How Coaching Works (theory)

“There is no theory without practice and no practice without theory”
– Kurt Lewin

By explaining my theory of practice, I hope to give you, the reader, a framework for how I approach coaching in the service of furthering your primary goals.

As a prospective client, of course, you are intensely interested in your primary goals. Perhaps there is a current or future challenge that you are facing, or maybe you are looking for somebody to help you achieve your deeper purpose, or to reach greater potential within your organization.

My coaching practice centers on the five things that I believe are essential for personal and organizational well being. This matter to you as a client because I do my best work with those whose challenges and objectives are in alignment with my own passions. If you do your best work when you are passionate about what you do, then keep reading.

Below, you will either see parts of yourself or your organization in these words, else you will realize that you are not the type of client with whom I do my best work. If you are here, chances are that you want to work with somebody who will give you their best work, and who is competent to deliver on your objectives.

The diagram below describes my passion for working with clients. Theory of Practice

Ultimately, all factors are weighted equally, as each one supports and relates to the others. While each one of us will be looking at these factors differently, together they form a complete picture of an ideal, healthy working relationship. I’ll dive into the details of the diagram in other pages.

Learning

  • You want to learn and acquire new skills, viewpoints, process, and understanding that allow you to be more effective towards your measured objectives.
  • I want to learn the core values and objectives of your organization to be effective. The better and more rapidly that I can understand what’s important to you, the more rapidly we can create value together.

Creating

  • Whether you create and deliver a product or service, your organization lives and dies through its ability to create value to its customers.
  • I thrive in environments undergoing significant change by helping you to create process and procedures that simplify complexity by making it more manageable. I live and die through my ability to deliver value to you and your organization.

Teaching

  • You want the ability to teach each other and retain new knowledge within your organization. This is essential for ensuring that institutional knowledge grows with your business, increasing in value.
  • I teach skills, process and procedures to help you be more effective towards your measured objectives. Sometimes this involves technical matters, such as software development life cycle (SDLC). Other times, it is based in increasing the quality of planning, communication, and your ability to work through conflict in order to achieve higher value outcomes.

Playing

  • You are running a business, and at some level, you and your employees need to connect what you do with your passion for why you do it. There needs to be some personal, internal reason that makes the job meaningful, if not genuinely enjoyable.
  • I am a powerful force for positive change and greater health in organizations. Who I am is integral to what I do, and I genuinely enjoy creating and restoring health within teams by focusing on teaching, learning, creating, and relationships.

Relationships

  • Nobody is an island in today’s business environment. Your ability to foster and support effective relationships at every level is essential to your ability to survive and thrive in the modern economy.
  • Typically, one hires a consultant for one of three reasons: as a pair of hands, an expert, or to collaborate. While I can function in any of those roles, I do my best work through building authentic relationships where we jointly focus on how to achieve your primary goal. Together, we will become partners in your success.
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