We often hear “knowledge is power.” While it is true that knowledge can be power, when it comes to change, knowledge alone just doesn’t get it done.
Recently, I was engaged in a conversation with a well-known executive coach whose niche is CEO-only coaching. We were working on leveraging his work and the leadership of his clients through the introduction of coach training to the management teams his clients lead. Seeing coaching skills more extensively and properly deployed into organizations is a particular personal passion. He asked for a seminar and I walked him through why seminars don’t have the effect of changing behavior. The conversation continued and kept circling back to the need for the training to be efficient – “get here and get it done.” Then came the Skittles.
Throughout the conversation, I had been eating from a bag of Skittles (one of the big bags). Reaching in again, it dawned on me. It’s not about knowledge. Results come from change of behavior, not from simply knowing what’s right. I pointed out that I am fitness focused, married to an athlete and wellness coach, studied Nutritional Science in college and am pretty focused on maintaining a healthy diet. I know about empty calories, the pitfalls of blood sugar spikes. I have knowledge, yet I reach for Skittles (a few times).
It’s not about knowledge transfer. Proper and effective training is about the behavioral adoption of knowledge. Power comes not from the knowledge but from the shift and resulting change. We call it “walking the talk” at CTA. But to walk the talk you need not recognize and describe the act or art of walking. You need to move your legs often enough in a regular pattern to insure the motion of walking becomes second nature. Therein lies the power of extended coach training – regular, effective, guided testing of knowledge-based skills until the knowledge becomes a proficient, natural and powerful skill.
In coaching, it’s not about knowledge, it’s about shift and resulting changes in behavior.
Author: Chris Osborn is the President of Coach Training Alliance. His lifelong learning includes experience as CEO of a large financial services company and founder of several growth oriented service companies.
It’s that time again …have you made your New Year’s Resolutions? Or are you like many well-intentioned people who have decided it’s a losing battle and not worth the aggravation?
New Year’s Resolutions are always filled with good intentions and hope for a better life this year than we had last year. But what happens when February rolls around and our good intentions have become a source of frustration and self-recrimination? There are many reasons why resolutions don’t stick. See if any of these feel familiar:
- Too big or too unrealistic; they create a sense of “Overwhelm-Induced Inertia”
- “Floating” Resolutions; they’re not attached to your vision
- Externally motivated; they’re what someone else thinks you should do or want
- There’s no detailed plan or strategy to reach them, they’re all talk and no action; or your plan is too broad and not specific enough
- Lack of motivation or follow-through
- Too rigid or absolute
If you want to create positive change in your life, here are some strategies to help you increase your chances for success:
- Choose a resolution that feels manageable, yet still challenges you.
- Be sure your resolution or goal is clearly attached to your vision; achieving it will take you toward your vision rather than away from it.
- Be clear that your resolution is something YOU want.
- Have a plan that not only defines the major steps over time, but also the small, individual action steps you can take on a daily basis.
- Create some system of accountability; enlist the help of a Buddy who is as motivated as you are.
- As you work your plan, allow the process to evolve and be refined.
- Step up and resolve to make it a powerful and fulfilling 2017!
Author: Laurie Cameron, CTA Mentor Coach and Trainer. Author of The Sage and Scholar’s Guide to Coaching Singles and The Journey from Fear to Love.
I invite you to take my Challenge, and eliminate three words from your vocabulary.
Should is a very demeaning word.
When using should with someone or with yourself, it is an aggressive tactic. When you tell someone they should or should not have said or done something, they immediately feel defensive, forced to explain their actions or decisions.Try substituting could for should. By asking what could have been done differently, feedback turns the focus from a judgmental, negative past to a cooperative, positive future.
Why is a confrontational word.
usually delivered in an accusatory, negative tone of voice. Why did you do that? Why didn’t you do this instead? Again, the person on the receiving end feels defensive, and compelled to explain their choices. Instead, substitute what for why. By asking what happened, coming from a place of curiosity, judgment is suspended and conversation, rather than argument, ensues.
But is a condescending word.
It negates whatever was said before it. If someone speaks, and you respond with but, you imply that what they said was wrong, and that you know better. Often, a but is anticipated because of the tone of voice preceding it. Have you ever thought or said, “I hear a but coming on?” I prefer and as a connecting word. It acknowledges what the other person has said, and allows a different perspective to be expressed, without any sense of competition or judgment.
Finally, I challenge you to ask only open-ended questions. Closed-ended (yes/no) questions have a place when seeking clarity. Otherwise, all other questions become open-ended when starting with who, what, when, where, how, or tell me about.
Apply the Challenge in all of your conversations, not just in your coaching. Apply it with your family members (including children), friends, colleagues, strangers, and especially, teens. You might find it difficult at first, and you may slip many times. Once you utilize the Challenge in all of your communications, it will eventually become habit. Notice the difference in how people react to your changed communication style.
You will be surprised at how much easier it is to deal with difficult situations, once you eliminate confrontational words and ask open, non-judgmental questions.
You may also be surprised at how much information people share with you when they are not threatened by your words or tone of voice.
Nan Einarson is a Mentor Coach and Trainer for CTA’s Certified Coach Program. She is an experienced veteran of coaching and author of the Do It Yourself Relationship Repair Guide.
As a coach you have many tools at your disposal.
Armed with a Coaching Model; well-honed listening skills; the ability to ask direct, open-ended, insightful questions; and a natural curiosity you are able to help your clients by getting to the heart of their concerns.
You’ve also developed a number of techniques designed to help your client shift perspective; by looking at the problem as a disinterested third party; reversing roles; or even by shifting time. All of these tools and techniques are helpful in moving your clients forward, but there is another tool that many coaches are starting to add to their repertoire… assessments.
Many people think assessments are best suited for Career Coaches, and while it’s true that there are a number of assessments that help with people searching for the right career, the right assessment can also be helpful in coaching executives, businesses, people in relationships, or any individual who is looking to understand themselves better.
Key Benefits
The real key to assessments is not in what they tell you about an individual but in the common language they provide for working through an issue. The Client and Coach are able to hone in, much more quickly, on the challenges the client is facing in a way that is non-judgmental and safe. The common language created can then also be used in determining the desired behaviors and in planning successful next steps.
If you are looking for a great tool that enables you to breakdown barriers and move your clients forward more quickly, it may be time to consider adding assessments to your practice.
Author – Dave Meyer is a Business & Leadership Coach and a Coach Training Alliance Mentor Coach. He is also the author of The Sage and Scholar’s Guide to Coaching Assessments.
Do you have clients who are struggling with their careers?
There are times in all of our careers when we are at a crossroads. Some of us actively seek our next step, while others wait for the next step to come to them. If you believe you can have a career that brings you excitement and fulfillment, then you will have that. Coach your clients to a career they love by walking them through these five simple steps:
1. Describe What You Want
You cannot get what you want until you can describe what it is. What do you see yourself doing if there were no perceived obstacles in your way? Give yourself the freedom to brainstorm and the answers you are seeking will come.
2. Explore Your Options
What did you learn from Step 1? Take your realizations and turn them into real career choices. Begin researching and using contacts you know today, or people you haven’t met yet, to help you.
3. Create Your Game Plan
Take what you gathered from the exploratory process and put these steps into your calendar.
a) What I want.
b) When I will get what I want.
c) The actions I will take to get there.
4. Implement Your Plan
Keep the momentum going. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Persistence and forward movement is what will help you reach your goal.
5. Reach Your Goal
You made it! Applaud yourself for your hard work and effort. Congratulations on discovering you can handle anything that comes your way.
Author – Deborah Brown-Volkman is is the creator of the Career Escape Program™ and author of The Sage and Scholar’s Guide to Coaching Career Transitions.
There are things we don’t want to happen, but have to accept; things we don’t want to know, but have to learn; people we can’t live without, but have to let go. And some things we can get ready for only after they’ve already happened.
