Coaching Inquiry
Curiosity is revealing. Some people have a lot of it. Other people have very little of it. However, to inquire into something is to ask many questions about the subject of your inquiry such as how and why. Curiosity is also about discovery. It is about learning and understanding and attaining insight. If you are thinking about becoming a Professional Coach or improving your coaching skills or learning more about something you are already doing, let me ask, why? Why are you “inquiring” into Coaching. You may have a purpose or goal in mind. You must want to go deeper into what you are doing or anticipate doing.
Your interest in Coaching probably began as an impulse to make a positive difference in the lives of friends or colleagues or even family members? Perhaps you have decided to make a business out of your current Coaching Practice? Perhaps you are already delivering coaching services as a courtesy to your community or workplace and you have decided to broaden the range of services you can offer professionally as a Coach? Whatever the reason, it is worth noting that curious people are often intelligent people and intellectual lazy people avoid inquiry. You see, your impulse into Coaching Inquiry already reveals something about the kind of Coach you may become in time
Coaching Inquiry refers to the processes Coaches use to uncover and clarify the issues clients wish to resolve. It is common for clients to begin the coaching process while thinking that one problem is their problem only to subsequently discover that a different problem is their problem. Coaching works.
Coaching is not a game. It can be a highly potent process of self-discovery that opens the mind’s eye to the world at large. One might say that Coaching unleashes the clients’ imagination about what they can achieve. In this respect, Coaching assists clients with idenfying and realizing their deepest aspirations and goals for the future. —Ray Newkirk
What you’ll get
This Course/Program consists of 10 Lessons. These include:
Introduction to Developing Potent Coaching Skills: Coaches master a large number of coaching skills, and some of them are indeed powerful. I prefer the idea of mastering “Potent Skills”. Potency is a different psychological attribute than power. It is a growth skill and constructive rather than destructive.
Laying the Foundation to the Program: As we have seen in the previous Course, Coaching requires a Foundation. WE should now be prepared to begin construction of our specific Coaching Foundation.
Putting Your Stake in the Ground: At the commence of a coaching session, the Coach and Client have to roll up their sleeves and begin exploring the goals, expectations, and processes that will generate the success of the Coaching Program by assisting the client with resolving the problem state that encourage the client to seek coaching assistance.
The Performance Objectives: Strangely, the Performance Objectives may remain hidden for a few sessions because the obvious objectives could be nothing more than a failure to see deeply into the apparent situation.
Building Your Coaching Framework for Success: Now we are at a place where we can more clearly grasp and see the “requirements and specifications’ that form the Framework of the coaching program.
Mastering Coaching Core Competencies: Although Coaching requires a number of expected competencies to be successful, it requires mastery of only four Core Competencies.
Interesting Coaching Models: Several interesting coaching models are out there and in use. This can be helpful as long as the coach remembers that a model is only a model and the coach is assisting a person not playing with models. Sometimes people forget this. I once knew a coach who designed some really interesting coaching models, they were excellent conceptually, but he still couldn’t work with his clients. A coach is hired to assists client not build models of how to assist client.
Building Client Trust & Confidence: This is a big challenge. How much Trust and Confidence is enough to assist the client with getting “unstuck”? Develop a successful coach and client relationship that assist the client in a potent way and you will have your answer. Coaching is all about RESULTS. This build Trust and Confidence. Also it helps if the coach says what the coach means and means what the coach says. Occasionally, something just does not fit that prevents Trust and Confidence from emerging.
Moving from Beliefs and Values to Character: Character matters a great deal in Coaching. After all, it is coaching not psychotherapy. A relationship exists between the Beliefs and Values of the client and the client’s character. Likewise for the coach. Character in the coaching process is related to the Beliefs and Values of of the coach and the client working together. A deficit has significance to the outcome.
Psychological Requirements for Positive Coaching: This is a “state-of-mind” concern of the coach about the client, and perhaps the coach. Moods are moods but a state-of-mind is more about emotional habitual disposition and state of being. If a client insists that the client is doomed and the coach cannot get passed this, perhaps that client is going to work hard to fail, no matter what. It happens. Ask Forrest Gump “….happens”.
What’s inside
Lesson 1
Introduction to Developing Potent Coaching Skills: Coaches master a large number of coaching skills, and some of them are indeed powerful. I prefer the idea of mastering “Potent Skills”. Potency is a different psychological attribute than power. It is a growth skill and constructive rather than destructive. A coach has to exercise caution to ensure that the coach is not merely reflecting his or her values onto the client’s situation.
Lesson 2
Laying the Foundation to the Program: As we have seen in the previous Course, Coaching requires a Foundation. We should now be prepared to begin construction of our specific Coaching Foundation. Scaling a mountain or hiking in the wilderness requires a Foundation for success if you wish to enjoy an enriching experience.. Coaching is a lot like this. The Foundation matters.
Lesson 4
The Performance Objectives: Strangely, the Performance Objectives may remain hidden for a few sessions because the obvious objectives could be nothing more than a failure to see deeply into the apparent situation. Coaching is a big universe where many unknowns emerge from deep within to form a beautiful plentitude of possibilities.
Lesson 6
Mastering Coaching Core Competencies: Although Coaching requires a number of expected competencies to be successful, it requires mastery of only four Core Competencies. Conquering the wilderness, we lean to listen carefully and mobilize ourself for innovation and change. Coaching is about learning to listen well, and to mobilize ourself to innovate and change, and grow.
