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We can see the splinter in someone else’s eye, but we can never see the log in our own!
Why Choose an Accredited Coach?
You choose an accredited coach because you deserve the gold standard of professional coaching.
Anyone can call themselves a coach. But ICF-credentialed coaches are professionals who have met stringent education and experience requirements and have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the coaching competencies that set the standard in the profession. Additionally, they adhere to strict ethical guidelines as part of ICF’s mission to protect and serve coaching consumers.
This is the International Coaching Federation’s take on the importance of credentialling and you will find similar statements from the EMCC, AC, EASC and all the big coaching associations. For me, it goes even further in that each accredited coach makes a commitment to their own coaching, mentoring, supervision, learning and continued personal and professional development.
This means that accredited coaches are constantly working on growing and developing their coaching skills, updating themselves with the latest research, and practicing new methods and techniques between session hours. Accredited coaches are committed to giving back, supporting others and collaboration.
Not only can clients easily recognise the sense of safety and ethical partnership with an accredited coach, but they can also appreciate that they are consistently receiving the very highest coaching quality.
Not having a credential, doesn’t mean that a coach is ‘bad’- not at all, but it does mean that they are not being held accountable to ethics, conduct or quality stipulations. It means that any conduct guidelines are their own.
Put simply, would you trust a doctor with the health of your physical body if you’d heard they were very good and/or they had an impressive website, if you discovered that their training came purely from the university of life? I doubt it, so why would you trust your mental health, big life challenges and transitions and your personal happiness to a non-accredited coach?
Why Choose to Work With Inside-Out Coaching?
Who you are is how you coach. I am an artist and poet, and my client work is intuitively creative.
The surprising thing about this is that the clients I most regularly work with and regularly experience the greatest results with are ‘my polar opposite’; Not artists, creatives or even ex-pats, but scientists, mathematicians, engineers -people whose life is generally spent up in their head with numbers, order, process, rules and rationality – all the things that I am not.
It may sound odd but there is a plethora of neuroscience research to support this, seemingly strange, phenomenon for my clients and I. Simply put, the brain has left and right hemispheres. These don’t function separately as left processing everything logical and right processing everything creative, they work together with one side activating and ‘completing’ the other. a case of 1+1 resulting in way more than 2!
Bringing hands-on creativity or using metaphor and narrative for example opens up a creative way of looking at data and processes from new perspectives. New, innovative solutions are possible that rational thought processes alone just can’t get to.
Our personal defence mechanisms develop around our core strengths early in life. People blessed with wonderful processing or analytical skills, commonly associated with a dominant left hemisphere can be hyper-rational and get lost in details and connections. They often focus on what they are comfortable and confident with and love planning, processes and rules. The left hemisphere is uncomfortable with narrative gaps or uncertainties and connects or adds things in order to suit its own understanding.
This can have clients feeling stuck in absolutes, thought and/or behaviour-loops and patterns and a ‘my way or the highway’ mindset. These clients often feel disorientation or uncertainty and a victimised state of being right yet invariably misunderstood by other people who think, work or make decisions in a different way.
‘Right-hemisphere’ coaching has the power to safely shift a client’s perspective from this tight, narrative focus in order to make beliefs fit fact and controlling minutiae to a wider overview including alternative realities, compassionate curiosity and links to new possibilities.
When we invite a metaphor into the coaching space, it offers content details plus rich, contextual information around the issue, connections, feelings, intuition, perspectives, relationships, and possibilities – and all in relation to an illustration and therefore psychologically safer than talking about personal thoughts, failings or emotions.
Inside-Out Coaching is fundamentally about helping clients to firstly recognise old narratives and behaviour patterns and redesigning new, more successful and happier ways of being. Our defence mechanisms or look after us like well-meaning, over-protective bodyguards. They use our own super-powers to keep us safely standing still in our comfort zones. You can imagine how a wonderfully technical and intelligent mind could keep itself stuck in analytic details to avoid stepping into the unknown!
Inside-Out Coaching offers a safe place for widening perspectives and awareness of ourselves and others. Using imagery to illustrate unwanted thoughts or behaviours as protective friends rather than part of ourselves makes this safer and less personal. Activities that bring the right-hemisphere into play are less likely to trigger stress, less likely to alert any defence mechanisms and therefore more likely to offer solutions.