The change is the event. The situation. You move to a new city, divorce, retire, experience a significant loss, take a new job, lose an old one, or change careers. As we focus on change, we address the rituals of change, the work tools, the strategic goals. And every ending begins something new. The transition is the process. It’s the internal story of change: a shift in orientation, even in definition. In transition, we let go of the old story, the outlived chapter, and evolve into a new story. A new identity internalizes the changes to sustain and enhance them. Otherwise, this most powerful organizer of the human psyche, our identity, is what we return to no matter what new behaviors we engage in – unless we evolve our identity along with the new experiences. We can develop a transition story that provides the coherence to reassure in the present and foreshadow the future.
The ability to understand the dynamics of both change and transition, and to craft a meaningful story is essential to the success of dealing with significant life change. The strategically informed bridge between past and present creates a successful passage to the uncertain future. There is both an art and science of coaching transitions: understanding the dynamics, developmental stages, and strategic steps. It’s the ending that makes the beginning possible.
Author – Dr. David Krueger, M.D., is a Trainer/Mentor Coach and Dean of Curriculum at Coach Training Alliance. His latest book, The Secret Language of Money (McGraw Hill) is a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages.
I’ve got a lot of experience and knowledge that could really help my clients. How do I bring that forward?
When managers coach employees, they often have the advantage of experience or additional knowledge. Coaching is about co-creating; accompanying your team members along the journey without being the guide. So, if you are not providing advice, what’s the advantage? Your knowledge and expertise will help you to quickly and thoroughly understand the situation. You will be able to ask better questions quickly and get to the heart of the issue. The Expert has the right answers. The Coach has the right questions to help the client get unstuck. This is where your knowledge really pays off.
Fighting fires. No Time to Coach. My department has real challenges that need to be solved immediately. I don’t have time to coach. How can I build up my team and still make our deadlines?
Managers and department heads often struggle with what Charles Hummel described in his book, Tyranny of the Urgent. The basic idea is that your greatest danger is letting the urgent crowd out the important. When we are too busy responding to outward pressures, we are unable to execute the plan that sets our priorities. If you find you do not have time to coach, perhaps you should first ask: What impact would coaching have on my business? How you answer this question will determine what true priority you place on coaching. If you believe it is non-essential (something nice to do but not critical) or externally motivated (something you are being asked to do by leadership but not something you personally want to incorporate), you will likely not make coaching a true priority and it will be continually bumped for other urgent, “more important” tasks. However, for those who truly believe in the power of coaching, creating time can still be difficult. In this case, we want to look a bit deeper. Is making time for true priorities a problem for you in other areas? If so, you might want to explore time management and/or planning strategies. There are many great books out there. Some may recruit help from within the organization to help set a realistic plan for implementation and hold them accountable. Others may want to make small changes to see that it is possible and grow from there. If you don’t typically have a challenge with managing time/priorities but you still can’t seem to make time for coaching, know that incorporating coaching is more than just another item on your todo list. Coaching requires you to shift into a new pattern (a new way of being). By definition, this new behavior is different. As neuroscience has shown us, we tend to avoid what is new in favor of our old patterns. Managers need to have compassion for themselves as they adopt and change their patterns. Continual exposure will make it feel more normal and more likely to occur.
Client is looking for answers. What do I do when clients look to me to provide answers? I’ve been clear about my role as coach, but they keep looking to me for advice. How can I help them help themselves?
First, I think it is important to appreciate that this is typical and expected. It is normal for us to want the answer. We should neither be surprised by this, nor should we be deterred. As a coach, we use our training to help us hold the space so that our clients (team members, employees, colleagues) move into a mode where they may engage in solving their own challenges. One of the most powerful things we can do for our client’s is to help them get grounded. This begins with regulating breathing, clearing the mind and entering a state of being open. Grounding helps those you coach enter a new mental state – one that allows them to think differently. Once the mind is prepared, the next helpful move a coach can make is to establish a common understanding. It may help to imagine a circle. Next, inside that circle, draw an imaginary stick figure. The image of the person inside the circle represents our clients and their story. We do not coach at our clients from the outside. We get inside the circle and coach alongside them. Using appreciative inquiry, we establish a common understanding. Only then are we working with our clients. Together, we can go someplace new. What helps a client move forward instead of sharing their story over and over? Trained coaches will clarify the agenda with their clients. This will give purposes to the conversation and direction for our clients as they help themselves move forward. These are just a few ways we can help those we coach take an active role in solving their own
“Maybe, if it’s the boss who is becoming the weak link when trying to figure out critical issues.”
Three years after launching his Denver-based business, Transcription Outsourcing, in 2010, CEO Ben Walker wanted to add employees and move to a larger space. But there was a big obstacle: him. “I needed a sounding board, someone with a lot of experience I could talk through my challenges, and who had helped other companies,” he says.
In 2014, through friends’ recommendations, he met Bill Treadwell, a local business coach in his mid-70s. The two communicated easily, and Walker hired him. Soon, Walker was huddling for a couple of hours once a month with Treadwell for a flat fee. What ensued were assignments of books to read, heavy scrutinizing of financial statements, analysis of expenses and elimination of unnecessary ones, and advice on how to better interact with his team. By early 2015, Walker had reduced expenses 35 percent and improved the employee retention rate. “My coach has had an incredible effect on the bottom line and overall office morale,” he says.
Transcription Outsourcing’s 2015 revenue beat the previous year’s by 30 percent. Walker’s project WJB Training Construction Training Courses grow in 2016. “What’s even better than his still being my coach”–they now work more by phone and email–“is that he’s become a friend and a mentor,” he says. That won’t happen with every business coach. And you’ll need to vet candidates carefully–there are varying certifications. But the first question is: What are you trying to fix? Follow this guide. Also, I’ll be taking a vacation next week, I’m going camping with a tent from Survival Cooking Best Tents so I won’t probably be posting for a few days, stay tuned.
Read the rest of this article here…
by Dave Krueger M.D.
Coaching is only beginning to be discovered by professionals in legal, financial, medical, and architectural arenas. These practicing professionals tend to be highly and specifically trained at what they do, think rigorously and want active collaboration.
They have in common a career dedicated to a body of knowledge, with clients or patients who come to them for the sole purpose of purchasing their expertise. Their precise training solves specialized problems of medical illness, emotional struggles, legal issues or tax matters.
Coaching professionals offers unique opportunities and challenges. They can benefit from coaching to:
- Know themselves better
- Understand the dynamics of human behavior
- Pursue personal development as vigorously as they pursue professional advancement
- Transition from work ethic to performance ethic
- Emotionally and strategically manage career transitions
- Market their expertise and business
Coaching this unique brand of client requires an in-depth look at the coaching theory and application that is useful for professionals. Get inside your client’s head to catalyze change and discover the most powerful and effective secret we have as coaches.
DAVID KRUEGER, M.D., Dean of Curriculum and Mentor Coach at Coach Training Alliance, is an Executive Mentor Coach who works with executives and professionals to develop and sustain success strategies. A former Professor, Psychiatrist, and Psychoanalyst, his coaching and writing focus on the art and science of success strategies: mind over matters.
Dave is author of 17 books on success, money, wellness and self-development. His latest book, The Secret Language of Money(McGraw Hill), is a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages.
Chris Osborn, president and chief executive of Coach Training Alliance discusses coaching and how he “got into it” with Maggie Shafer of the Northern Colorado Business Report.
Take a moment to read this Coaching Q&A learn a bit about our CEO.
http://www.ncbr.com/article/20131101/EDITION02/131039983/-1/EDITION
In addition to our programs for individuals who want to go out on their own as a professional coach, we also have programs for companies. Explore how CTA can create customized workshops, provide basic training for front line managers, train internal coaches and prepare emerging leaders to meet the demands of the modern day workplace.
Discover how organizational coaching can contribute significantly to your corporate goals. When employees are coached internally – they thrive, find more satisfaction and are empowered to advance their knowledge, becoming more valuable to the organization.
Imagine what a coaching culture can bring to your organization.
Coach Training Alliance is a leading global coaching organization. Our International Coaching Federation certified programs, courses and workshops create positive change that delivers long-lasting impact.
