What is Coaching?
What is Coaching?
There are many definitions of coaching. However, through many years of play, exploration and discovery, we would support and build on the ICF definition.
“When a qualified coach partners with clients in a thought-provoking, supportive and creative process that inspires the client to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
Who is the Wheresmylunch coaching for?
Our typical customer is a senior manager or board-level director that needs to explore something with either their business or with the way that they lead. It can be incredibly lonely when you are leading an area of the business, and sometimes you just need someone to talk to in a confidential and safe environment. We work with people like you.
We can work with you on
- a strategic challenge (think organisational shape, financial, sales or operational opportunity),
- a talent development initiative. Perhaps you are nearly there in terms of the required profile but that senior appointment is eluding.
- a board opportunity (think how can you get your board or senior leadership team to function even better)
What are the benefits that you can achieve through leadership coaching?
- Help you discover what’s holding you back and find the motivation to move forward.
- Challenge your assumptions; help you find truth and meaning.
- Identify ways to capitalize on your strengths and manage your weaknesses.
- Increase your awareness and clarity to help you make better decisions.
- Help you to understand and define your personal objectives and therefore help to clarify your priorities.
- Aid you in creating processes and structure.
- Keep you focused.
- Facilitate different thought processes that can engage innovation.
- Answer your questions quickly.
- Provide you with honest and personalized feedback.
- Challenge you to think differently and explore new options.
- Help you move out of your comfort zone to make changes and grow.
- Make you more accountable.
- Support you and boost your confidence.
- Improve your work-life balance and relationships.
- Help you achieve your goals sooner and set new goals.
- Save you time and money!
What about Return on Investment
It is difficult to measure return for the majority of interventions and although we can have a best stab (see the seminal Manchester Review Article), the return on investment for leadership coaching is highly situational.
With some clients, we find that we can help them overcome significant operational challenges that threaten the very business that they run (how do you put a value on that), and with others, we find that they have outgrown the current opportunity that they work on and it is time for both them and the organisation for them to move on (in a good way). For high potential talent, awaiting that first senior appointment, there can be some specific skills that need to be honed and for other established directors, it can be about helping them to reevaluate strategic direction.
We can work with you to help define a value for return on investment by
a) agreeing outcomes and understanding value of outcomes if possible (measurable)
b) align outcomes to business objectives (increase in sales, reduction in operational cost etc.)
c) ensure 3 way meetings with business manager if appropriate
d) review progress at regular stages of the intervention process
However, our clients often return for additional rounds of coaching due to situational or organisational change.
How to Start?
Your first step to starting coaching with us is to book a short conversation. In this conversation we will explore what you want to achieve through your time with us and ensure that we have a good match.