What is Professional Coaching?
First, let’s answer the question “What is coaching?” At its core, coaching is a process by which one individual helps increase another individual’s capacity to solve problems and navigate challenges. Effective coaching raises the individual’s self-awareness and activates their experience to help them make good decisions and drive results.
Professional coaching helps ensure the coachee has a clear understanding of who they are, and the challenges they are facing. This clarity is necessary in order to set aside distraction and focus on solutions to make the best decisions possible.
Coaching is an essential tool for development in the 21st century. Having the opportunity to reflect on experiences with someone who can help facilitate processing those experiences is invaluable. Coaching is a highly customized and targeted development experience that is a necessary tool for navigating the challenges of today’s workplace.
While Frontline Training Solutions is headquartered out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, our coaches are located throughout the country and able to serve any client location.
How it Works
Professional coaching with Frontline Training Solutions occurs in five simple steps:
An initial intake session with the referring leader or HR professional to discuss the focus area(s) of the Professional coaching request. When there is alignment to proceed, an additional meeting will include the coachee to discuss the following:
- Purpose of the coaching
- Review the framework of the coaching process: discovery, insight, and action
- Roles of the coach and coachee
- Expectations, objectives, and success measures
Once there is a commitment from the coachee, a formal proposal will be assembled which will include:
- Agreed upon objectives and success measures
- Potential coaching matches
- Assessments to be leveraged (if applicable)
- Frequency and total number of sessions
- Process for stakeholder updates
- Cost of coaching services
The coachee will typically have the opportunity to meet with multiple potential coaches in order to participate in the selection of the coach. This is an important step to encourage coachee participation and buy-in. Potential coach matches will be made based on the needs identified in step one to ensure the selected coach will provide an exceptional experience.
Typical coaching engagements will be between three and six months in length. Individual coaching sessions will be scheduled in advance and will range between 60 and 90 minutes in length. Sessions can be conducted both in person and virtually. Assessments, if utilized, will be leveraged early in the coaching engagement with a possible reassessment at the end. Throughout the engagement, there will be assigned “homework” to ensure the coachee remains engaged and committed to their own development through the process.
As agreed upon in the coaching proposal, periodic stakeholder updates will occur throughout the coaching engagement. Confidentiality will be maintained, and the focus of these conversations will be observed progress toward goals. The coachee will participate in these conversations.
When the coaching engagement is complete, a final stakeholder conversation will be conducted. This will be an excellent opportunity to discuss the impact of the coaching. Additionally, the coachee and stakeholders will discuss how to monitor and maintain continued progress over time.
Benefits of Professional Coaching
There are multiple benefits when you choose to invest in Professional Coaching with Frontline Training Solutions, including:
Self-Reliant Problem Solving:
Individuals participating in coaching are guided to develop self-reliant problem-solving skills to take ownership, responsibility and accountability for performance, behaviors and outcomes.
Targeted Development:
Coaching is one of the most customized ways to develop. Through discussions with your coach, individuals will be able to target, and address, their most important development areas.
Improved Self-Awareness:
Coaching helps people understand themselves and how others see them. This can then turn into increased effectiveness and impact.
A Safe Space:
Coaching conversations help coachees discuss, and receive guidance on, topics that may be difficult with someone they work with on a daily basis.
Increased Personal Accountability:
Personal accountability is a product of coaching through action steps the individual creates and follows-through on during the coaching engagement.
Get Started with Frontline Training Solutions
Frequently Asked Questions
Our potential Professional Coaching matches are made based on the information collected in the discussion around the goals of the coaching engagement in step one. When making a recommended match, we consider the coach’s experience, style, and assessment toolkit to ensure the best partnership possible.
The assessment approach for each Professional Coaching engagement is determined based on the goals and purpose of the coaching. We have access to a variety of tools including the Hogan Assessment, DiSC, MBTI, Firo-B, EQ-i 2.0, StrengthsFinder, the Leadership Circle 360 and a variety of other 360° feedback assessments. In certain circumstances, we may also use an interview-based 360° assessment that is comprised of interviewing stakeholders.
Success measures for Professional Coaching are determined during the first step of our five-step process and depend on the focus of the coaching. Commonly, Professional Coaching is measured by stakeholder feedback, improved performance, and increased team effectiveness.
Professional Coaching engagements usually run between three and six months. The duration is partially determined by the goals set in step one. Coaching can be extended on a case-by-case basis after discussions with stakeholders, the coach, and the coachee.
Confidentiality is a core concept for effective coaching. The coachee must believe what they are sharing is confidential in order to create a safe and open coaching environment. Our coaches commit to this in writing as part of the agreements we use. Exceptions to this rule (which are articulated in writing) includes information that is materially harmful to the coachee or the coachee’s organization. In those cases, the first course of action will always be to encourage the coachee to share this information themselves.
Get Started with Frontline Training Solutions
Are you ready to get the coaching support you or someone on your team needs? Contact us today to get started.
Why Frontline Training Solutions?
Originally developed as the training division of Express Employment Professionals, Frontline Training Solutions is proud to have coaching experts with decades of experience providing effective Professional Coaching services. Our coaches treat every client with care and intentionality. By choosing Frontline Training Solutions, you’ll be working with a coach who has the knowledge, experience, skills, and care to make a difference for your employees and your business.
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