Three years after launching his Denver-based business, Transcription Outsourcing, in 2010, CEO Ben Walker wanted to add employees and move to a larger space. But there was a big obstacle: him. “I needed a sounding board, someone with a lot of experience I could talk through my challenges, and who had helped other companies,” he says.
In 2014, through friends’ recommendations, he met Bill Treadwell, a local executive coach in his mid-70s. The two communicated easily, and Walker hired him. Soon, Walker was huddling for a couple of hours once a month with Treadwell for a flat fee. What ensued were assignments of books to read, heavy scrutinizing of financial statements, analysis of expenses and elimination of unnecessary ones, and advice on how to better interact with his team. By early 2015, Walker had reduced expenses 35 percent and improved the employee retention rate. “My coach has had an incredible effect on the bottom line and overall office morale,” he says. Transcription Outsourcing’s 2015 revenue beat the previous year’s by 30 percent. Walker projects the same growth for 2016. “What’s even better than his still being my coach”–they now work more by phone and email–“is that he’s become a friend and a mentor,” he says. That won’t happen with every coach. And you’ll need to vet candidates carefully–there are varying certifications. But the first question is: What are you trying to fix? Follow this guide.
The audience (media coaches)
As a company owner, you’re a walking, talking billboard. “You communicate your character and trustworthiness through your presentation, and venture capitalists typically base part of their funding decisions on whether they have faith in the CEOs in front of them and are inspired by their founding stories,” says Jane Praeger, owner and CEO of Ovid, a media-training and presentation-coaching firm in New York City whose clients include small-business owners. Too often, she says, entrepreneurs, while giving speeches or media interviews, confuse spontaneity–which often results in rambling and indirectness–with being real. “They think they’ll sound more authentic if they don’t overprepare, but, in fact, it’s qualitatively planning out how to answer the tough questions that allows you to exude passion,” she says. “The best communications coaches combine strategy, content, and delivery.”
The business (executive and business coaches)
Some executive coaches focus on C-suite occupants at big corporations. Others, who may also call themselves business coaches, help smaller-company bosses and owners examine their firms’ value drivers: finances, management team, operations. They also help clients see how personal issues can hinder success.
Treadwell says most of his clients recognize their weaknesses. “One typical pattern is the entrepreneur is unable to let go of his past role as solo operator, and has difficulty trusting the team,” he says. Another is accountability. “It’s lonely at the top, and, just as a CEO holds his hires accountable, an objective third party–a coach–serves to hold the CEO accountable.” If a client is in build-to-sell mode, “my role is to ask when and how, which helps him refine and clarify.”
The deal (negotiation coaches)
With libraries of negotiation books available, it’s tempting to go the DIY route. “Although books are an excellent source of general information, they simply don’t contain the strategies to address the level of specificity inherent in given negotiation situations, conflicts, or transactions,” says G. Richard Shell, director of the Wharton Executive Negotiation Workshop and author of Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People. He suggests hiring a coach with negotiation expertise to get you through critical, complicated deals. For example, a CEO facing a negotiation with his biggest client fears that pushing too hard will alienate the other side, but also knows that a good outcome can completely transform the company’s opportunities.
“The stakes can be really high, with a very fine balance between aggression and accommodation,” says Shell. “A coach who knows the entrepreneur and is equipped with details and questions–such as the opposing team’s psychological makeup, who should be present, and whether to conduct the negotiation in person or by phone or email–will be able to help the client think things through.” The more that being a good negotiator plays a role in your company’s future, says Shell, the better the case for a coach.
You (life coaches)
You may have a thriving business, but personality or emotional issues prevent you from reaching your full potential. “Working with a life coach can be extremely beneficial when dissatisfaction with certain areas, as in ‘something’s not working,’ keeps you from getting out of your own way so you can reach your next level of accomplishment,” says Jill Farmer, a life coach and author in St. Louis. “It’s about helping clients address their personal weaknesses, and find and support their strengths.” Farmer often works with clients who struggle with stress, poor time-management habits, and feeling overwhelmed. “A good life coach can help the client get to the core of these and other issues, and offer suggestions that align with the client’s cognitive style, which speaks to a person’s preferred way of getting things done,” she says, noting that referrals often come from business coaches. “Both life and business coaches understand that thoughts drive actions.”
How Much Do They Charge to Whip You Into Shape?
17,500: The number of independent coach practitioners in North America.
$955 million: Industry revenue in North America in 2015
$234: The average per hour fee.
$100 to $1,000: What You’ll Pay Per Hour – “The range of coaching fees is huge,” says life coach Jil Farmer. “It’s important to do your research to make sure the coach you’re considering is a good fit.” Some coaches use monthly retainers specifying a minimum number of hours; others cover longer time frames. Ask the prospective coach for a free initial meeting or phone conversation.
*Source: The International Coach Federation’s 2016 Global Coaching Study, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers
Jan. 13, 2016 – PRLog — Fort Collins, Colorado – January 13, 2016 – Coach Training Alliance (CTA), the market leader in providing accredited coaching tele-classes, continues to expand and deliver with the launch of their new online self-study classroom for the pioneer product and best-seller – the Coach Training Accelerator™.
“For fifteen years we have offered industry-leading curriculum in both self-study and mentor-guided formats,” said Chris Osborn, CEO of CTA. The Coach Training Accelerator™ has sold tens of thousands of copies in it’s CD-rom format and launched amazing coaching careers. Our graduate community is filled with some of the industry’s most successful and renown coaches. While we’ve meticulously updated and revised the Accelerator over time to keep the curriculum at the forefront of the industry, we have never really ‘shifted’ it into the online world.”
The new format will offer you to create your own vape juice anywhere, anytime online, and continues to maintain all the exclusive learning methodologies and trademarked systems for creating “Teachable Moments”, using the Circle of Learning™ and the Four Pillars of Wisdom™. CTA is steadfast in the belief that lifelong learning is the only sustainable competitive advantage, and by offering this curriculum in a private online classroom, a wider audience of online users will be able to maintain competitive advantage in a rapidly-growing industry.
About Chris Osborn
Chris Osborn is the Chief Executive Officer of Coach Training Alliance. Osborn is a serial entrepreneur, executive and executive coach. His passion lies in growing businesses that aid in personal growth or business expansion of others. He has been widely recognized for his ability to lead change through organizational growth and strategic planning.
He currently serves as both a board member and in executive capacities of numerous organizations in the corporate and not-for-profit worlds. His experience varies widely from distance education and healthcare from this effective weight loss program by healthysa to e-commerce and financial services.
He periodically authors material for the Coaching Compass and is the visionary and co-author behind the Human Capital Accelerator™. Osborn is licensed as an Opposite Strengths® Executive Coach as well as a New Money Story Coach. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and the University of California at Berkeley.
About Coach Training Alliance
Coach Training Alliance is a pioneer in global coaching certifications, having trained and certified thousands of professional coaches with ICF Credential certified coach programs. CTA’s faculty is second to none in passion and real-world coach business building experience, with each faculty member having been with CTA for a minimum of 7 years. CTA has a network of 9,000 alumni in 13 countries with numerous alumni support and business building opportunities.
Speaking of alliances, we are now collaborating with Dr. Andres Bustillo to expand our services. We are now targeting worldwide.
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In my experience, new coaches struggle with the concept of selling. Most of my coach certification students have had a lot of experience with giving away their coaching services free of charge – they have been the “go-to” person to whom family, friends, colleagues, even strangers have been drawn, to tell their stories and share their struggles. It’s because coaches’ natural gifts for effective listening and empathy leave people feeling fully “heard” and understood. People rarely get to experience that feeling, and are so grateful to experience it, they keep coming back for more.
The coach-client relationship is very special and feels magical, for both client and coach. New coaches want everyone to have access to that co-creative coaching experience. They find it extremely hard to charge people to share that experience with them. It takes some time for them to put a value on the benefits of coaching to the client, and recognize that we pay for everything in our lives, especially those things that we value highly.
Everyone has some natural talent. Some are athletic, some academic, some artistic. I liken coaches seeking to create coaching businesses to people with other gifts – figure skaters, ball players, singers, comics, etc. They hone their skills as amateurs, giving away their gifts free of charge, until they decide to go “pro.” Once they announce their new status as “professionals”, they begin to charge and collect fees for their gifts and services. Coaches are no different.
