What can I expect in the coaching process?
The coaching process would involve the following steps:
Step 1: Initial trial session
In the initial trial session, we will determine if working together is a good fit. In this session, we will talk about you. I will listen as you talk about your situation, your concerns, what you would want in the future and your reasons for undertaking coaching. You will do most of the talking. We shall also discuss as to how I can help you in your journey. I will ask you to share your thoughts with me which will help me ascertain as to how to coach you in a way that you find comfortable and effective. I shall answer any questions you may have about life coaching and the process which I usually follow. We shall also discuss the coaching arrangement, the fee and how often we would communicate.
This initial trial session is free and there is no obligation on you to continue if you do not want to. At the end of the session. I shall ask you to think about what we spoke and let me know if you would want to work with me. We can both let each other know, after this call (within a period of three months), in an email if we would like to work together or not.
If I (the coach) and you (the client) decide to work together, the coach shall email the coaching agreement to the client at the client’s email id, which shall be treated as the coach’s consent to abide by the agreement. The client must read and understand the agreement. If the client agrees to the terms of this agreement, the client must confirm to the coach his/her acceptance of the agreement by an email. The email should have this agreement attached and should clearly mention, “I fully understand and accept the coaching agreement and guidelines and agree to abide by the same.” The coaching sessions shall commence after the coach receives the confirmation email from the client and the client transfers the fee in the coach’s bank account at least 7 days before the start of the first session.
Once the coaching agreement is agreed upon by both the client and the coach and the fee payment is received as per the coaching agreement, the client will be sent a few questionnaires to complete and email to the coach at least 48 hours before the first coaching session.
Step 2: First three to four sessions
The first three to four sessions are focused on the following:
1. Getting to know the client’s beliefs, dreams, interests, strengths, areas where change is desired by the client, goals, prioritizing the goals and making an action plan.
The completed questionnaires would help me (the coach) get to know you (the client) better. I would also talk to you and clarify your vision for your life, your dreams, your goals, your likes and dislikes, your beliefs, values, needs, your experiences, your strengths and areas to improve upon. We will look in clearly stating your goals. If you have more than one, we will prioritize them. Together we will determine the desired outcomes, indicators of success and set an estimated time frame. This would also help in the “before coaching” and “after coaching” picture. The approach would be highly individualized to your coaching needs and there would be regular contact to determine your progress, assignments and inquire on the issues you bring forth. You, the client, will set the agenda.
2. Harmonizing feelings:
Here I will lead you through exercises to help you to “feel” what you want to feel once you create/ manifest the results you desire in your life – matching where you are to where you want to be. From this place of harmony, focusing on what is desired is easy. Once you can clear the clutter, lay the foundation for creating the life you want and vibrationally be a match to what you want, the process of allowing the goals set would be so much easier. In other words, the focus would be on feeling what you want to feel which would help in being proactive in life rather than living life reactively. This would help the action taken, during the coaching process, to be from a place of harmony and that would make it inspired and therefore, more complete and whole.
Each of the above sessions would:
- Review the actions taken after the last session.
- Explore how the client felt while taking the actions.
- Ascertain if any changes need to be made to the plan for the future.
- Make the action plan for the time period till the next session.
The above objectives of getting to know the clients as well as harmonizing feelings could take more than three – four sessions too as every individual is different and understanding and respecting that difference makes the coaching process customized as well as effective.
Step 3: The following sessions
Once the above is done, rest of the sessions would typically have the same outline as above which is:
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Review the actions taken after the last session.
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Explore how the client felt while taking the actions.
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Ascertain if any changes need to be made to the plan for the future.
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Make the action plan for the time period till the next session.
At the outset of each session, we would review the action plan of the last session. How did you feel while going about it? How did it go? Were there any difficulties? If yes, then we would talk about them. If you were able to complete the action plan, we will celebrate it and discuss it. We will adjust the action plan according to the progress you make and how comfortable you are.
In these coaching sessions, I will listen to you, ask questions not only to understand what you are telling me but also to enable you to think differently and then offer options for you to consider. I will sensitively question your assumptions to uncover patterns, if any, find out from you about your values, your beliefs, what gives you joy and happiness. I will offer all the support and encouragement you want to make the changes you intend to make. You may have many questions which come up as we go along our coaching sessions which I will facilitate as per your readiness.
In all this, I will keep the conversation on track vis a vis the goals you have set out for yourself. This would enable us to achieve what we set out to do through this coaching relationship.