Lesson 8
Building Client Trust & Confidence: This is a big challenge. How much Trust and Confidence is enough to assist the client with getting “unstuck”? Develop a successful coach and client relationship that assist the client in a potent way and you will have your answer. Coaching is all about RESULTS. This build Trust and Confidence. Also it helps if the coach says what the coach means and means what the coach says. Occasionally, something just does not fit the expectation one has for another that prevents Trust and Confidence from emerging. Trust is not confidence. They emerge from different human experiences. Confidence flows from a history of positive experience while Trust is often given out of faith. It is freely give. Confidence is less disappointing than trust as it flows from history and has been earned. Coaching has to understand the difference. When you take on El Capitan who do you Trust as a climbing partner? How much confidence do you have in this person? Why?
Lesson 10
Psychological Requirements for Positive Coaching: This is a “state-of-mind” concern of the coach about the client, and perhaps the coach. Moods are moods but a state-of-mind is more about emotional habitual disposition and state of being. If a client insists that the client is doomed and the coach cannot get passed this, perhaps that client is going to work hard to fail, no matter what. It happens. Ask Forrest Gump “….happens”. When we begin Positive Coaching and come to the end of the program, we will see a different world. As beautiful as this scene is, it will become even more beautiful as we learn to see the world in a more accurate and positive manner, rather than with a foolish or naive blindness.
Lesson 3
Putting Your Stake in the Ground: At the commence of a coaching session, the Coach and Client have to roll up their sleeves and begin exploring the goals, expectations, and processes that will generate the success of the Coaching Program by assisting the client with resolving the problem state that encourage the client to seek coaching assistance. We always have to start something great somewhere. Where we start influences where we end-up. A wise coach thinks deeply where he or she wants to start a session with the client. It makes a big different to the client, and even the coach, where they plant their stake in the ground. YOu don’t want to get lost in the void.
Lesson 5
Building Your Coaching Framework for Success: Now we are at a place where we can more clearly grasp and see the “requirements and specifications’ that form the Framework of the coaching program. Every possibility has to be framed, every angle, every color, every intensity, every bit of wonder has to be framed, and examined . We need to capture and recognize every emotion and listen to the story it reveals.
Lesson 7
Interesting Coaching Models: Several interesting coaching models are out there and in use. This can be helpful as long as the coach remembers that a model is only a model and the coach is assisting a person not playing with models. Sometimes people forget this. I once knew a coach who designed some really interesting coaching models, they were excellent conceptually, but he still couldn’t work with his clients. A coach is hired to assists client not build models of how to assist client. During coaching, a new insight may gradually emerge without a rustle, like a whisper. Or, it may explode with a powerful fury that leaves its meaning permanently understood and unmistaken, fixed in the emotional landscape of a sudden insight that changes the client’s course of action.
Lesson 9
Moving from Beliefs and Values to Character: Character matters a great deal in Coaching. After all, it is coaching not psychotherapy. A relationship exists between the Beliefs and Values of the client and the client’s character. Likewise for the coach. Character in the coaching process is related to the Beliefs and Values of of the coach and the client working together. A deficit has significance to the outcome. Character is a big statement about another person. It changes the history of the Cosmos by adding something positive that was not there before. Imagine that! Skills coaching builds character also. Imagine that! It takes my breath away. How about you?
Sometimes we get the feeling that our lives are going around and around in circles. You every wonder how this could be? Take a look. You are going around and around in circles, but you are not standing still. Coaching makes the journey even more exciting.
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✺ Frequently Asked Questions ✺
Question 1: Coaching succeeds best when the bond between coach and client is a strong one. Although such bonding can occur immediately depending on the previous history of the relationship, bonding usually takes several sessions before it begins to occur. So what exactly does it mean to bond with the coach? Does it mean Trust? Or does it mean dependability, reliability or openness?
Question 2: A lot of people talk a lot about the crucial need for Trust in life. People commonly say that we needed to be trusted by other people to become successful and we need to trust others to enjoy life to its fullest. In fact they even claim that Trust is essential for human relationships to be successful in the workplace. Do you think that it is possible to work well with another person and succeed even though you do not Trust that person?
Question 3: Have you ever thought that someone you “did not Trust” was very reliable in the workplace because that person had a great record of delivering high performance on the job? That person was dependable on the job, but beyond this you did not know if the person was worthy of your Trust. Does it follow that a dependable person is a person worthy of “Trust” simply because that person is a dependable person?
Question 4: So many people speak about the importance of Trust in human relationships. Clearly, Trust is an absolute value to be admired. Trustworthy people are out there, and they are rare. Do you believe that Trustful people are common or are they rare? Once you become Trustful are you Trustful in all situations for all times? Can a Trustful person change and become less Trustful? Can a Trustful person be this way for a few people only and at the same time nobody else? Specifically, can a Trustworthy person be Trustful, partially Trustful, and not Trustful for different groups concurrently? Or is it an either or proposition? You are completely Trustful all the time and everywhere or you are not a Trustworthy person at all?
Question 5: Sometimes people hurt people accidently. For example, people think they are right when they are wrong so they give a wrong answer as a right answer and bad stuff happens. Obviously, This person was unintentionally dishonest. Does this mean that the person is still Trustworthy but one has to be cautious about that person Trustfulness? Should we not always be cautions about any persons Trustfulness since they can still deliver hurt in a big way through ignorance?
Question 6: Doubtlessly, Trust is a paramount virtue. It has to exist and be admired, and it does. But some people are very, very skilled a feigning this virtue deceiving those around them. Have you ever heard this from anyone, “You should buy this from me because unlike the other person, you can “Trust” me? One good thing about Trustworthy people is that it never occurs to them to highlight or make an issue out of their Trust. It would not even occur to them that their Trust could be an issue when they tell you something or try to sell you something. They are too busy being as honest as they can be. How important is Trust to you and how do you maintain or increase your personal Trustworthiness? Some people work on it as a Spiritual Discipline that can be cultivated and perfected. Generally, we call them saints, etc.