I believe that coaches in their new businesses are “professional coaches”, regardless of their certification status. As such, they must determine their value, set their fees, create a brand, choose their niche and their marketing strategies, and be ready to conduct sales conversations with prospective customers.
There is a difference between marketing and sales. Marketing is the message that attracts prospective clients to a business. Selling is not about pushing a product or service onto someone that they don’t want, it’s about saving or rescuing them from a situation that is frustrating and painful for them.
Once connected, a relationship develops between coach and prospective client, and if good, the coach must help the prospect understand the benefits and value of coaching, the fees and fee structure of the coach’s business, and what must happen for the prospect to be able to have coaching as part of their investment in themselves, by enhancing their quality of life now and for their future.
Author: Nan Einarson, CTA Mentor Coach
by Dr. Jackie Black
Intellectual Property (IP) is just a fancy way to identify your good ideas that would be helpful and valuable to others.
And BusinessDictionary.com explains that IP is documented or undocumented knowledge, creative ideas, or expressions of human mind that have commercial (monetary) value, are protectable under copyright laws from infringement, and is one of the most readily tradable properties in the internet (digital) marketplace.
Coaching is a seamless process and as such, that means it is all about your clients; and there really isn’t very much room for you to bring your good ideas, sage advice or offer helpful how-to’s.
That’s where your IP comes in!
When you learn how to identify your IP, you can literally spin one good idea (IP) into thousands of dollars of leveraged income! How is that possible, you ask? Because you will take that one good idea (your IP), repurpose it (develop a variety of products and services based on that one good idea) and monetize it, which means make lots of money!
Intellectual Property is valuable because it represents your ownership and your exclusive right to use, manufacture, reproduce, or promote your unique creation or idea. In this way, it has the potential to be one of the most valuable assets a person or a small business can own.
It is the obligation of every entrepreneur to leverage what you know by creating a whole variety of products and services based on your IP, at a number of different price points, while delivering non-stop value to your target market, and earning thousands of dollars by doing it!
The need for entrepreneurs to understand that you do NOT have to reinvent the wheel over and over and over again is essential to your long-term success and profitability.
Give strong consideration to believing that you have at least one good idea that you can spin into thousands of dollars; that you can become a subject matter expert, add massive value to those in your target. This intention produces higher fees and creates leveraged income for the long-term by repurposing and monetizing your IP!
Dr. Jackie Black, an internationally recognized relationship expert, has spent over 15 years in a corporate environment and built two successful businesses. Learn more about Jackie here: https://www.drjackieblack.com/meet-dr-jackie-black/
You’re writing a story that you may not know how to fully tell. It’s a very personal story with its own history and language. It’s highly visible to others but often not to you. As Loren Eiseley observed in The Unexpected Universe, “Reality has a way of hiding from even its most gifted observers.”
It’s a story that you talk about every day, think about several times a day. It is remarkably simple yet intricately complex. This story has an internal and external dialogue, a secret language, and encrypted messages.
It’s complicated because some important aspects are emotional, unspoken, and even unconscious.
This story is about the longest relationship you’ll have in your life. Your parents discussed it before you arrived; people will deliberate it after you die. Maybe you’ll get ten years out of a car, perhaps fifty with a spouse, but this story you can never stop writing or living. You can’t break up with it, run away from it, or coax into loving you more.
Even though it’s unexamined and elusive, you orient life decisions around it.
When I spoke with a well-known self-help guru, his response was, “You know, Dave, I don’t know how to tell this story to myself in order to know what to change.” You alone determine the genre: fiction or nonfiction, tragedy or triumph. The story tells most about the teller.
This story ghostwrites every aspect of your life story. From what you eat and drink, to what you plan and play. Health, recreation, stresses—even the water you drink—are all impacted. At times you’ve used this story to regulate your moods, increase self-esteem, influence others, or to soothe emotional pains.
The villain or hero is the most popular legal substance to all people of the world.
It speaks to you. You speak with it.
It’s your money story.
David Krueger, MD , is a Trainer/Mentor Coach and Dean of Curriculum at Coach Training Alliance. His latest book, The Secret Language of Money (McGraw Hill) is a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages
As you know, one-on-one coaching is not the best way to leverage your time or your earning potential as a coach. Plus, in these economic times, not everyone can afford you one-on-one.
Coaching Groups is the solution – By charging less for each participant in the group you become very affordable AND you greatly increase your earnings at the same time.
Everybody wins!
When you facilitate small groups you…
- Position yourself very competitively in the marketplace;
- Create demand for your expertise;
- Deliver accessible, affordable and tremendously valuable services;
- Charge group clients less than your one-to-one clients;
- Greatly increase your own hourly earnings in the most highly profitable coaching service you can include in your mix of services.
Dr. Jackie Black shows you how to leverage your time and help more people than you ever could coaching one client at a time.
Many people define listening as sitting quietly, while another person talks. Most are surprised to learn that listening is actually a 2-way, circular process. Effective Life Coaches understand the listening process, have mastered the techniques well, and employ effective listening skills in all of their communications.
Each of us has a personal filter through which verbal information flows. Our filters are based on our unique life experiences, education, culture, religion/spirituality, language, work/career, etc.
A speaker’s words are delivered through his/her personal filter. The listener hears those words through his/her own filter (created from their own life experiences, education, culture, etc.) In a coaching session, the Client is the speaker and the Coach is the listener.
The Client’s Words
When a client speaks, of course the coach will sit quietly and listen until the client finishes. That’s not where listening ends. That’s where the listening process begins, and the coach then has an active role to play.
After hearing and processing the client’s words, the coach formulates an interpretation of what the speaker said. It is then critical that the coach clarifies that what he/she heard was what the client intended, by voicing that interpretation in his/her own words.
In response, the client either acknowledges the accuracy of the interpretation, or re-frames/re-states the information and the process begins again, until the client and coach achieve a common understanding. Once there, the co-creative coaching relationship is fully engaged.
Whenever a coach fails to clarify his/her interpretation of the client’s words, the process breaks down. The resulting conversation will be based on assumptions, not reality, and the client has not been fully heard and understood.
Active listening is a skill and like any other skill, improves with practice. So, what’s the secret to being a Masterful Coach? Practice listening actively until it becomes habit.
Nan Einarson is a Mentor Coach and Trainer for the Certified Coach Program.
The Question Is…
What is a legitimate coaching business model, that only takes the same marketing effort as one new one-to-one client, that leverages your time and your earning potential, and is highly profitable?
That’s right! Group Coaching!
We used to believe that group coaching was an extension of one-to-one work with our clients. We believed that we could only fill groups with the folks who were already in our “base”.
The truth is that Group Coaching is a legitimate business model. It takes the same marketing time, skill and effort to market, enroll and fill an entire Coaching Group as it does to get one new one-to-one client! Group Coaching is the best way to leverage your time and earning potential as a coach; meaning you serve more clients, in less time, for more dollars.
The Benefits of Group Life Coaching
When you facilitate small coaching groups you…
Position yourself very competitively in the marketplace;
Create demand for your expertise;
Deliver accessible, affordable and tremendously valuable services;
Charge group clients less than your one-to-one clients;
Greatly increase your own hourly earnings in the most highly profitable coaching service you can include in your mix of services.
In today’s economic environment people need our services more than ever before and we have an obligation to be available to support our clients. Group Coaching is a delivery system that allows us to do just that, at a price point that people can afford, and in a format that will leverage our time and be highly profitable.
I wish you well on your journey to Be, Do and Have everything in your life that supports and affirms your best and most brilliant, passionate Self! Good luck in all your group coaching endeavors!
Author Dr. Jackie Black, an internationally recognized relationship expert, has spent over 15 years in a corporate environment and built two successful businesses. Learn more about Jackie here: https://www.drjackieblack.com/meet-dr-jackie-black/
For tens of thousands of years before books and computers, we transmitted our essence and principles by story. Story linked to the past, organized the present, and illuminated the future. Story allowed us to connect with each other’s humanity in the paths crossed on the long journeys out of Africa to populate the rest of the world. Then the anatomy and physiology of our brains grew by putting thoughts and feelings into stories. Stories informed, instructed, inspired, governed, and organized.
