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• Coaching is a professional partnership between a qualified coach and an individual or team that supports the achievement of extraordinary results, based on goals set by the individual or team. Through the process of coaching, individuals focus on the skills and actions needed to successfully produce their personally relevant results.
• The individual or team chooses the focus of conversation, while the coach listens and contributes observations and questions as well as concepts and principles which can assist in generating possibilities and identifying actions. Through the coaching process the clarity that is needed to support the most effective actions is achieved.
• Coaching accelerates the individual's or team's progress by providing greater focus and awareness of possibilities leading to more effective choices. Coaching concentrates on where individuals are now and what they are willing to do to get where they want to be in the future. Results are a matter of the individual's or team's intentions, choices and actions, supported by the coach's efforts and application of coaching skills, approaches and methods.
• Professional coaches are trained to listen and observe, to customize their approach to the individual client's needs, and to elicit solutions and strategies from the client. We believe that the client is naturally creative and resourceful and that the coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has. While the coach provides feedback and an objective perspective, the client is responsible for taking the steps to produce the results he or she desires.
• Coaching in a corporate or business setting uses the synergy of the organization and the individuals who work there to evolve their collective capacity for learning and creating. When individuals and teams within organizations align personal/professional development with a corporate vision, breakthrough results are achieved.
• Corporate coaching is central to a cultural evolution process that shifts the landscape of the workplace from one where people receive direction from others to one where people commit to doing things that they passionately care about. 
• Organizations achieve extraordinary results when individual creativity, potential, and passion are integrated and ignited.

Adapted from International Coach Federation

Hiring a Personal Coach is one of the best things you can do for yourself. A coach is trained to help you discover what your best life looks like and help you create it!

1. Helps you to focus. We all have a lot of ideas all the time - a coach will help you to put your energy where it will serve you best to accomplish your goals.
2. Feel better about yourself. Taking time for you, finding what it is that truly fills you and gives you confidence, empowers you! We call this claiming your Personal Power.
3. Clarify what you want from life. How about instead of wandering around without a clue, and living life by default, you actually take action and do something. Anytime you do ANYTHING different it creates a shift - you will be creating a new pattern and new ways of doing things that will in turn attract even more passion and joy to your life!
4. Provide accountability. Knowing that you've made a commitment to yourself and told someone else makes you more likely to stay on task. It's much easier to let yourself off the hook, but somehow knowing that you said you would do something to someone else makes it easier to follow through - AND you have full support at the end!
5. Become more authentic. As you make internal changes, the world begins to see you differently. You will be amazed that by changing your attitude, the world's attitude seems to change too, and you attract things to you that are more in harmony with your authenticity.
6. Decide what matters most. There is nothing like getting rid of things that are draining you, like taking control of your finances, your house, and your life. 
7. Create a support network. Working with a coach gives you incredible support. Knowing that you've got someone behind you 100% goes a long way in helping you to take healthy risks and move forward.
8. Get fit, lose weight, improve your performance. Whatever the desire or goal, a coach can help you to create a strategic plan that will work for you. Part of having a great life is being all you can be inside and out. Once you take control of what's fueling you (a calling, purpose and passions) it's easy to take action to achieve that goal.
9. Create boundaries. Working with a coach can help you to clarify what you say "yes" to because you want to, as well what you can let go of. A coach can help you find the cure for the "disease to please".
10. Create balance. A coach is there to help you find balance in your life. We cannot be our best selves if we are stressed, overwhelmed and unhappy. A coach will help you take charge and create your best life. 

Coaching is a deep meaningful conversation with a confidant who has no opinion, biasess nor judgment about you. It is action-oriented and results-oriented with gentle probing, and sometimes painfully honest accountability helping remove the resistance and obstacles between you and your desired outcome.

Adapted from Coachville

The synergy that occurs as a result of the coaching relationship is what makes the biggest difference. Following are 10 ways to really maximize the value of your coaching work: 

1. Set an intention for each session. Prior to your session, give thought as to what would make the biggest difference for you and the assistance and inspiration you may need. Generally, sessions that are focused with a specific intention will make you feel more complete and focused. Know that your intention will always get covered; however, the coaching dialogue occurs with whatever "shows up", helping you stay present with the realities of your life. 
2. Focus on what you want to feel, not just on what you want to produce. Sometimes, clients feel the need to focus the coaching time on how to produce more tangible or financial results. But intangibles, such as feeling happier, more peaceful and more inspired, are equally important. Think of a flower, and the flower is the result, the seeds are the feeling. Why not enjoy both? 
3. Be "self-full" and practice self-care. Coaching is about you and what you most want. So, go ahead, and put yourself first. Yes, be selfish in the sense that you are what matters most. When you are happy and do well, others will benefit also. Talk about anything you want during your coaching sessions: your goals, your life, your needs, what you want to improve. Focus on what you need to talk about, not what you feel you 'should' talk about. This approach will give you the most value from your sessions. 
4. Be open to seeing things differently. In coaching, you will be working with your goals (the 'what') and your strategies to reach these goals (the 'how') and all the time be working on you (the 'who'). Coaching becomes exciting when you re-look at some of your assumptions, ways of thinking, expectations, beliefs and approaches to success. It often is exciting to evolve and arrive at newly developed concepts. You are asked to consider different approaches and ways of thinking. Try it on for size! 
5. Sensitize yourself to responding to experiences around you. Feeling out of time? The pace of change continues to increase. Here come the STRESS and the pressure to keep up and not get behind. Look at this phenomena as a chance to see opportunities as they occur. Sensitize yourself, feel, and respond to events faster. You sensitize yourself by reducing or eliminating alcohol, television, adrenaline, stress and caffeine. 
6. Feel coached all the 10,000 minutes of your week. There are 10,080 minutes in a 7- day week. Hopefully, what you and your Coach talk about during your coaching sessions will resonate with you during your days and you will integrate between your sessions, what has been discussed. It's best to fully live your life between coaching sessions and just try life on. Designing life, that's what it's all about! 
7. Get rid of your "psychic sappers." Coaching works because it focuses you in two areas. First, you get to stretch and take more actions than you would on your own. Secondly, you will be reducing/eliminating things that drain you, such as toleration, stressful situations, difficult relationships and recurring problems. Attract what/who you want purposefully! 
8. Get more space, not just time, in your life. Coaching needs room in order to work. If you're too busy, rushed, or burdened, you'll be using your coaching sessions to push harder instead of smarter. When you begin, consider reducing your roles, installing personal management systems, etc. Get simple. Simplification gives space. Space is needed to learn and evolve yourself beyond where you are today. 
9. Evolve, don't just develop yourself. When you develop, you learn how to accomplish more with less effort. But when you evolve, you think differently and expand yourself and your world. Evolving is a skill worth learning, because life itself is evolving, not just developing. 
10. Strengthen your personal and business foundation. Use part of your coaching time to design the perfect environment in which to live and work. Where you live and how you live are key to your success. Hang out with people who will cheer your success, not your failure. Be willing to invest time and money in improving your environment so that you feel supported to be your best!