The plan is also to allow time for reflections and observations outside of the coaching sessions. Each session would end with an action plan in accordance with the master plan (which can always be updated too as goals can change as per one’s vibrational place in life) made in the initial few sessions (see step 2 above). The action plan may have exercises which when completed will be reviewed and feedback will be provided. Though the client is not obliged to complete them but not doing the exercises may slow down the client’s progress towards his own the allowing of his/ her goals. There is nothing right or wrong in slowing down one’s progress as we all get to choose how we would like to live our beautiful, unique and individual journeys.
Usually we will have four sessions on Zoom/ phone per month, with email contact in between as needed. Generally, the calls will last for 60 to 90 minutes. I would suggest at least eight coaching sessions to twelve coaching sessions in order for you to give a chance to the coaching process to show its effectiveness.
As our relationship goes on and also when it ends, we will celebrate the achievements you have made.
As your coach, you can expect me to:
– Keep our coaching confidential
– Provide non-judgmental and empathetic listening and feedback
– Ask questions, questions that help you to uncover patterns, find about the hurdles holding you back from actualizing your potential, discover new and empowering ways to look at life
– Soothe, encourage and support you as a champion for the goals you have set for yourself
– Give my 100% attention to our sessions together. The time in our sessions would be reserved exclusively for you.
Coaching Session – Contact Procedure
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The coach and client will exchange their telephone numbers as a pre-session exchange over the email and fix up a time for the session. Incase the session is on Zoom, the coach will send a Zoom meeting invite to the client as per the mutually agreed upon time for the session.
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At the designated time of session, the coach and the client will sign in to the Zoom meeting. Incase the session is on phone, the client will call the coach on the telephone number provided by the coach to initiate the conversation. The telephone call charges are borne by the client and are not included in the coaching fee.
Changes, cancellations and missed calls
Once booked as confirmed, a session can be cancelled or rescheduled by mutual consent of the client and the coach provided such changes are communicated to each other 24 hours in advance of the scheduled session time through email. However, the coach and the client understand that there could be some emergency situations at either end in which case a 24 hour notice may not be possible.
If the client misses a scheduled session without giving a 24 hour notice, the session will stand cancelled and the client will forfeit the session fee. If the client is late to a session, extra time will not be provided. If the coach is late for a session, there shall be extra time which would be provided to one of the coaching sessions. In the event the coach cancels a session without the 24 hour notice, an extra session would be provided to the client at no charge and the cancelled session would be rescheduled.
Disclaimer
Life-coaching is based upon trust. During the coaching process, the client may be asked questions by the coach, which are personal in nature and sometimes disturbing. The clients are advised to undergo the life-coaching session only if they agree to provide such information to the coach, which would only be used for the benefit of the client. The coach promises to keep the personal information confidential and use it exclusively only for the purpose of the life-coaching session with the client.
The coach plays a facilitator’s role in the life-coaching session. The client agrees that the decisions based upon such facilitation, however, are their own and any benefit or loss incurred of any nature as an outcome of such decision will only be client’s. The coaching engagement absolves the coach of any consequential gains or damages arising out of such decisions and the coach cannot be led liable or responsible for any consequential actions or events.
However, the intent of the life-coaching process does not change irrespective of the outcome, which is, coaching the client towards leading a life, the client desires to and has the potential for.
Termination of Services
A Life-coaching engagement usually spans over multiple sessions. However, during the course of the coaching process, there could arise a situation where either the client or the coach would like to terminate the coaching engagement out of a personal choice. Such decisions are acceptable and respected by both the coach and the client. To honor such decisions, there is a provision to cancel the engagement mid-way before completion. Should such a need arise, the coach or the client will openly communicate with each other through email the decision to discontinue the engagement. The subject of the email should clearly indicate “Coaching Services Termination Notice”.
If the client decides to terminate the coaching process, the fee, which is paid in advance for four sessions, once every month, will not be refunded. For example, if the client decides to terminate the coaching process after the first session, the fee for the remaining three sessions will not be refunded. If the coach decides to terminate the coaching process, then the fee already paid by the client in advance for the remaining sessions will be refunded within one month of the termination notice email. E.g. if the service charges for a 4 session engagement is ‘x’ and the coach decides to discontinue the engagement after 2 sessions, the service charges amounting to x/4*2 will be refunded to the client.