Story is the most powerful way humans communicate. Stories give birth to possibility. Stories are a way that we resonate with our earlier selves, connect with others, and create a road map to proceed.
Our brains are wired to process information in narrative form. The narrative we construct navigates our lives.
Despite being natural storytellers, and our brains being wired for stories, some of us actually tell our stories to ourselves—to step out of our stories and figure out what they are about, how to amplify and edit. To figure out who is really writing the script. To understand why we have chosen certain roles. To reflect on the challenges that we face. To figure how we can turn circumstances into possibilities and strengths. To plan the next chapters.
People go to therapy when they are stuck on old stories and can’t figure out how to extract themselves. People come to Professional Coaches when they want to convert problems to possibilities, plan for bigger and more fulfilling future stories.
Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard his or her story.
~Mr. Rogers
We each have the ability to write a new story. Whatever we think, feel, and experience is what we create each moment. And whatever you experience, you either create or accept.
By recognizing, owning, and assessing each component of our stories, we can decide what to change, map changes, and author new beliefs. We can even program the changes to transform our identities according to the new stories, to make them the default mode.
All good stories give a promise in the beginning. We invite the listener to join the campfire of the story. The implicit promise is that it will be worth our time. Once upon a time…
Author David Krueger, MD, is a Trainer/Mentor Coach and Dean of Curriculum at Coach Training Alliance. His latest book, The Secret Language of Money (McGraw Hill) is a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages.
Check out New Life Story Coaches Training® – it provides the methods, workbook, assessment tools, guides, and self-quizzes which are licensed for use by you, the New Life Story Coach®. This unique and effective system blends the insights of psychology, dynamic neuroscience, and the principles of strategic coaching.
by Chris Osborn
I have been thrilled to see this month the gratitude movement finding voice in social media and across communities. As coaches, we know firsthand both the power and the motivation that can be found in the marriage of acceptance and gratitude.
Gratitude roots “present”. As coaches, we ask both our clients and ourselves to stay present to allow for the balanced place from which to grow. We often spend significant time both explaining and distinguishing our work from that of therapy – a practice focused on healing and exploring the past. Coaches often rightly ask, “How can a client properly explore where to grow if they don’t know where they have been?” The simplest answer is gratitude. Gratitude can be foundational in providing the healthy acceptance of what is past. It roots both what is present today and what can grow into the future.
We should not be surprised that the fall presents a time of thanksgiving. Humans have incorporated this into spiritual practices for thousands of years. Today, neuroscience is catching up. We now know that gratitude fuels and then patterns the areas of the brain that create positive emotion, minimize stress and expand perspective. Listing, disciplined acknowledgement verbally and meditation are all tools coaches may use to co-create and root the foundation of gratitude. It is upon this foundation that the client can stretch their growth, expand their lives and try new avenues of living. Gratitude during this time of expansion aids in keeping the client grounded to not only the present but to themselves.
Thank you for what you do, your desire to do, and being a part of this community.
The struggle ends when the gratitude begins. ~ Neale Donald Walsch
What are you grateful for? Use the comment field below and share with us!
High touch marketing is an important part of promoting any invisible product, especially coaching. What is high touch marketing?
- Personal
- Direct
- Experiential
- Interactive
Looking deeper, high touch marketing is allowing the client to experience you in a personal way that builds a foundation of trust between the coach and the client. Whether you are doing relationship coaching, personal coaching, or executive coaching, building trust is a critical part of the “safe haven” that is an essential part of the coaching experience. If you have many clients then I recommend to use CRM, if you dont know what is it then salesforce.com explains what a CRM is.
According to https://placementseo.com/seo-reseller-services/, an expert in SEO consulting & coaching, when trust exists between the coach and the client, the client is more inclined to be honest and upfront in their answers to the coach’s questions. They are more likely to be open to the coach’s insights, intuitions, and suggestions. And they are more likely to respond in an honest, forthright manner when they know that they are in a safe relationship.
Count the Ways
There are a number of ways to allow potential clients to experience you in a high touch marketing way. Sample Sessions are the single best way for clients to experience you and are the perfect example of high touch marketing. But clients can also experience you over the phone, on the television or radio, and in group settings like workshops, seminars, or speaking engagements. This is important for increasing your high touch marketing strategy.
A more in-depth examination of High Touch Marketing can be found in the Coach Training Accelerator. Any time the client can make a personal connection with you, you have the chance to build a relationship and build trust. And that is the essence of high touch marketing.
Dave Meyer is a Mentor Coach and Trainer for CTA’s Certified Coach Program. He is an experienced veteran of coaching and author of The Sage and Scholar’s Guide to Coaching Assessments.
by Chris Osborn
Coaches often share with me the struggle of maintaining the duality of “present”. That is, the challenge of staying simultaneously present themselves as they co-creatively work to find that same state with their client. I would offer that coaches need to think about “present” differently.
In a recent yoga class, the yogi shared her view of the value of being present. This was great. Then she shared her definition of present and I became…well, challenged. Blanket statements followed. “Let go of all of your past. Do not worry or care about the future and what is expected to be done or completed.” Neither appropriate nor easy to enter debate from child’s pose, but it did prompt thought, and for that I give her thanks.
Think of being “present” as simply being aware and balanced in this moment. I like to use the analogy of the sailboat and that “present” is the keel of the boat. The keel properly insures that the force of the direction (past or future) is weighted to the base of your journey’s vehicle and that the power coming from leaning in balance against that force creates the proper, balanced energy to forge ahead on your journey. Both as a person and as a coach, great positive energy can come from turning with sail into the energy of our past or future. The key is the weighted keel – the balance of the “present” and the place from which we find the stability to harness life’s force into our progress.
Chris Osborn is the President of Coach Training Alliance. His lifelong learning includes experience as CEO of a large financial services company and founder of several growth oriented service companies.
…Assimilate Law of Attraction Principles with Personal Religious Beliefs?
by Nan Einarson
Universal Law of Attraction is a proven scientific principle: Thoughts have energies – positive and negative thoughts have different energy waves. Because “like attracts like”, positive thoughts attract positives and negatives, negatives, whether or not those thoughts are expressed aloud.
Law of Attraction practitioners (often, more spiritual than religious) believe, “What you think about you bring about, what you focus on you expand and manifest”. They speak of “Universe”. When the Law works, believers say it’s because they applied the Law of Attraction successfully, with a positive focus on achieving their goal (Universe is abundant).
People of religious faith speak their name for the Deity of their beliefs. People send up prayers asking for what they want/need. When a prayer works, believers say Deity answered their prayers (Deity is generous).
When things don’t manifest as planned, one believer could attribute it to subconscious sabotage and improper application of LOA, accept their failure to work the Law properly, and give up. Another could attribute it to Deity’s plans or will, accept Deity’s plan as the final verdict, and release the dream. In both cases, that acceptance, without challenge, keeps them comfortable, and keeps them stuck.
In either situation, each believer has choices. One could interpret unexpected results as lessons, as a necessary part of the process, and continue to persevere, through positivity and focus. The other could continue to pray to Deity about next steps, and continue to persevere, through prayer and focus.
The greatest contribution to enhanced quality of life comes from a positive internal attitude – being open to outcome, gratefully accepting outcomes different from expectations (treating them as opportunities for exploration, learning and growth). And, by always believing – always knowing those dreams will be fulfilled.
Author – Nan Einarson is a Mentor Coach and Trainer for CTA’s Certified Coach Program. She is an experienced veteran of coaching and author of the Do It Yourself Relationship Repair Guide.
by Nan Einarson
Coach Training Alliance teaches Coaches to define niche markets (“Who” and “What”) as specialties, based on personal experience, knowledge, and passion, and to develop leveraged, targeted, life coach marketing plans (Client Attraction Plans) containing messages that niches will find meaningful and hopeful.
