Coaching Process

Sustainable change is not easy to achieve. Our brains are hardwired to respond in habitual ways. But, with a coach in
your corner, fresh thinking and real transformation are within reach.

Coaching Process

Sustainable change is not easy to achieve. Our brains are hardwired to respond in habitual ways. But, with a coach in your corner, fresh thinking and real transformation are within reach.

My Coaching Process

Why do I use the motto “Insight Vision Change”? It encapsulates my approach to coaching – a collaborative journey through 3 stages.

Why do I use the motto “Insight Vision Change”? 

It encapsulates my approach to coaching – a collaborative journey through 3 stages.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”—ARISTOTLE

At the outset, we dig deep and gather perspective on:

Your current situation at work – what is and isn’t working for you?

Your priorities and values – what do you most care about and want to achieve?

How do others see you? What do they want or need from you?

How is your work-life balance? Are you on a course for burnout?

What are your work habits and leadership style?

What are your limiting beliefs and blind spots?

Based on this assessment, you will identify the shifts you want to make. This will give you the focus to build on, which is everything.

“Vision animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action.”—WARREN BENNIS

Once priorities are in focus, we work together to flesh out a vision of new possibilities:

What will you become?

How will life be different?

How will you show up differently at work?

What specific goals do you wish to pursue?

What will you commit to doing?

An exciting vision of new possibilities comes down to ground level with specific, actionable goals. You decide what is achievable alongside your other responsibilities and commitments. Along the way, I’ll provide support and a healthy reality check – are you overcommitting or, perhaps, selling yourself short?

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

A vision needs specific strategies, tactics, and accountability to achieve sustainable change:

What is the roadmap forward?

How will you measure success?

How will you experiment with new approaches?

Who will help you?

What resources will you draw on? How will you stay the course?

Real change doesn’t happen overnight. We review progress on a regular basis to help you stay on track, break through obstacles, and continue dreaming of new possibilities. Accountability is the “secret sauce” to sustaining change. We all have entrenched habits and an endless litany of distractions. As in the sports world, being accountable to a coach helps create a laser focus, turbocharges motivation, and keeps your new agenda front and center.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”—ARISTOTLE

At the outset, we dig deep and gather perspective on:

Your current situation at work – what is and isn’t working for you?

Your priorities and values – what do you most care about and want to achieve?

How do others see you? What do they want or need from you?

How is your work-life balance? Are you on a course for burnout?

What are your work habits and leadership style?

What are your limiting beliefs and blind spots?

Based on this assessment, you will identify the shifts you want to make. This will give you the focus to build on, which is everything.

“Vision animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action.”—WARREN BENNIS

Once priorities are in focus, we work together to flesh out a vision of new possibilities:

What will you become?

How will life be different?

How will you show up differently at work?

What specific goals do you wish to pursue?

What will you commit to doing?

An exciting vision of new possibilities comes down to ground level with specific, actionable goals. You decide what is achievable alongside your other responsibilities and commitments. Along the way, I’ll provide support and a healthy reality check – are you overcommitting or, perhaps, selling yourself short?

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”—BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

A vision needs specific strategies, tactics, and accountability to achieve sustainable change:

What is the roadmap forward?

How will you measure success?

How will you experiment with new approaches?

Who will help you?

What resources will you draw on? How will you stay the course?

Real change doesn’t happen overnight. We review progress on a regular basis to help you stay on track, break through obstacles, and continue dreaming of new possibilities. Accountability is the “secret sauce” to sustaining change. We all have entrenched habits and an endless litany of distractions. As in the sports world, being accountable to a coach helps create a laser focus, turbocharges motivation, and keeps your new agenda front and center.

Typically, a coaching program consists of 8 to 16 sessions over 4 to 8 months, with the length and intensity depending on your goals.

FAQs About Coaching

Here are my answers to some frequently asked questions about coaching:

Coaching is a collaborative relationship focused on accelerating changes the client wants to achieve. The coach’s job is to provide a process that facilitates better thinking, decision-making, and results for the client.

Coaches help clients create new thinking, define clear goals, and sustain progress. Why is this difficult to do on one’s own? Because the brain is hardwired, our thoughts and behaviors tend to be automatic. Left to our own devices, we easily get stuck in old habits and ways of thinking. With the help of a coach, clients can find new, more efficient pathways to achieving their goals.

Coaches provide accountability to help clients achieve and sustain change. Accountability is a strong motivator. In coaching, it works like this:

  1. When clients commit to take actions, they know they will need to report to their coach on progress.
  2. This accountability increases clients’ awareness of the commitments they are making.
  3. Knowing they are accountable to someone encourages them to do more.

Yes, client sessions are confidential and private. Confidentiality is just one of the ethical practices that coaches must respect. I observe the Code of Ethics published by the International Coaching Federation, of which I am a member.

My coaching practice is built on more than three decades of experience as a strategic and organizational consultant and corporate manager. In addition to holding an MBA from Harvard Business School, I completed an intensive coaching certification program at NYU’s School of Professional Studies, as well as an additional NYU course in leadership coaching. I have also completed two levels of certifications through the International Society for Emotional Intelligence, and I am qualified to administer the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT).

NYU’s coaching certification program draws on many streams of knowledge to prepare students to conduct evidence-based coaching:

  1. Neuroscience
  2. Positive psychology
  3. Emotional intelligence
  4. Adult learning
  5. Systems and change theories
  6. Coaching models: GROW (John Whitmore) and CREATE (David Rock)

Most of these disciplines were already familiar to me from my work and study in organizational psychology and behavior. The most profound new learning came from my introduction to recent advances in neuroscience. Understanding how the brain works is critical to an evidence-based coaching process.

Coaches don’t tell clients what to think. Instead, they teach them how to think. Coaching empowers clients to discover their own path to learning and change. The client owns the agenda, while the coach manages the process. This approach is based on evidence from neuroscience:

  • The brain works by forming connections to build maps.
  • To build new mental maps, individuals need to form new connections by thinking things through for themselves.
  • Because each person’s brain is very different, we can never assume someone will think like us. That’s why giving advice doesn’t really work, while coaching is much more effective.

In scientific terms, coaching works because it activates the process of forming new connections in the brain:

  • Coaches ask lots of questions to shift people out of automatic thinking and into the conscious brain, where new learning and change can be triggered.
  • By thinking through issues, clients discover new insights that, in turn, generate the motivation to act.

I have walked in your shoes. I bring to my coaching practice more than three decades of management and consulting experience, as well as functional expertise in strategic planning, organizational design and transformation, and team and leadership effectiveness. I also have a wide range of industry experience, from media and marketing to professional services, engineering, health care, financial services, and non-profit

Learn More

I have walked in your shoes. I bring to my coaching practice more than three decades of management and consulting experience, as well as functional expertise in strategic planning, organizational design and transformation, and team and leadership effectiveness. I also have a wide range of industry experience, from media and marketing to professional services, engineering, health care, financial services, and non-profit

Learn More