to start thinking a little deeper. Once the contract has been reviewed, agreed and signed, we'll make a booking for the first session. The focus of this (and subsequent) session(s) is completely down to you. My aim is to ask you the right questions to enable you to think about things in more detail and also ensure that we're on track with your goals. At about halfway through the coaching journey and at the end, I'll ask you to complete a very brief questionnaire about how you're finding things. This is to ensure that we're on the right track and you're getting the absolute most from coaching with me!

The coaching industry is, sadly, unregulated. This means that anyone can call themselves a coach and offer their services to clients. While there are many people doing good work in this domain, it's important to shop around for a coach to find the right fit for you both professionally and personally. For me, I'd be asking a potential coach what their qualifications are and - crucially - how they practice ethically and keep their practice up to date. I'd also like to know about their accreditation (membership of a formal organisation and meeting set standards) and if they access supervision (meeting with a supervisor to reflect on their work in order to do it better).

As a practicing coach I subscribe to the code of ethics and standards of behaviour laid out by the EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council). These can be found at: https://emccuk.org/Public/Public/Accreditation/Global_Code_of_Ethics.aspx.

Check out this great article from Psychology Today which explains how coaching works through development of Psychological Capital.