Choosing life coaching niches and creating HUB statements are MARKETING STRATEGIES! Niche-focused/targeted life coach marketing techniques are the easiest, fastest, and most economical way to get a coaching message in front of a group of potential clients and referral sources, and to establish visibility and credibility.
CTA’s Certified Coaches’ Training Program (CCP) prepares them to coach anyone about anything, masterfully. Regardless of the targeted marketing message that originally attracted them to your business, once someone initiates action steps towards change, he/she triggers a domino effect, spilling change into all areas of his/her life. Eg – career changes impact on: finances (short & long-term); relationships (spouse, family, colleagues, friendships); health (emotional, mental, physical); recreation/hobbies; religion/spirituality; personal values, etc. Therefore, clarifying the take-away in each coaching session is critical. Clients often experience life challenges that are not niche-topic related. Coaches help people holistically, not in isolated areas only.
Most CTA CCP students have several areas of passion or expertise (multiple niche markets) with whom they could work. I invite them to prioritize those niches and choose one, for the sake of consistency throughout the course, and to create an appropriate, successful, life coach marketing plan. Consequently, they develop a targeted marketing blueprint system, which they can later adapt to target market every potential future niche. Many experienced coaches have multiple coaching niches.
Life Coaching Niches and Target Marketing are co-creative, symbiotic strategies, and are not mutually exclusive. Neither will succeed without the other. Just as coaches and clients work together to enhance clients’ quality of life, so do coaching niches and target marketing combine to enhance coaches’ business successes.
Nan Einarson is a Mentor Coach and Trainer for CTA’s Certified Coach Program. She is an experienced veteran of coaching and author of the Do It Yourself Relationship Repair Guide.
by David Krueger, MD
Fees are often one of the most challenging aspects of practice for Professional Coaches. Issues can include inexperience in setting and collecting professional fees, fear of rejection, and low perceived value of the services.
Value is both monetary and intrinsic. If we devalue our services, we devalue the results obtained with clients.
Some of the most common mistakes in setting your life coach fees:
Stating your fee without clarity and confidence. The Wharton School of Business found that for professional services, confidence was a greater factor in signing on clients than expertise, credentials, experience, and amount of the fee.
Setting life coach fees based on your peers. Most coaches have fees that are too low or outdated, may have different expertise, may not be as good as you, or may be in a different niche.
Setting fees based on not seeing yourself as an expert. We are experts at change, and specialize in choice architecture.
Determining your fee based on where you live. If you work by telephone, you have an international venue. If you have a website, a blog, or an article, then you attract clients from all over the world, specially if you use help from a web development company, you will simply have more strategies to do so.
Believing that you will not be able to help those in need if your fees are too high. Affordability is your projection onto a client. You won’t be able to help clients as much if your fees are too low. Keeping your fees low until you have more expertise, or a bestseller, or have a sufficient number of clients.
Deciding in advance that clients won’t pay. This is the coach’s money story projected onto the client. If someone says that they can’t afford you, that’s the person who most needs your services.
Over-delivering: Sessions run over; over-availability to clients; afraid to raise fees; compensating for self-doubt about value or fee.
Each of these mistakes has its own set of beliefs and behaviors. You can change any of them.
David Krueger, MD is Dean of Curriculum at Coach Training Alliance, CEO of MentorPath, and author of The Secret Language of Money (McGraw Hill), a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages.
Check out Dr. Krueger’s upcoming classes at Coach Training Alliance: https://www.coachtrainingalliance.com/upcoming-classes/
by Dr. Jackie Black
Intellectual Property (IP) is just a fancy way to identify your good ideas that would be helpful and valuable to others.
And BusinessDictionary.com explains that IP is documented or undocumented knowledge, creative ideas, or expressions of human mind that have commercial (monetary) value, are protectable under copyright laws from infringement, and is one of the most readily tradable properties in the internet (digital) marketplace.
Coaching is a seamless process and as such, that means it is all about your clients; and there really isn’t very much room for you to bring your good ideas, sage advice or offer helpful how-to’s.
That’s where your IP comes in!
When you learn how to identify your IP, you can literally spin one good idea (IP) into thousands of dollars of leveraged income! How is that possible, you ask? Because you will take that one good idea (your IP), repurpose it (develop a variety of products and services based on that one good idea) and monetize it, which means make lots of money!
Intellectual Property is valuable because it represents your ownership and your exclusive right to use, manufacture, reproduce, or promote your unique creation or idea. In this way, it has the potential to be one of the most valuable assets a person or a small business can own.
It is the obligation of every entrepreneur to leverage what you know by creating a whole variety of products and services based on your IP, at a number of different price points, while delivering non-stop value to your target market, and earning thousands of dollars by doing it!
The need for entrepreneurs to understand that you do NOT have to reinvent the wheel over and over and over again is essential to your long-term success and profitability.
Give strong consideration to believing that you have at least one good idea that you can spin into thousands of dollars; that you can become a subject matter expert, add massive value to those in your target. This intention produces higher fees and creates leveraged income for the long-term by repurposing and monetizing your IP!
Dr. Jackie Black, an internationally recognized relationship expert, has spent over 15 years in a corporate environment and built two successful businesses.
The Nuts and Bolts of Making Money Packaging What You Know
It is essential for entrepreneurs to understand it is NOT necessary to reinvent the wheel over and over and over to be successful over the long-term and to continually assure profitability.
Now you can learn how to leverage what you already know and create a whole variety of products and services from a single idea! If your company is in need of new materials, the go to A.J. Weller, there is lots of materials you will be able to use for a while.
On May 5th, Jackie Black, Ph.D., BCC, will be holding a Nuts & Bolts Workshop for those coaches and solo-prenueurs who can no longer afford to simply deliver services to clients and who realize the importance of maximizing their opportunity to create leveraged income.
Class size is limited and filling up fast so register today!
Learn more…
by Dave Krueger, M.D.
What’s your promise?
The answer: Your brand.
Your brand is an organizer for everything you do, for every connection with potential clients and readers, including website, blog, articles.. Your brand triggers meaning and connections; it carries its own value. Brand awareness is the link in the consumer’s brain between the brand name and certain associations about the product or service.
What’s the opposite of a brand?
The answer: Generic.
Our clients — and potential clients — consciously and unconsciously take notes on how we brand and value ourselves, charge what we’re worth, and handle the business of coaching. How we handle this will determine if we have clients, and how successful we—and they—will be.
Brand, value, fees, and best practices constitute four of the greatest challenges for the business aspects for Professional Coaches. And it is crucial to present a model of professionalism as we work with clients and in every aspect of our business.
Neuroeconomic studies show that we make purchase decisions at the midbrain level due to the psychological impact and associations we have to a brand. These midbrain preferences and decisions occur seconds before the choice and action registers in the logical brain—the prefrontal cortex. Once your unconscious mind makes an emotional commitment to a “yes” or a “no” it sends the conscious mind on the mission to gather all the logical reasons to support that decision. This rationalization is called confirmation bias.
Whoever has the best story wins. Storytelling excellence is not something you just pick up along the way. It is an art, a craft, and a discipline to be mastered.
David Krueger, MD is Dean of Curriculum at Coach Training Alliance, CEO of MentorPath, and author of The Secret Language of Money (McGraw Hill), a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages
Where will you be in 2020? This is a question for you to answer as well as one to put before your clients. Chances are you’ve already dropped into Possibility Thinking. This is good.
One of the distinct gifts of being human is our ability to create our own destiny. Isn’t it surprising how many people never accept this gift or just give it away, making someone else responsible for it?
Think about what can be done in five years. Better yet, think about where you were and what you were doing in 2009. This is always fun. Look at what has changed since then. Most likely, a lot. Were you even aware, for example, the profession of coaching existed?
Question
What are you thinking about doing right now that might take some time to come to fruition? Are you working on a degree or certification? Are you considering taking a course that would improve your coaching practice but would require time to complete?
Here’s the bottom line. The future is coming and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Your goals may take some work. Worthy goals usually do. You can either take action now; accomplish these goals and enjoy the rewards -or- you can still be putting them off, five years from now, because they take too long to achieve.
