Coach Michele’s Group Coaching June 14th, 2011

2Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Today’s Topic Techniques – Coaching vs. Fixing

3Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Introduction Today we’ll make a distinction between “coaching” and “fixing”. Both can happen during a coaching call, and both can be valuable. However, an optimum balance is crucial to maximize the transformative nature of your clients changes.

4Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Coaching For today, let’s use this as our working definition of coaching, and we are really talking about coaching as a verb, an action, that the coach does: Coaching: Using words and energy that cause the client to heal, learn, grow, and transform.

5Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Fixing For today, let’s use this as our working definition of fixing, as an action that a coach may do: Fixing: Providing solutions or answers to the client

6Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Initial Discussion Do you understand the distinction we are making between coaching and fixing? Do you think both have their place in coaching? What do you feel more comfortable doing? Is one always more valuable to the client than the other?

7Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Benefits of “Coaching” around problems Long term results Significant, real change Decreased “problems” in the future Using problems to their full (and I believe intended) benefit True healing and transformative value of coaching can come forth

8Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Discussion Are there more benefits to coaching (especially in relation to fixing) that you can identify?

9Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Benefits of Fixing problems Problem goes away faster Can give the client a boost of energy Coaching calls can be very productive

10Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Discussion Are there more benefits to fixing (as opposed to coaching) that you can identify?

11Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Possible “downsides” of Coaching over Fixing May seem to take longer (but often can be incredible shortcut!) May be more “work” May lead to non-productive calls Client may be more comfortable keeping things at a surface level Client might not want “transformative change” – really just want to end their particular problem

12Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Discussion What are some more downsides of “coaching” over fixing?

13Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Possible “downsides” of fixing instead of coaching May be short term fix Problems may come back, in the same way or in different guises May not represent REAL change You are reinforcing client’s limiting belief: I’ll be happy when my problem is gone

14Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Discussion Are there other “downsides” of fixing?

15Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Coaching Scenario Let’s say a client comes to us with the following “problem”: I want to start my business, but I’m really intimidated about the paperwork involved

16Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Response Option 1 Reponse one: You tell the client about the entrepreneur centers in their area that can hold their hand through the paperwork process Discussion: Is this fixing or coaching (in the definition we are using today)? What do we like about this approach, and what do we not like?

17Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Response Option 2 You explore with them why they are intimidated and in what ways that “intimidation” serves them Discussion…Is this coaching or fixing? What do we like and not like about this approach?

18Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Final Discussion – Towards Integration Do we think there are times for both Coaching and Fixing? How can we tell the difference? How can we challenge ourselves to make sure our coaching/fixing ratio is in balance?

19Copyright (c) Michele Caron, 2011 Next Session Next Session…Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Mastery Tuesday, June 28 th will be productivity/success one we missed last week Have a fantastic week!