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Coaching Services Description
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The goals of clients usually involve a combination of the following types of coaching services, within the context of the bigger picture of life including Work-Life Balance.
- Career Development: Enhancing job satisfaction and long-term career growth. This may be useful when an individual is assimilating into the company or into a new job within the company; during a period of needing to re-invent; or in general those wanting job enrichment/satisfaction and career growth.
- Transition: Helping people “shine” in their new roles or situations. May be especially useful for: individuals given new and challenging work assignments, individuals in a new job role, new to the company, internationals or expatriates wanting extra support and other transition situations. During these times, the coaching roles of “think-partner” and “supporter” become especially important for helping the individual move through this period toward accomplishment of their goals. Depending on the client’s needs this could link with Competency Development, Career Development, Performance Improvement or Assimilation into the company.
- Episodic: This may be a crisis situation and may involve such matters as dealing with a: challenging employee, personal issue impacting the job, strategic issue, etc. Major coaching roles in this service category include “supporter” and “think partner”. “Lifeline” coaching services involving phone conversations between regularly scheduled sessions may be especially useful at this time. Other coaching roles include assisting in identifying strategies and implementing action plans toward the goal of resolution of the specific issue.
- Leadership Development: Leveraging current and/or developing new strengths and competencies that address requirements for either a current or future job role. Feedback from others (360 degree, performance reviews, client reviews, etc) will likely be useful in this category.
- Performance Improvement: Assisting with the development of the strengths, competencies, and understanding necessary to meet the current job's performance standards. Feedback from others (360 degree, performance reviews, client reviews, etc) will likely be useful in this category.
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Six or Three Month Engagements
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Coaching meetings: Either 2 hours twice monthly, usually face to face, or 1 hour four times per month, with a combination of face-to-face and phone meetings, depending on the client's situation.
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Coaching goals identified: Established within the first month of coaching, determined through:
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Feedback to gain context and understanding of strengths and coaching needs from key stakeholders:
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Review of previous feedback (where available: 360 feedback, performance evaluations, and other forms of feedback).
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Interview results are discussed with client and coaching goals are identified.
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Coaching agreement letter: Coaching goals are documented in an agreement letter and discussed / agreed upon in a meeting between the coach, client, client’s manager, and HR Manager (if appropriate).
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Between session communications:
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Email and phone communication as needed to answer questions, arrange schedules, share information, etc.
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Episodic coaching “Lifeline”: During challenging episodes, phone and email coaching is available between appointments.
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Shadowing: When appropriate and desired by client, observing the client in action with others.
Episodic Coaching of a Short Term Nature
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Coaching Philosophy
- Accomplishing any worthwhile goal is filled with challenges. Like all “super heroes” (think Spiderman) most people get stuck, sometimes seeking that next lifeline even though they may be high functioning employees. A critical coaching role is to help clients to identify their goals and work toward achieving them and to help them deal with challenges as they arise, discovering and integrating the next steps.
Coaching Strategy – Key Components
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Focus on goals of client and getting results: The primary aim is to keep the client focused on their agenda resulting from their goals agreed upon by their managers. In every session the client sees results of some sort within the first 10 minutes of the session such as an idea, awareness or new perspective, or specific action item, and to have the client continue to see results throughout the session(s).
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Interview session to determine if there is a fit: Since fit between the client and the coach is crucial to the success of coaching (See next section: Proper fit between client and coach.), a first time interview session is conducted for those considering coaching services to determine fit and for understanding of the coaching service.
Successful Coaching Engagement – Critical Ingredients Needed
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Client’s commitment: A client committed to the coaching process through such activities as participating in jointly preparing coaching goals, participating in coaching meetings, proposing agendas for discussion, completing jointly prepared assignments/actions, etc.
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Managerial and organizational commitment: The support of the client’s manager(s) and the organization, taking the form of participation in discussions about the initial goals of the program and participation in requests that may come out of the coaching process as it evolves.
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Commitment from coach: A coach who is flexible to the needs and style of the client and who takes the time to understand the client’s company, organization and strategic issues. A coach who is committed to continuous self learning to refresh and fine tune coaching techniques and processes. Compliance to code of ethics such as that prescribed by the International Coach Federation.
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Proper fit between client and coach: Fit may have to do with how the following match between the client and the coach: educational background, work experience, pace of interacting, etc.
Measurement of coaching outcomes
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