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Sign upMaking the most of coaching
Toolkit / 09 June 2022
Professionals are increasing utilising coaching to help them progress their careers, address work/life balance issues and even to make positive changes in their outlooks and attitudes.
Here, Alla Levadnaya - an Accredited Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation who has been coaching Real Estate Members - shares her top five tips for making the most out of coaching:
1. Dedicate time for coaching, clarify your goals or area of focus and prepare for your session.
Identify something to work through during a session. It will help to avoid the session ending up as an ordinary conversation. “If everything is important, then nothing is.” Be specific - if you could only address one issue, what would it be? Coaching works best when the coachee invests in the engagement. Focus and intention will bring value and purpose to the coaching session.
2. Take notes on what is happening between coaching sessions - self-reflection, 'ah-ha' moments and real-life situations.
It will take the discussion to a deeper level. Review your notes before each coaching session to help you focus. Very often, people focus on what they have not done and not on the achievements. The use of homework materials is for guidance, but pay attention to your own mental 'browsing history'. For example, I want to believe that one of my values is health, but the habit of binging on comfort food clearly indicates that I value comfort more. What do you find time for even if you are busy? What is your life/work like every day?
3. Be open and honest with your coach - often there is a massive gap between espoused values and the actual ones that drive behaviour and thinking.
Remember that it is a safe place. You set the agenda, but if a coach spends time unpeeling layers to get to what is 'real', the coaching process will take much longer.
4. Partner with your coach – you hold the key to the lock and you are the driver.
The coach is there to help you to breakdown actions, see things from a different perspective and to consider new possibilities. If you wish your coach would do something differently, share your thoughts early and often.
5. Be coachable.
To get more from coaching, be open and test new insights and perspectives. Experiment with new approaches, be willing to step out of your comfort zone and learn new things about yourself. Expect change. “What got you here won’t get you there.” This takes intentional effort and is often uncomfortable, but regrets are more painful. This is the power of coaching.
Thank you to Alla for helping Real Estate Balance members on their coaching journeys and for sharing her insights. If you are considering being coached or would like to find out more, contact Alla at al@growthassociatesuk.co.uk or alla.levadnaya@hotmail.co.uk