What I often hear if I explain this way of working is, “That all sounds great, but my situation is way too complex, and I’ve already tried everything. I should think a bit clearer, work a little harder, better control my processes and people around me and just be more disciplined. Teach me a good tool for that and show me how to gain a few more hours a day please…”
My clients often struggle with challenges of transitioning to a leadership role made more so by triggered ‘saboteurs’ that pull focus and control in even tighter when a leadership role requires big-picture thinking. Research tells us that developing Emotional Intelligence (or EQ) and having the brain functioning holistically are the distinguishing characteristics of successful leaders.
The left-hemisphere breaks things into logical parts, cataloguing and filing information in categorized boxes of ‘knowns’ and sabotage wider, leadership thinking. Left-hemispheres can be uncomfortable with emotions. The right-hemisphere is the place for empathetic emotional understanding and seeing things from other perspectives. Funnily, the only emotion we see on left hemisphere brain scans is anger and these clients can struggle with letting emotions out and holding anger in.
Clients already have all they need to bring the whole brain into play and discover new perspectives and solutions. Once they become aware and see how our behaviours are trying to protect them they can relax, open up and bring their full selves and purest colours into the creative space too. It is always surprising to clients what beautifully creative solutions live within them just as soon as the conditions are right and they are ready to play with Inside-Out Coaching.
Frequently Asked Questions
Companies call consultants to quickly fix a specific problem. A consultant analyses the problem and tells the people involved what they should do and how to do it. They are usually experts in the ‘problem’ field.
Coaching helps people to develop a wider awareness of the situation reality and their part in it. It empowers people to observe more options from new perspectives in order to make the best choices. Choice improves responsibility and the ability to learn how to unlock their own / group potential in order to generate their own strategies and take full ownership and control of the situation. A coach supports this entire process and teams are left empowered and able to cope with any other situation that comes along with confidence.
Therapy works backwards in order to discover what trauma or issue in your past life is affecting your behavior today. Therapy is mostly talking things through and remembering details of past problems.
Coaching takes you from today and looks forwards towards your vision and goals for what you want in life. We work positively on strengths, talents, beliefs, habits and ways we can move forwards to your goal and beyond. The coaching process is dynamic. You will be expected to work and carryout the action steps you say you are going to undertake. You will try new things, new ways of thinking and perhaps step out of your comfort zone (with all the support you need). You will actively evaluate the learning opportunities that come from your actions and use this information to design next steps. You will take responsibility for your own success and actively work towards achieving it.
Are you able to agree to all the points below? How motivated are you to work on the change you want to see?
- I will be honest and open in coaching sessions and understand the importance of confidentiality.
- I am ready to commit my time, energy and effort to invest in my coaching success.
- I am fully accountable for my life, my decisions & my actions.
- I take responsibility for my coaching actions, learning and successes.
- I will book my sessions one month in advance and create a positive coaching habit.
- I will use the *weekly planner and *monthly review tools to help develop my positive life changes.
- I am ready to raise my awareness, take responsibility for my life, take action and make positive changes in my environment, my habits and my life…”
Look at your answers to the above statements. Is Coaching right for you?
Mentoring is sharing information and the meaning of experience with someone, usually younger and wanting to learn the same lessons. It is helping them to take and understand what you yourself have spent many years learning. Mentors give specific answers to specific questions from one point of view. An apprentice can, therefore only learn as much as their mentor knows and shares.
Coaching, by contrast is all about seeing the potential in others and using powerful questioning to get the very best out of that person. It is actually generally better to have a non-specialist as your coach in order to ensure the answers and solutions are found and owned by you rather than given or led by someone else. That way the responsibility, choice, control and success is also all yours!
I empower you to take your hidden potential, whatever that may be- and shine!
Coaching is completely confidential. It involves creating a trusting and supportive partnership. It uses powerful techniques that encourage and support you to:
- Stop the reactive hamster wheel,
- Re-think and reevaluate situations from different perspectives,
- Increase awareness of situations and yourself
- Set, clarify and maintain goal focus
- Recognise new possibilities, new opportunities and new resources
- Notice what is holding us back; blind-spots, barriers, old habits, negative beliefs
The first important thing to consider is that we meet and ‘feel’ if we have the right chemistry for a successful and productive partnership before coaching begins. We need to be open and honest with each other in this very first session.
If we feel we could work well together, my Coaching Agreement suggests a minimal, initial coaching period of 3 months. The reason for this being the scientifically proven amount of time we need to discover, change and reset old, negative habits, ideas and behaviours into supporting ones that bring us success and happiness.
