Should coaches and clients sniff bonding hormone oxytocin before sessions?
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Should coaches challenge clients on ethical issues?
I believe that my role as a coach encompasses that of challenging a client on ethicial issues and that my membership of the the ICF demands this:
Part Two: The ICF Standards of Ethical Conduct
‘ICF Professional Coaches aspire to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects positively upon the coaching profession; are respectful of different approaches to coaching; and recognize that they are also bound by applicable laws and regulations.’
I think the answer is Yes for two key reasons:
1) If I am thinking or feeing, and judging something to be unethical and withold that reaction from my client then I am not fully present in the coaching work
2) Depending upon the topic for the session, there may well be a contact in place to enable a valid challenge.
Question of the month – September
What are you doing to encourage your clients to self–coach?
that is the underlying point for me of coaching so that they can for themselves ‘self-coach’. To encourage it I set homework each time, which is self observation to bring in a conscious choice of self awareness, so as to spot patterns and habits and start to get to know themselves more deeply. THis sets a foundation – the more self observing, the more self aware we can become, the more self aware, then the more self understanding, self trust and self confidence we can build, from here we can then take ‘pause’ moments in our day when things dont feel right/arent going well to observe what has been going on, understand, and then make the next choice…
You tell us – July
If you coach over the phone, what do you like and dislike about it?
The things I like:
1. It gives me an opportunity this month to coach executives in China, Chile, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and in western Europe which otherwise I would not be able to do.
2. No travel time or expense for either party
3. Focus – there’s little distraction
4. With Skype we can see each other – OK only head and shoulders but that’s alright.
Things I dislike:
1. It’s more difficult to create a diagram together
2. Cannot get the coachee up on their feet in a guided exercise.
3. I miss out on a lot of non verbal communication (body language) so I tune in more carefully to the use of voice and silence.
Richard Fox http://www.tlc.eu.com
I like the fact that most clients really get focused when coaching occurs over the phone. Its often more productive.
Question of the month – June
What, if any, are the differences between life and business coaching?
I’m so glad you asked this question, Liz. I strongly believe that there needs to be a distinction between life coaching and business coaching.
Here are some of the factors:
1. Business coaching incorporates executive coaching, leadership coaching, team coaching, and focuses on the results of the person being coached in alignment with the organization or department objectives.
2. Business coaching has a unique playing field: the context is complex organizational systems with layers of clients (the individual, the boss or sponsor (Key Relationships) and the organization as a whole)
3. Business coaches generally sell B2B while life coaches are selling to individual consumers (B2C)
4. Life coaches speak of having a “practice”, similar to therapists, social workers, and a traditional medical model, whereas Business coaches think of it as a coaching business and utilize similar structures to their business clients: strategic plans, marketing plans, P&L, balance sheets, sales strategy, etc.
You tell us – June
Have you practised therapy within coaching?
When I’m coaching, I’m a coach, that’s what I contract for and what I’m trained and accredited for. However, the client/coachee may experience some ‘therapy’ – most of the fundamental qualities of coaching do, after all, overlap significantly with therapy (listening, presence, relationship, confidentiality etc) – but only the client/coachee can know what their experience is. So maybe I do practice therapy sometimes, but my intention is to coach.
Question of the month: What is the ratio of non-directive to directive in your coaching practice?
Have you used Clean Language in your coaching? See “Speech therapy”
Question of the month: Do you think coaching is here to stay?
Music to your ears: have you ever incorporated music in any way into your coaching sessions?
In response to the Question of the month: Have you ever coached a pair of clients together? My answer is yes, and I’m doing it now! I have a pair of scientists at the National Institutes of Health in the United States and I have been coaching them at the same time. One is a man, one is a woman, and they are co-leaders on a large and very visible program. We meet once a month in person, and the rest of the time by phone. It works quite well! There’s a natural peer-coaching phenomenon that occurs between them when I’m coaching them as well that’s very revealing.
Have you ever coached a pair of clients together?
Does location make a difference in coaching?
What is the worst example of poor coaching practice you’ve come across?
I’ve been hearing some horror stories from some of the people involved in assessing and selecting coaches…from coaches failing to do any contracting whatsoever to coaches prodding and probing until the client is in a highly vulnerable place, without the expertise to help the client tackle what has arisen.
I’ve also been hearing from coaches who are concerned about some assessors not being equipped to assess them- perhaps because they have not been trained properly to do so, or because they have subjective ideas about what makes good/poor coaching. We need more clarity about what makes good coaching and what constitutes poor practice…..obviously there will be subjectivity but it strikes me that there is much we can do to improve the current situation. We need to debate this, to educate those involved (including coaches)- particularly if we want to avoid prescriptive governmental regulation. We need to get our own house in order.
The downturn has brought about an increase in outplacement and workplace counselling.
What role is coaching/mentoring playing in this arena?
Does gender make a difference in coaching?
It shouldn’t but it does – it is like choosing a family physician – some people are more comfortable with a man than a woman. It does not mean that this cannot be surmounted.
No it does not
It seems to me gender is just one of numerous factors that all contribute to the judgements and experiences we make and have as coaches/clients. I wonder if we do our clients/ourselves a disservice by claiming gender doesn’t make a difference? Or perhaps it need not at all.
Do you use storytelling in your coaching- if so, how?
What were coaching and mentoring’s highs and lows in 2009?
What does 2010 hold in store for coaching and mentoring?
As the importance of goal-setting is stressed so heavily when we first learn to coach, it can be difficult when clients struggle to identify a non-woolly goal. We can feel under pressure to push the client towards a goal before the session is up, and then to become a goal-fascist later on, drumming on about their goal and whether they have achieved it. Without wishing to belittle the importance of goal-setting, I think one sign of a mature coach is not being overly –attached to goals, being able to hold the space as the goal-posts change. Often, very important work is done when clients are given space to think, to explore and to tell their story, without being pressurised into identifying and pursuing goals inappropriately. That said, goal-setting has a very important role to play in making change happen- read Fiona Parashar’s article in the latest issue, Vol 4, Issue 6, to learn how to make the most out of goal-setting.