Adapted from CoachInc.com 2003

• Coaching is a professional partnership between a qualified coach and an individual or team that supports the achievement of extraordinary results, based on goals set by the individual or team. Through the process of coaching, individuals focus on the skills and actions needed to successfully produce their personally relevant results.
• The individual or team chooses the focus of conversation, while the coach listens and contributes observations and questions as well as concepts and principles which can assist in generating possibilities and identifying actions. Through the coaching process the clarity that is needed to support the most effective actions is achieved.
• Coaching accelerates the individual's or team's progress by providing greater focus and awareness of possibilities leading to more effective choices. Coaching concentrates on where individuals are now and what they are willing to do to get where they want to be in the future. Results are a matter of the individual's or team's intentions, choices and actions, supported by the coach's efforts and application of coaching skills, approaches and methods.
• Professional coaches are trained to listen and observe, to customize their approach to the individual client's needs, and to elicit solutions and strategies from the client. We believe that the client is naturally creative and resourceful and that the coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has. While the coach provides feedback and an objective perspective, the client is responsible for taking the steps to produce the results he or she desires.
• Coaching in a corporate or business setting uses the synergy of the organization and the individuals who work there to evolve their collective capacity for learning and creating. When individuals and teams within organizations align personal/professional development with a corporate vision, breakthrough results are achieved.
• Corporate coaching is central to a cultural evolution process that shifts the landscape of the workplace from one where people receive direction from others to one where people commit to doing things that they passionately care about. 
• Organizations achieve extraordinary results when individual creativity, potential, and passion are integrated and ignited.

Adapted from International Coach Federation

To determine if you might benefit from coaching, start by summarizing what you would expect to accomplish in coaching. When someone has a fairly clear idea of the desired outcome, a coaching partnership can be a useful tool for developing a strategy to achieve that outcome with greater ease. Since coaching is a partnership, also ask yourself if you find it valuable to collaborate, to have another viewpoint and to be asked to consider new perspectives. Also, ask yourself if you are ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes in your work or life. If the answer to these questions is yes, then coaching may be a beneficial way for you to grow and develop.

The Coaching Process—Coaching typically begins with a personal interview (either face-to-face or by teleconference call) to assess the individual's current opportunities and challenges, define the scope of the relationship, identify priorities for action, and establish specific desired outcomes. Subsequent coaching sessions may be conducted in person or over the telephone, with each session lasting a previously established length of time. Between scheduled coaching sessions, the individual may be asked to complete specific actions that support the achievement of one's personally prioritized goals. 

The most important thing to look for is someone with whom you feel you can easily relate, create, and form the most powerful partnership. Here are some questions you may want to ask prospective coaches:

• What is your coaching experience? (number of individuals coached, years of experience, and types of situations)
• What is your coach-specific training?
• What is your coaching specialty, or in which client areas do you most often work?
• What specialized skills or experience do you bring to your coaching?
• What is your philosophy about coaching?
• What is your specific process for coaching? (how sessions are conducted, frequency, etc.)

The length of a coaching partnership varies depending on the individual's or team's needs and preferences. For certain types of focused coaching, 3 to 6 months of working with a coach may work. For other types of coaching, people may find it beneficial to work with a coach for a longer period. Factors that may impact the length of time include: the types of goals, the ways individuals or teams like to work, the frequency of coaching meetings, and financial resources available to support coaching.

Professional coaching is a distinct service which focuses on an individual's life as it relates to goal setting outcome creation and personal change management. In an effort to understand what a coach is, it can be helpful to distinguish coaching from other professions that provide personal or organizational support.

Therapy—Coaching can be distinguished from therapy in a number of ways. First, coaching is a profession that supports personal and professional growth and development based on individual-initiated change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is forward moving and future focused.  

Therapy, on the other hand, deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or a relationship between two or more individuals. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past which hamper an individual's emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with present life and work circumstances in more emotionally healthy ways. Therapy outcomes often include improved emotional/feeling states. 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—Consultants may be retained by individuals or organizations for the purpose of accessing specialized expertise. While consulting approaches vary widely, there is often an assumption that the consultant diagnoses problems and prescribes and sometimes implements solutions. In general, the assumption with coaching is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.

Mentoring—Mentoring,which can be thought of as guiding from one's own experience or sharing of experience in a specific area of industry or career development, is sometimes confused with coaching. Although some coaches provide mentoring as part of their coaching, such as in mentor coaching new coaches, coaches are not typically mentors to those they coach.