Some people come for coaching to work on one specific, short-term goal. Others choose to work see where the journey takes them. Some leadership clients enjoy the regular support of an honest and trusted sparring partner. Some know exactly what they want and work towards their goal. Some spend more time deciding and defining what their vision and goal might be.
Everyone is different.
You are free to finish coaching any time you want to.
We generally look briefly at what has happened since last session and the learning opportunities you experienced.
You set the agenda for the session (what you want to achieve in the time)
You decide what success would look like & what you want to take away the session with you.
We explore what elements are important to you, what success will look like, what it will bring you, what the opportunities represent etc.
We work together to discover options, strategies, resources, support systems, overcome possible obstacles and gain clarity and confidence.
You summarise the session; what has been said and what insights have come up and transfer this learning into possible action steps to help transition to the next step on the way to your bigger goal..
You choose and clarify small, achievable and positive action steps, make sure the necessary resources are in place and look at commitment, motivation and accountability and how to keep these elements supporting us between session.
I ask for session feedback and you have the opportunity to readjust the coaching experience to improve and tailor future sessions to be the best and most productive they can be for you.
You can think of me as rather like a taxi driver. You set the destination and I get you there safely, happy and confident, regardless of diversions, roadblocks or holes in the road!
Sometimes people need 60 minute, short, fast-paced, action orientated coaching sessions more frequently for whatever reason.
Some like to spend time discussion learning, insights, situations or issues that they came across between sessions and what this means for following sessions. These 90 minute sessions can go a little deeper and take the time to clarify and understand each stage better.
3 hour sessions are for times in the coaching process when you choose to go deeper into a particular issue, perhaps setting and clarifying a vision, looking deeper into your values and how to use these as a resource, creating a mission statement.
You are an individual with individual needs and individual situations. The core reason for offering different timings is simply to best support what you need most at the right time for you. You can mix and match as you like. Most clients tend to appreciate these 90 minute sessions 2x per month as their ‘normal routine.’
So what can you expect from a coaching session?
There are a number of different coaching styles and options:
Face to face coaching
Some of us simply prefer face-to-face coaching interaction. We feel more comfortable being able to ‘feel’ non-verbal communication such as hand gestures, facial expressions, eye contact and the closer relationship with another person. Working with the written results in front of you can really help some people to get clarity.
Of course, your location and timetable can limit your coaching session options. Travel time and costs are also a consideration with face-to-face coaching.
How it works:
We sit and work together to discover options, solutions and action steps for moving forward positively.
You choose action steps and we ensure you have the best tools to work with and succeed.
We decide on a deadline for the tasks to be completed by.
We evaluate what happened and what was learned from your experience at the next meeting.
I send all your notes to you electronically
Video coaching
Some of us enjoy the convenience and personal aspects of video call coaching. This kind of coaching offers another real-time, face-to-face coaching option.
We can use whatever face to face calling option is best for you, FaceTime, WhatsApp or Skype. Skype also offers the option of sharing files and notes from screen to screen in real-time, sharing a screen and being able to connect with the full range of communication (body language, tone, gestures etc).
Video coaching works very well from any geographical location or time zone, is flexible and can be fitted into any timetable. We can connect instantly and we will have a live feed of each other.
I would still recommend meeting up in person to connect from time to time, but relationships can and do still develop very well using only video discussions.
How it works:
We see each other via a live video link and work together to discover options, solutions and action steps for moving forward positively. You will see all the notes on the whiteboard as we work.
You choose action steps and we ensure you have the best tools to work with and succeed.
We decide on a deadline for the tasks to be completed by.
We evaluate what happened and what was learned from your experience at the next meeting.
I send all your notes to you electronically
Telephone coaching
Some people are happier when they don’t have to travel far, don’t have to get dressed up, don’t have to leave the office or home (or tidy it up!) for a coaching visit. Some people also feel that they can be more open and honest when they aren’t looking at the person they are speaking to.
Very few people don’t have a mobile phone to hand these days, making telephone coaching incredibly convenient, flexible and practical.
I would still recommend meeting up in person initially to connect but relationships can and do still develop very well using only video discussions.
How it works:
We speak to each other over telephone and work together to discover options, solutions and action steps for moving forward positively.
You choose action steps and we ensure you have the best tools to work with and succeed.
We decide on a deadline for the tasks to be completed by.
We evaluate what happened and what was learned from your experience at the next meeting.
I send all your notes to you electronically
I listen, challenge, support and guide my clients to move forwards positively towards their goals. It doesn’t matter to me which form of communication we use; it can also be a mixture, the most important aspect is which method is right for you?