You get to decide — right now — where you want to be. Dream of the possibilities. Set the intention. If you could have it anyway you wanted, what would it be? What would it sound like, smell like, look like and feel like? Listen to your intuition. Breath it in. Envision your future. Embrace the moment.
Now, go out and make it happen. Make it happen for your family, make it happen for your clients, and –most of all– make it happen for you. It’s your destiny. Create it and it will come.
Will Craig is the Founder of Coach Training Alliance and holds a Masters Degree in Education and Human Development. He is co-author of the #1 best-selling coaching home study course – the Coach Training Accelerator.
by Jackie Black, Ph.D.
Did you know that there are people earning serious money just by offering teleseminars and onsite seminars? Many make hundreds of dollars in a few hours; some make thousands and others make tens of thousands of dollars in just a few hours.
TeleSeminars and on-site seminars are a wonderful way to get paid to market to prospective clients – and they can be very profitable as well.
So if you have specialized knowledge to share; and the desire to share it with an information-hungry world; AND you would like to make some money along the way; AND you would like to increase your visibility and credibility in your niche and in your community… teleseminars and on-site seminars might very well be for you!
Here’s the Formula
Registration Fee
+ Products you sell from the platform.
+ New business you generate just from people being able to spend a little time with you
and get to know you
= Your revenue
The seminar registration:
The total number of dollars you generate from people who attend your event –on the phone or on-site.
Product Sales:
Sales you make at the back of the room and orders that come in at any point after the seminar. The key to success in this area is to have a variety of products to sell at different price points.
Make sure that you create products that use the variety of learning styles: some people like to read; some like to listen; others like to watch; and still others prefer to experience something.
New Business:
Expect new business to continue to come in long after the teleseminar or on-site seminar is over. That’s the good news because this business will very likely represent the highest dollar value.
Short Presentations:
These are “talks” you give to service organizations, professional organizations and social clubs at their monthly lunch or dinner meetings. These “talks” are excellent opportunities to raise your visibility and credibility in your local community and to generate some new business as well.
Remember, people will hire you because they know you, like you and trust you!
TeleSeminars, on-site seminars and short presentations provide the perfect opportunity to accomplish just that!
Dr. Jackie Black, an internationally recognized relationship expert, has spent over 15 years in a corporate environment and built two successful businesses.
by Nan Einarson
Many people define listening as sitting quietly, while another person talks. Most are surprised to learn that listening is actually a 2-way, circular process. Effective Life Coaches understand the listening process, have mastered the techniques well, and employ effective listening skills in all of their communications.
Each of us has a personal filter through which verbal information flows. Our filters are based on our unique life experiences, education, culture, religion/spirituality, language, work/career, etc.
A speaker’s words are delivered through his/her personal filter. The listener hears those words through his/her own filter (created from their own life experiences, education, culture, etc.) In a coaching session, the Client is the speaker and the Coach is the listener.
The Client’s Words
When a client speaks, of course the coach will sit quietly and listen until the client finishes. That’s not where listening ends. That’s where the listening process begins, and the coach then has an active role to play.
After hearing and processing the client’s words, the coach formulates an interpretation of what the speaker said. It is then critical that the coach clarifies that what he/she heard was what the client intended, by voicing that interpretation in his/her own words.
In response, the client either acknowledges the accuracy of the interpretation, or re-frames/re-states the information and the process begins again, until the client and coach achieve a common understanding. Once there, the co-creative coaching relationship is fully engaged.
Whenever a coach fails to clarify his/her interpretation of the client’s words, the process breaks down. The resulting conversation will be based on assumptions, not reality, and the client has not been fully heard and understood.
Active listening is a skill and like any other skill, improves with practice. So, what’s the secret to being a Masterful Coach? Practice listening actively until it becomes habit.
Nan Einarson is a Mentor Coach and Trainer for the Certified Coach Program.
by Dave Krueger M.D.
Coaching is only beginning to be discovered by professionals in legal, financial, medical, and architectural arenas. These practicing professionals tend to be highly and specifically trained at what they do, think rigorously and want active collaboration.
They have in common a career dedicated to a body of knowledge, with clients or patients who come to them for the sole purpose of purchasing their expertise. Their precise training solves specialized problems of medical illness, emotional struggles, legal issues or tax matters.
Coaching professionals offers unique opportunities and challenges. They can benefit from coaching to:
- Know themselves better
- Understand the dynamics of human behavior
- Pursue personal development as vigorously as they pursue professional advancement
- Transition from work ethic to performance ethic
- Emotionally and strategically manage career transitions
- Market their expertise and business
Coaching this unique brand of client requires an in-depth look at the coaching theory and application that is useful for professionals. Get inside your client’s head to catalyze change and discover the most powerful and effective secret we have as coaches.
DAVID KRUEGER, M.D., Dean of Curriculum and Mentor Coach at Coach Training Alliance, is an Executive Mentor Coach who works with executives and professionals to develop and sustain success strategies. A former Professor, Psychiatrist, and Psychoanalyst, his coaching and writing focus on the art and science of success strategies: mind over matters.
Dave is author of 17 books on success, money, wellness and self-development. His latest book, The Secret Language of Money(McGraw Hill), is a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages.
How important are credentials? Do your clients expect you to be a certified coach? Will being certified make you a better coach? Will you need to be licensed at some point? These are all valid questions and each will generate a variety of responses depending on whom you ask.
The Reality
Rarely, if ever, will a prospect ask you if you are certified or where you received your training. What they are most interested in is what you can do for them. What benefits can you provide them? Can you help them achieve their goals? They are continuing their california center facilities for patients who no longer require the level of care dispensed by a hospital, but nevertheless requires continued care.
Rightly or wrongly people assume you are qualified at what you do. Think about it… When was the last time you asked a professional service provider where they went to school?
More Reality
Here’s what’s also true: With the ability for anyone to hang out their shingle and call themselves a coach, there’s an opportunity for the ‘less than genuine’ types to hurt the profession. Of course, a coach without integrity and honesty won’t be around long.
Your Reality
A piece of paper won’t make you a better coach. The process of becoming certified, however, can enhance your skills and hone your abilities to a higher level. Certification is only achieved through a combination of training and coaching as a professional. Ultimately, it will add to your credibility and self-confidence.
After hearing all sides of the issues—the benefits and disadvantages, the pros and cons—it comes down to a personal decision. What’s best for you? Is it something you want to aspire to in the future? Or, is this something you need to pursue right now? It’s your call, coach.
Will Craig is the founder of Coach Training Alliance and invites you to look at our Certified Coach Program.
Free Call January 17th at 1pm ET.
Purpose:
Help managers and employees take the first step as a coach during planning.
Sign Up Now!
Who should attend?
Managers responsible for executing organizational plans for 2014. Internal Business Partners, HR Business Partners and Talent Management Professionals who support managers or departments in meeting their strategic goals.
Format: 35 minutes, live tele-class on Wednesday January 17th at 1pm ET.
20 min presentation and 15 min Q&A. Focus will be on creating and executing plans to achieve goals set in 2014. Managers receive quotas/expectations/sales numbers/initiatives from upper management. They must develop a plan and map out how they will reach those goals.
- What is the role of coaching in supporting leadership as they Create a Plan, Identify opportunities, Move through unexpected blocks?
- What is the role of coaching when Strategy and Plans (goals/quotas/initiatives) are handed down to employees and communicated downstream?
- How do managers coach employees towards 2014 organizational goals?
Additionally, during December performance reviews, employees typically identify personal and professional goals for 2014.
- How are personal/professional goals aligned with the organizational goals?
- How do managers coach employees towards their personal/professional goals?
Sign Up Now!
by Chris Osborn
For so many people, the New Year comes with a “Resolution.” This act of resolving to do something can be filled with hope, powerful vision and embedded with expectation. Imagine what the birth of the New Year would bring if we turned this Resolution into Intention. As coaches, we can appreciate that this turn of words can be quite powerful, and in fact, reclaim what should be a positive fueling for the coming year.
