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Friday, June 22, 2012

Selecting a Coach: Tips from an Executive Coach

...the continuation.
(an excerpt of an article written by Bjorn Martinoff, Executive Coach, at EzineArticles.com)

Coaches come is varying degrees of experience. Some have certifications but little experience, some have no certifications but tons of experience.

The best way to choose a coach is to ask people who have had coaches before and ask for their experience with their coaches.

The next step would be to take your new coach for a test drive to see if you're a fit. If after your first session you like your coach, you feel more empowered, and you feel your coach can make a contribution to your life and career, then go for it. Give it a chance. Some coaches will have packages available that allow you to sign up for a month to six months, or even longer. Usually the longer the commitment the better the price.

What do you need to do to prepare for your first coaching experience? All you have to do is be very open, be ready to share your reality as it really occurs for you. It is most important to be truthful to your coach. No coaching session is going to be successful if you're not telling the truth. So forget about making it sound nicer than it really is because you won't be doing yourself a favor.

The next important thing is to shoot for big goals. You don't need a coach for little goals, so don't bother. You can achieve little goals on your own.

I invite you however to take on large goals because the coaching will be worth your while and you will stretch yourself and in the process become more powerful and more successful.

Is coaching about getting rid of problems? Sorry to disappoint you here.... No coaching won't get rid of problems, never wish for problems to go away. Problems will go away eventually and that is when you are six feet under. With coaching you will be able to tackle larger and larger problems, while making it more and more fun. After some time you will be making fun at the problems you are having today. The things you call problems today will no longer be problems to you.

If Donald Trump were to become a Millionaire he'd feel dirt poor.

*Bjorn Martinoff is an executive coach specializing on Exponential Business Growth and Acceleration, Rapid Business Turnaround, Strategic Executive Coaching for senior leaders, Top Management Alignment, Employee Engagement, Strategic Planning, Exponential Organizational Development,
Leadership Development, Results Coaching, Management Consulting, High Precision Personality Profiling. His favorite executive coaching specialty is Long term Organizational Development and Coaching program with ROI. His programs have created an ROI between 1000% and 6000% in 95% of all cases. You may check his websites at: www.f1c-international.com and/or www.fortune100coach.com. For a FREE 30-minute coaching session with Bjorn, the Executive Coach, Click Here .

Coaching: An Executive Coach Viewpoint

(an excerpt of an article written by Bjorn Martinoff, Executive Coach, at EzineArticles.com)

When I first went to Asia, coaching was virtually unknown. Potential clients were often confused by the idea that coaching was somehow related to Psychology, Psychiatry, Counseling, Mentoring, or Advice Giving. Coaching is none of that. Does a coach on occasion give advice? Sure, just that it's not coaching, it's Advice Giving.

The difference between the different fields are quite significant.

Psychology is about the past and coaching is about the present and the future. Psychology is about healing what happened, coaching is about powerfully creating what is happening and WILL happen. You can already get a sense here, can't you?

Psychiatry is concerned with your nervous system and your body chemistry, speak your hormones. In coaching we won't touch that, yikes :)

Mentoring is about telling you what to do from a perspective of 'been there and done that'. Most mentors will be working higher up in the same or a similar organization, they will have considerable experience and can share this wealth of knowledge with you. Having a mentor is powerful and highly recommended, however it's not coaching.

So what does coaching do? A coach won't give advice and won't tell you what to do. Most won't even have any experience in your industry, so how can they be effective?

Coaches are not in the business of giving advice. Experienced coaches may have an intuitive sense of where they would like to lead you, however for coaches it is important that they keep an open mind. After all it's about you and your goals, not theirs. AND a good coach will see you as the expert in your field. Your coach will ask the right questions so you can reveal your own best answer.

It wouldn't feel empowering if I gave you all the answers, would it?

How do I see my clients? I see my clients as whole and complete. When Leonardo DaVinci created the statue of David he was asked how he did such marvelous work. To Leonardo this was easy, David was always there and he claims that all he had to do was remove what was NOT David. We all have David within us just waiting to be revealed. In coaching we reveal and bring to light your own greatness.

How does coaching work? There are many structures to coaching and many different models to choose from. A seasoned coach will never rely on just one or two or three coaching models, a well-rounded coach has an entire tool belt full of coaching tools to choose from. Of course good coaching skills don't get developed over night and you will find that there are coaches in various stages of development.

In short, a coach will ask you questions that will lead you to a goal that inspires you from within. It's probably been there for a long time, just like David who's been waiting for billions of years to be revealed. (Warning: Your goals may not be as old as David)

Coaches are experts at asking questions. They ask really good questions. Questions that will help you reveal your own answers. And that's why a coach doesn't necessarily need to be in your field. A coach believes in you and your abilities, you are the expert in your life, the coach is the expert at revealing your greatness.
To be continued…

*Bjorn Martinoff is an executive coach focusing on accelerating business results where it counts most for his clients. Bjorn has nearly two decades of experience in senior management coaching and has been referred to as Number One Global Executive Coach on the Global News Network - GNN. You may check his websites at: www.f1c-international.com and/or www.fortune100coach.com. For a FREE 30-minute coaching session with Bjorn, the Executive Coach, Click Here .