Adept Flow is a global executive leadership & life coaching practice. Specializing in executive leadership and transition life coaching for professional and personal empowerment.
Your Guide to Coaching aka FAQs
Below some of the frequently asked questions surrounding coaching are answered. If you have a question that's not listed below, contact send a message using this form.
What Coaching Is
According to the International Coaching Federation (ICF) coaching is
partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
This definition forms part of the foundation of coaching at Adept Flow. Additionally, coaching helps a client to identify their goals; it supports the client in uncovering and removing any obstacles on the path to achieving their goals; it partners with them to create action plans that accomplish their goals.
Coaching can have a broad scope depending on the duration of the engagement. Adept Flow starts commitments at a minimum of 3 months. In one-on-one intimate sessions your self-awareness will be enhanced, you’ll gain a deeper knowledge of yourself and develop personally through a series of powerful questions. Your coach will own the process of getting you to your goals and will support your accountability to reaching them. You will be accountable and own the journey and all the actions it takes to reach your goals.
The format of coaching sessions can be personalized to your needs. Typical session formats include: face-to-face, telephone, video-chat, hiking, walking, or on-site sessions.
What Coaching Isn't
Coaching isn't therapy or counseling.
Therapy while also typically experienced in a one-on-one session is facilitated by a licensed healthcare professional that is trained to diagnose or identify problematic behaviors, feelings, beliefs, or issues. The sessions generally focus on uncovering past traumas and issues to heal them and understand how they affect current behavior. Similar to coaching, a goal will be set and a plan developed to help you reach that goal.
While there are a number of similarities between the two disciplines, coaching focuses on the present and how to move forward by taking action to generate results.Therapy focuses on the past and analyses how it affects your present life.
Coaching isn't mentoring.
Mentors are advisors with a certain level of success. Mentorship typically occurs between two individuals that are in varying stages of a similar thing like a career or lifestyle. The junior or mentee seeks advice, guidance, and a path to take to reach either their own identified place or the or mentor’s level of success. The subject of the mentorship can vary. It can be centered around advancing a specific career or a bit more broad as in a living a specific lifestyle. A mentor will share with you insights they encountered along their journey. They will give you guidance and tell you more of the how versus a coach who helps you uncover your how.
While coaching can be a long-term engagement, mentorship usually lasts over the course of years and in some cases can span a career or lifetime.
A mentor and a coach are typically sought out. However, a mentor typically responds to issues or questions as they come in the mentee’s life.
Coaching isn't training.
Trainings are very specific in nature and typically have a short duration. Customarily they happen in a group setting where you are led through a process or series of processes to achieve a specific result like the acquisition of additional knowledge, a certificate, etc. Training transfers knowledge or specific skills through a lecture or formal classroom style setting and usually are a one-time event.
Depending on the coaching niche, training may be incorporated into coaching sessions. In general, coaching focuses more on development to improve performance or behavior for goal achievement and happens over the course of time.
The Benefits of Coaching
What are the Benefits of Coaching?
The benefits of coaching varies from person to person. Below is a list of reported benefits:
Gain clarity about life-purpose and goals
Increased self-awareness
Become more effective as a leader, a partner, etc.
Gain greater self-accountability for actions, commitments, and goals
Become more self-reliant
Increased ability to tap into emotions to learn their meaning
Increased effective communication
Dedicated safe place to talk through sensitive and personal issues
Make magic happen
The benefits of coaching do not solely apply to individuals. Below are the reported benefits to organizations:
Increased performance
Increased motivation, empowerment, and autonomy
Increased contribution to the organization, team, and individual professional goals
Work more easily with colleagues across various levels
Demonstrates organization's personnel development commitment
Increased talent retention and development
How Long Will It Take to Reach My Goal?
You may not want to hear this but, it’s entirely up to you. Those that fully commit to the hard work required in coaching see immediate impact as quickly as the first session. Coaching works best with those who are willing to put the work in to change.
The reality is that coaching is hard. The natural defenses of the human psyche to protect have to come down, which happens after building and establishing trust. After that happens, with some time and effort, change will come.