Frequently Asked Questions about Coaching

What the heck is coaching??

To be honest, this is a question I get all the time, and I am constantly working to find new ways to share this information with people. Coaching is a very valuable tool at different times in your life and work. I recently talked about this when I was featured on RVA Small Business Network, and you can see a portion of that interview above to learn more about coaching.

And I wanted to share with you some of the most frequently asked questions I get about coaching and my response to those. Check those out below!

Q: What exactly is coaching?

A: Coaching is a creative and collaborative process that inspires and helps you optimize your life, both professionally and personally in a way that is authentic to you. It often can unlock previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.

In a coaching relationship, my entire focus in our time together is on you and helping you succeed. I hold sacred space where you can safely explore new options and opportunities and solutions that can help get you where you want to go.

Q: Don’t friends and family provide all the extra perspective you may need?

A: I agree that friends and family can provide valuable perspectives. Additionally, friends and family know you well and may see you in a certain way or a certain light making it hard to see you for where you are and knowing how to help you  (i.e., a mom still sees their child as a teenager sometimes, rather than the capable functioning adult they've become).

A coach brings outside perspective as well, as well as a suite of practical tools and powerful questions to support you. 

A coach is also disconnected from the outcome. Friends and family care a lot about you, and are often involved in your life day-to-day much more than your coach. It is often much harder for them to be disconnected from the outcome.

Family and friends are absolutely part of the whole package of support. I often find that I cannot coach my own family because they see me a certain way, and I am not interested in holding them accountable in a coaching way because that may not be the best thing for our relationships.

Q: What is the difference between getting advice and getting coaching?

A: Getting advice is often shared between friends or friends and family. It is often based on someone’s experiences, or things that they know about or that work for them. It can be very valuable. Getting coaching is about exploring options that will work best for you. It may include getting more ideas about what could work for you, challenging you to try new ways of being or thinking, and creating solutions that work best for you, not just doing what someone else did because you don’t know what else to do.

Additionally, unlike (many) friends and family, a coach will help hold you accountable to the goals you're working on together, in addition to challenging you to challenge your own limiting beliefs, and anything that may be holding you back. Often this is hard for a friend or family member to do, or is not their sole focus.

Q: What kind of coach are you?

A: I call myself a holistic leadership coach because I have been coaching leaders for 20 years and I believe that coaching leaders means coaching people not just in their work lives, but their whole lives. I truly focus on the areas of navigating your career, improving leadership skills, productivity without burnout and transformational life coaching. These are all areas I coach on regularly and love the cross section and challenge of helping you in all areas of your life. If I’m not the right fit for you, I will work to connect you to my network of great coaches who can help you further.

Q: What qualifies you to be a professional coach?

A: While certifications and credentials aren’t required to be a coach, you may find it helpful to know that I take coaching seriously and invest in my own development as a coach. Here are a few of my credentials:

• Certified Coach Practitioner (Certified Coaches Federation)
• Certified DiSC Facilitator and Partner 
• Certified in Korn Ferry’s Leadership Architect
• Certified Full Focus Pro (a system that supports productivity without burnout)
• Member of the Coach Lab - a continuous learning and development platform for coaches
• Member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD)
• Almost 20 years of experience coaching new leaders, mid-level managers and executive leaders and their teams - this includes coaching physicians, nurses, corporate leaders, individuals on careers, productivity, navigating difficult situations, improving leadership skills, and transformations in their lives and the workplace.

Q: What are the benefits of coaching?

A: There are many benefits of coaching. Here are just a few:

• Helping you break out of your own status quo. If you're looking to change the results you've been getting, or change your approach, coaching helps.
• Coaching can help provide new solutions and new options that resonate with you. A coach who has "been there, done that" can help fill in those gaps with outside expertise and perspective to help you navigate the unknown.
• Accelerate your progress. With a coach, you have built in accountability, support, and encouragement to keep challenging and growing so that you can achieve your goals faster than going it alone. It's not that you couldn't do it alone - but you get further faster with a coach. 

Q: What is the difference between spot coaching and a coaching engagement (ongoing coaching) for 3, 6 or 12 months?

A: Spot coaching is truly meant to be ad hoc when needed and can be scheduled when you have an issue that’s come up that you want some extra support, or some help working through. It could be for an upcoming difficult conversation, or navigating a career or job change, or a life transition. You may just need some support in the moment to help you move forward in a meaningful way. As a coach, I show up to listen, ask questions and help you come to the best answer for you on that issue during our one session. This can be a very valuable way to use a coach just when needed.

An ongoing coaching engagement, no matter the length of the engagement, supports you over a longer duration. In an ongoing coaching engagement, you may actually have a program or curriculum you go through, or you may be working through a longer transition or towards specific results that take longer to get. You may also experience spot coaching during a longer engagement, if something comes up during the time with your coach, but it’s not just the spot coaching. You have a bigger goal and a bigger focus during a longer duration.

As a coach, I usually spend a couple of hours preparing for each of my ongoing coaching clients’ sessions - reviewing progress so far, reviewing our previous meeting, planning our time so that you get the most value out of it, preparing to show up fully for you so that you have my full attention and effort. I think about your goals and how I can help you get there. I consider what other tools and approaches I can bring to the table to support you.

After each coaching session, I am making notes, and starting the prep for the next session. As an ongoing coaching client, you get a much more tailored approach, and a lot more investment in each coaching session you have.

Q: Who is coaching for?

A: Coaching can truly be beneficial for anyone. But here are some key considerations to help you determine if coaching is right for you.

Coaching may be a good match for you if:

• You want to accelerate your results
• You are committed and ready to take action
• You want to make a change and would like some extra support as you're making the change
• You are open to learning and willing to try new things to get the results you want
• You take responsibility for your own results and you want some accountability to help you reach those results
• You have the time and resources to commit to the coaching process
• You are willing to invest time and energy into your growth and development 

Q: Who is coaching NOT for?

A: As much as I love coaching and believe it can be beneficial, there are certain instances where it’s maybe not a good fit. Coaching is not for you if:

• You are good with the status quo
• You are not ready to take action
• You do not have a clear goal in mind
• You are not open to changing how you do things
• You don't currently have the space, time or resources to commit to the coaching process (maybe another time is better)
• You do not take ownership for your own results
• You are seeking a licensed therapist to heal from previous trauma or events in your life

Q: What should you do if you’re not sure if coaching is right for your situation or if you’d like to get started coaching with Katy:

A: I offer a free 20 minute easy intro where you can get a feel for me and I can hear more about your situation, and we can determine if we want to move forward together. Feel free to sign up for that here or reach out via the contact form below.