What is Coaching?

An Individual Experience

Coaching is a unique opportunity to focus and move forward on your personal, professional or organizational goals through the exploration of ideas and candid dialogue with a confidential and unbiased thinking partner.

There are countless definitions for Coaching, because the experience is as individual as we are. We challenge you to contribute your own definition once you’ve experienced coaching for yourself.  Get a Coach.

Coaches are accredited in a variety of coaching models, but there are common elements in those models.

Coaching Process

• identifying a topic or issue: your Coach will help you define what you want to accomplish
• exploring ideas: your Coach will probe, challenge, listen and question until you have developed a clear and compelling vision and goal to move toward
• removing barriers: you and your Coach will identify barriers and discover points of leverage
• taking action: your Coach will help you develop a clear action plan to move your goals forward
• refining and reflecting: your Coach will support and motivate you through the process to the achievement of your goals

Coaching for Development

Coaching has it roots in athletics, where coaches help elite athletes fine-tune their performance.  Coaching moved into the executive boardroom where existing and emerging leaders achieved impressive results working with a coach to fine-tune their development, performance and leadership skills.

Coaching has evolved into two distinct categories: “Executive” Coaching, with a focus on organizational and professional goals, and “Personal” Coaching, with a focus on personal development and goals. UBC 1 on 1 Coaching Services offers both.

Coaching for Learning

Reports show that training increases effectiveness by 28% and training followed by coaching increases effectiveness by 88%. Coaching follow-up helps you apply your new skills and anchor your learning in real life situations as they arise in the day to day.

See Coaching in Action for more.

Coaching Yields Results

Coaching is a series of one-on-one confidential meetings focused on achieving the client’s goal. This goal could be:

• fine tuning a skill
• accelerating learning
• solving a problem
• developing peak performance
• strategic planning
• creating change or growing with change
• working through something you are stuck on
• identifying and gaining clarity on your goals

Clients who have worked with a Coach and reached their goals, continue to use a Coach whenever they want to work on new goal. There is correlation between being coached and developing increased skill to self-coach and to engage in coaching conversations with others. See Client Testimonials for client reactions. Our own UBC research study shows that:

• coaching is effective regardless of what the client’s role is in the organization (affiliation, job classification and level)
• providing coaching to individuals in an organization will improve individual and organizational performance and job satisfaction
• coaching results / outcomes will have a long term impact on UBC’s culture and leadership