FAQs

Coaching is the process of equipping people with the right tools, knowledge, and opportunities needed to fully develop themselves to be effective in their commitment to themselves, the company and their work. It is skills, processes and knowledge through which people involve themselves in making maximum impact and constantly renewing themselves and their organization as they experience continuous change. Coaching is an egoless process in which coachable moments are created to draw out distinctions and promote shifts in thinking and behavior.

At the end of the day, coaching is all about creativity, development and achievement by simply removing roadblocks to performance and enhanced free flowing creativity. Coaching does not deliver a single solution, it permanently increases the clients OWN ability to readily and repeatedly develop solutions.

– COACHING IS NOT: Management skills re-packaged, although coaching does draw on certain management skills and competencies.

– COACHING IS NOT: Consulting or mentoring, although coaches will use their experience, assess and diagnosis situations, and even give advice and opinions if appropriate.

– COACHING IS NOT: Therapy, which focuses on diagnosing and treating a problem form the past, often childhood. “Counseling focuses on helping people to live functional lives. Coaching focuses on helping functional people live extraordinary lives” —Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching

Professional coaching focuses on setting goals, creating outcomes and managing personal change. Sometimes it’s helpful to understand coaching by distinguishing it from other personal or organizational support professions.

– THERAPY: Therapy deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or in relationships. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past that hamper an individual’s emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with the present in more emotionally healthy ways. Coaching, on the other hand, supports personal and professional growth based on self-initiated change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is future focused. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one’s work or personal life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action, accountability and follow through.

– CONSULTING: Individuals or organizations retain consultants for their expertise. While consulting approaches vary widely, the assumption is the consultant will diagnose problems and prescribe and, sometimes, implement solutions. With coaching, the assumption is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.

– MENTORING: A mentor is an expert who provides wisdom and guidance based on his or her own experience. Mentoring may include advising, counseling and coaching. The coaching process does not include advising or counseling, and focuses instead on individuals or groups setting and reaching their own objectives.

– TRAINING: Training programs are based on objectives set out by the trainer or instructor. Though objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached, with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path that coincides with an established curriculum. Coaching is less linear without a set curriculum.

Yes! The ICF Global Coaching Client Study shows most clients reported improved work performance, better business management, more efficient time management, increased team effectiveness, and more growth and opportunities. The same study found that coaching clients noted greater self-confidence, enhanced relationships, more effective communications skills, better work-and-life balance and an improvement in wellness. Nearly 70 percent of individuals indicated they had at least made back their initial investment. The median suggests that a client who achieved financial benefit from coaching can typically expect a ROI of more than three times the amount spent.

According to the same report, the vast majority of companies (86 percent) say they at least made their investment back. In fact, almost one-fifth (19 percent) saw a ROI of 50 times their investment, while another 28 percent saw a ROI of 10 to 49 times the investment. Nearly all companies or individuals who hire a coach are satisfied. According to the ICF Global Coaching Client Study, a stunning 99 percent of people who were polled said they were somewhat or very satisfied with the overall coaching experience. For more details, go to the ICF Research Portal, as well as press releases about ICF’s return-on-investment research.

– Awareness—discover who you are at the core

– Clarify what and where your blocks are, what is holding you back

– Reduced stress

– Greater engagement and productivity

– Feel more energy and optimism

– Improved communication skills

– Increase of your ability to inspire and motivate

– Growth of your decision making skills and have confidence

– Development of greater work /life balance

– Find more satisfaction in key areas of your life

Yes. The International Coach Federation (ICF) has taken the lead in developing a definition and philosophy of coaching, as well as in establishing ethical standards among its members. Through its own Code of Ethics, Ethical Conduct Review Process, and Independent Review Board (IRB), ICF sets professional coaching standards while also giving consumers a venue to file ethics complaints about ICF Members or ICF Credentialed coaches.

ICF’s self-governance foundation comprises and depends upon the following standards and practices, supported by the efforts of the ICF Board, global representatives, and credentialed and member coaches: Core Competencies that define a professional coach’s required skills and establish the foundation for the professional credentialing examination and accreditation for coach-training programs.

Yes. Here is the ICF Code of Ethics:

ICF Members and ICF Credentialed coaches pledge their commitment and accountability to standards of professional conduct.

1. PROFESSIONAL OVERSIGHT through an Independent Review Process for ICF Members and ICF Credentialed coaches, which allows the public to report concerns and to be confident of objective investigation, follow-up and disciplinary action.

2. PROFESSIONAL COACH CREDENTIALING, entailing a stringent examination and review process through which coaches must demonstrate their skills, proficiency and documented experience in application of coaching core competencies. Credentialing includes Continuing Coaching Education requirements for periodic renewal of coaching credentials, to ensure continued professional growth and development.

3. PROFESSIONAL COACH TRAINING ACCREDITATION, by which coach-training programs submit to review and continuing oversight to demonstrate their commitment to the highest standards for curricula and alignment with defined core competencies, faculty, structure, proficiency and ethics to support excellence in the training of coaches.

