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What Exactly Do You Do During Coaching?

September 20, 2016 By Ira Chaleff

I do not solicit testimonials from coaching clients but recently received a copy of one client’s voluntary summary of her experience with the coaching program sponsors. I think it is a useful reflection on the coaching experience from someone who did not know what to expect from coaching. Therefore, it may be of use to others considering coaching. We worked together for about 20 one-hour sessions spread over 18 months. The coaching was entirely by phone. During this time the coachee applied for and was promoted to a position at the national level of the agency and used coaching to successfully make the transition. To further add value to her new group she volunteered as a member of a three person employee engagement council and used coaching to help her design activities the council used with its national workforce:

Good morning Audrey –

I was given your name as the contact for the Agency’s Executive Coaching program and wanted to pass along a few comments, now that my coaching sessions have concluded.  I didn’t think it would be right to let my experience come to a close without sharing the impact it had for me!

  1. This is an excellent program for Agency staff, and I hope it will be continued.  I had a great experience, and a wonderful coach (Ira Chaleff).
  2. I appreciated the opportunity to have open conversations with someone outside the Agency, who could be an impartial observer and resource and whose sole focus during our conversations was my professional development.
  3. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when we started, and when someone recently asked me ‘what exactly do you do during these sessions?’, my first response was ‘well, he asks a lot of questions!’.  And that’s been a great thing.  He was always prepared with thoughtful and insightful questions, that caused me think about things differently than I might have otherwise.
  4. Along with good questions, Ira was also prepared to share meaningful insight that was relevant to my situation, or in response to questions I’d asked him.  This practical insight and willingness to share his wisdom and experience were greatly appreciated, because he could share from experiences and knowledge obtained outside a career with our Agency and that perspective only helped to expand my own understanding of things.
  5. The individualized attention was invaluable.  Even for those of us with good Agency managers (I’ve been with two supervisors during my coaching experience, and both have been supportive of this process), the inherent nature of the coaching relationship makes it very individualized and focused on development for the sake of development.  Good supervisors can and should be invested in employee development as well, but in fairness to them (as a former supervisor myself), it’s difficult to always separate needs as a supervisor (e.g. – needing the employee to perform well, meeting goals and expectations set my upper management, etc), from the best interests of the employee.   Hopefully the supervisor’s needs and the employees best interests converge of course, but a coaching relationship removes that buffer if you will, and allows the coach to focus solely on the employee.  Not many of us can get that kind of individualized attention in our professional careers, but it’s beneficial when it can happen.
I’m grateful to the Agency for providing this opportunity, to my supervisors who have been supportive, and to my coach who was fantastic.  Great program, well worth the Agency’s investment in my opinion!

Sincerely,

SLC

Filed Under: Blog, Rosa María Barreiro

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Marsha Hughes-Rease - Senior Associate

After fifteen years of coaching and consulting experience and over twenty five years of leadership experience at different organizational levels, Marsha Hughes-Rease partners with senior leaders and managers to address what she calls “swamp issues”, those really messy and complex challenges that can greatly diminish productivity, stakeholder satisfaction, financial performance and personal effectiveness in any organization.

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Ira Chaleff - President

Ira Chaleff is the founder and president of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates. He has been named one of the top 100 leadership thinkers by Executive Excellence Magazine. He practices the high-stakes art of helping talented people prepare for and succeed in senior level roles. Whether working in the public sector with Senior Executive Service leaders or in the private sector with CEOs and leadership teams, he brings clarity to core success issues, and provides savvy and supportive guidance in tackling them.

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Beverly Jones - Senior Associate

Beverly Jones helps executives bring new productivity to their organizations, and works with professionals to restructure and re-energize their work lives. Throughout her varied career, Bev has engaged in leadership and change management activities, and today she coaches accomplished professionals and executives who want to become more effective. Bev’s current and recent coaching clients include attorneys, other professionals and small business owners, and also executives with university systems, with a national laboratory, and with a major brokerage firm.

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Mandeep Singh - Senior Associate

Mandeep partners with leaders who want to bring their own vision and passions into service for the world. This necessarily means deep inner work – increasing self-awareness and personal mastery, taking ownership and accountability, and expanding the ability to influence people and networks from within the system. While this may sound like hard work, in practice it tends to be completely natural, energizing, satisfying and fun. “Serious” and “impactful” are not correlated. Mandeep’s natural style is gentle, and his clients and he tend to forge long term, easy, trusted partnerships.

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Rosa Maria Barreiro - Strategic Management & Human Resources Consultant

Rosa María Barreiro is an innovative leader, business strategist and change agent with an extensive background and success in global operating environments throughout the USA and Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Rosa María has repeatedly been recruited to design and execute change management, employee engagement, leadership development and performance improvement initiatives for a wide variety of organizations and companies.

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Kari Uman - Senior Associate

Kari Uman, Senior Associate of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates in Fairfax, VA, has more than twenty-five years’ experience as a coach, consultant, and trainer. Her particular experience and interest in gender issues, and their impact on relationships and performance, enables her to help individuals change behaviors that are undermining their best efforts.

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David Grau - Senior Associate

David Grau is an executive and leadership coach in Bethesda, MD, with an in-depth consulting background in organization development and change management. He has over 17 years of coaching and consulting experience in the corporate, government, and non-profit sectors. He has particular abilities in assisting executives in identifying and making maximum and appropriate use of their strengths and identifying their opportunities for increased effectiveness as a leader.

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Emily Barnes - Senior Associate

To organizations and individuals adjusting to recent, current or anticipated change, Emily Barnes brings the strategic focus and competencies gained during fifteen years of diverse experience with various leadership, relationship, performance and communication challenges. A consultant and strategy coach, Ms. Barnes helps clients create and implement new success strategies.

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