4. ONGOING SELF-REGULATORY OVERSIGHT INITIATIVES to track the needs and concerns of individual and organizational clients on an international basis and to demonstrate an active commitment to meaningful professional self-governance.

The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) offers the most comprehensive and experiential coach training program in the world and is the originator of the Core Energy Coaching™ process – the most effective leadership framework and change process in use today. Founded in 1999 by Bruce D Schneider, MCC and Ph. D., the Institute graduates Certified Professional Coaches in the specialties of executive and leadership coaching, life, career/transition, health and wellness, relationship, teen, business, and corporate coaching.

The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) has been selected among Leadership Excellence Magazine’s Leadership 500, for its Coach Centric Leadership™ Engagement Program. The Leadership 500 is a ranking of the top companies transforming the business world, via breakthrough competencies and best practices, in the fields of coaching, consulting, and management training. iPEC is in good company landing among the “Large Consulting Groups” category, an honor shared by a diverse legion of Fortune 500 corporations and key industry groups.

iPEC’s Coach Centric Leadership™ Engagement Program is based on Energy Leadership™, iPEC’s exclusive methodology designed to reveal and further develop an individual’s authentic leadership style via a sharp focus on who they are at their core, traversing well beyond the confines of traditional coaching and consulting, employing an “inside out” versus “outside-in” approach. Through a mix of experiential learning, consulting, mentoring, neuro linguistic programming, physics, attitudinal assessments, and holistic strategies, all levels of an organization are fueled by a sustainable output of growth and business innovation.

Professional Coach Thomas Leonard started ICF in 1995 as a nonprofit organization for fellow coaches to support each other and grow the profession. Three years later, buoyed by 70 dedicated volunteers and growing interest, ICF began its quest to raise the profile of professional coaching.

ICF created Core Competencies and built a Code of Ethics, setting the standard in the coaching field. An Ethical Conduct Review Process and Independent Review Board (IRB) were established, allowing consumers to file breach-of-ethics complaints. ICF also defined curriculum standards (accreditation), to ensure consistency in coach training, and developed an ICF Credentialing system, requiring renewal every three years.

By 2000, membership was growing around the world by 130 members a month and now exceeds 20,000. ICF continues to focus on professional standards while positioning the organization more strategically. ICF’s goal is to keep growing membership and maintain a solid direction, presence and professional voice for coaches.

Based out of Lexington, Kentucky, ICF also operates Regional Service Centres in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America, leading the global advancement of the coaching profession.

There are two types of assessments individuals and companies utilize: personality and attitudinal. You may be familiar with Myers Briggs or D.I.S.C., which are both excellent personality based assessments that pinpoint basic personality types and preferences. The Energy Leader Index (ELI), on the other hand, is an attitudinal assessment that is more focused on awareness and is change-oriented. It is based on an energy/action model, and is different from a personality assessment in that it is not intended to label a person and have them work within that label. Instead it measures your specific level of energy based on your attitudes, perceptions, and perspective of the world. It illustrates how we react when things are going well and how we act and feel when we are stressed and upset. The ELI has been researched and validated extensively. The results have been found to be highly accurate.

Research shows that every thought we have contributes a specific energy pattern, resulting in either anabolic or catabolic energy. In case you are not familiar with the terms, anabolic energy is expansive, positive, and creative and healing, while catabolic energy is contracting, destructive, unhealthy, negative and distracting. Catabolic energy can cloud our vision and block us from living more meaningful and joyful lives. As human beings we’re like the stock market with our energies fluctuating all day long. The ELI is a powerful tool to discover your personal energetic patterns, empowering you to intentionally shift from unhealthy perceptions and reactions to positive thoughts and emotions, which can then open the door to you growing and transforming in a sustainable way. It’s also a powerful framework for understanding behavior you observe in others, which can be a very valuable tool for developing emotional intelligence (EQ) both professionally and personally.

By partnering with me as your coach, and using your ELI assessment as our baseline, we will assess your awareness, attitude, perceptions and different levels of energy when things are going well, and when you are under stress. Armed with these new insights and powerful information we are then ready to customize specific achievable and realistic strategies so you can finally reach those elusive goals and dreams. I passionately believe that there are no limits to your potential growth and your opportunities are boundless to live your life optimally.

All programs are customized for each organizations needs and cost will vary depending on the type and duration of our agreement. Please contact us for a quote.

GolfSh!ft is Energy Performance Coaching. This unique program will teach you about the impact power of your energy and what steps you can take to make quick adjustments in the moment when “the wheels come off the cart.”

Golf mechanics and skills are taught by terrific golf pros. The Golf Shift Energy Performance program coaches you between your ears—where your attitude, confidence and perspective live.

Learn more about GolfSh!ft —our unique Mastery Blueprint and the Tools that, together, we will utilize to get you out golfing and loving it!