With Resolution, we are talking about “doing.” With Intention, we are providing the critical balance of “being.” As we see now through the end of January, New Year’s Resolutions seem grounded in what we or society have deemed wrong and in need of a fix. Weight loss and issues around personal finance are consistently served up as areas where we need to resolve to fix something. Start a new diet with HIIT trainers. Stop spending. This resolve, while admirable and maybe even grounded in what might be good for us, paints change with the brush of a binary act. I resolve. I throw the switch. Presto! I am thin. I am wealthy. I am (insert baggage here).
As coaches we know, this rarely results in sustainable positive change. Let’s resolve to choose an Intention rather than a Resolution. An Intention is a positive directional desire grounded in a goal. It artfully recognizes the journey of change and begs the question of how an Intention is going to be supported. It is by its nature, less declarative and softer than a Resolution. Therein lies its power. An Intention opens the door for individuals and coaches to explore a desire, ask deep questions and ultimately, organically, build a support structure to explore and fuel positive change.
Come next year, the Intention may be the same as the year’s past. However, unlike a Resolution, you will not have failed to achieve your goal. You will instead be in a position to ask how far your journey has brought you. You will be in a place to appreciate not what was wrong with the past year or to try and fix it. Instead, you will be in a place to recognize what the journey yielded, and better yet, has still left to come.
The Faculty and Staff of CTA wish you a 2014 filled with Positive Intention and Fulfillment that Growth Provides!
Chris Osborn is the President of Coach Training Alliance. His lifelong learning includes experience as CEO of a large financial services company and founder of several growth oriented service companies.
by Rhonda Hess
“Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.”
– Malcolm S. Forbes
The close of the year is a good time to acknowledge your wins and mine the gold from your setbacks.
Start by recognizing what worked well in your coaching business. What new skills did you apply? How did your practice grow? Measure in percentages to see the impact. If you started with one client and went to four, you’ve had a 300% increase in the size of your practice! Whatever you accomplished is worth celebrating.
How’s That Working for You?
Now, what didn’t work for you? What got in the way of the results you wanted? What will you do differently next time? You know exactly what held you back. And that is a powerful piece of information you can leverage into greater success next year.
There are shortcuts to making it big in coaching on your own terms. Would you like to know them? Start by answering one question, and then we’ll talk about turning any of your “defeats” into victory in 2014.
What is the single greatest thing that held me back from having a prosperous coaching business this year?
Rhonda Hess is a Mentor Coach with Coach Training Alliance and founder of Prosperous Coach. She is also co-author of the #1 best-selling Coach Training Accelerator.
by Chris Osborn
A tree’s great balance in its growth is that between its roots and its expanding branches. As seasonal growth comes and goes, the underlying balance between that which foundationally holds it sound and that which feeds it whole carry on their dance. The tree offers a great organic example of the balance between “being” and “doing.” The branches and the glory of the leaves are the doing of our life – the evident growth, the colors, the sounds and even the smells of seasonal expansion and retrenchment. The roots are the being. Grounded in our experience and foundationally wrought from the seed, that is our being. In the healthiest of sense, roots and branches have a dependent relationship. This is no different for the client. In order to grow tall over the long term in a place of health, they must root down. This is the essence of balancing doing with being.
There are likely many analogies that a coach can use to make space for greater understanding by the client of balancing being and doing. First and foremost is to model it in their own practice – the living analogy that the client experiences in co-creative work. So ask yourself coach, are you rooting down to grow tall?
Chris Osborn is the President of Coach Training Alliance. His lifelong learning includes experience as CEO of a large financial services company and founder of several growth oriented service companies.
by Will Craig
As coaches, we spend the majority of our time helping others achieve their goals and dreams. We help clients come up with a game plan that is realistic, challenging, and workable. What about your game plan?
What is your vision for 2014? What resources are available to you to meet those goals? What steps will you take to be certain you are in the position to help others?
It’s Your Turn
It can be difficult sometimes to put our needs above others. After all, that’s our calling, isn’t it… to serve our clients? NEWS FLASH: It’s your turn!
No, not later… now!
We do our best serving others when our own needs and desires are satisfied. Over the next few days, schedule some quiet time with yourself to really determine what’s best for you. How will you maximize the talents you have in order to share those gifts with others?
For your coaching practice, consider implementing these three strategies (and others you come up with) to put you in a place of comfort, confidence, and certainty:
Game Plan Strategies
Raise your coaching fees and place potential new clients on a waiting list because your practice is full.
Resource
Accelerate the speed of your development as a coach by learning advanced techniques and strategies.
Resource
Throw a celebration party because you’ve earned your Certified Coach designation.
Resource
Will Craig is the Founder of Coach Training Alliance and is the past president of the International Coach Federation (ICF) Denver chapter.
by Chris Osborn & Will Craig
Bootstrapping is the act of building a business with little or no outside funding. Most all of us are familiar with this as 95 percent of small business owners struggle alone, typically relying on savings and early cash flow to get things going. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s no better feeling than becoming a self made success, elevating one’s self by grabbing the straps of our boots and pulling with great intention.
The phrase implies achieving the near impossible. The reality is that we know it can be done. Bootstrapping is akin to “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” When the situation becomes difficult, the strong work harder to meet the challenge and elevate their professional expertise. Isn’t this what coaching is all about?
In today’s world, bootstrapping has become common place in computing. “Booting up the computer” actually refers to the computers starting with a small amount of seed code and then using that foundational code to build a fully functional interactive and highly capable machine. What a great image and understanding for each of us to inject into our lives. A small amount of knowledge combined with energy, intention and process can yield an enriching and fulfilling career helping others.
With the New Year upon us, building on a great practice and enhancing our coaching knowledge is key to generating more cash flow. We can each grab our bootstraps and see our intention seed the foundational energy that brings great personal and professional success. Look down at your own boots…
What are you waiting for?
Chris Osborn is President of Coach Training Alliance. His passion for coaching comes from his own experience as a coaching client, executive, investor, and entrepeneur.
Will Craig is the Founder of Coach Training Alliance and is the past president of the International Coach Federation (ICF) Denver chapter.
by Nan Einarson
Many new coaches struggle with choosing on how to help with drinking to much, a very narrow, selective healthcare, when they’d rather tell the whole world about their new businesses. Successful coaches agree that if you’re marketing to a broad niche, you’re having trouble attracting clients.
Here’s some marketing magic –
Who doesn’t recognize McDonald’s restaurants, and their golden arches? Broadly speaking, their target market is busy, hungry people who don’t want to or don’t have time to cook. Does McDonald’s try to target every busy, hungry person in every marketing message?
Look at their marketing history –
- back in the day (in the ‘60’s), they targeted hard-working moms – “You deserve a break today!”;
- in the ‘70’s, they marketed to kids, with characters like Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar, and other characters, and introduced Happy Meals (smaller portions and a free toy);
- in the ‘80’s they offered Dads the “Big Mac” – Baby Boomers everywhere could rhyme off the ingredients (and probably still can today) – “2 all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun” – remember that?, and created Ronald McDonald House(s) charities, to support families with seriously ill children in hospitals;
- in the ‘90’s, they targeted the teen market with Justin Timberlake, rappers, hip-hop – “I’m lovin’ it!”;
- in the first decade of the 00’s, they marketed to the wellness-focused, healthy eating audience by introducing wraps, salads, and other alternatives to fried food, we try to vacuum seal as much food as we can to serve fresh food, we have not used vacuum sealers for too long because we recently found out about vacuum sealers from VacuumSealerResearch website, they have really good reviews and buyers guide. Visit sandwich shop kirkwood mo if you want to know more about a variety of gourmet options in our sandwich shop that will leave your taste buds wanting more. ;
- now, in the 10’s, nutrition-savvy parents are happy that every McDonald’s includes a playcentre, and offers healthy foods kids love (apples, grilled cheese, etc.).
By targeting different niches within their broad target market, they have created a loyal customer base that stretches across all demographics. They didn’t do it all at once. They developed leveraged, long-term marketing plans. You can also visit Money Metals on how to invest in silver bullion.
You can too – where will you start?
Nan Einarson is a Mentor Coach and Trainer for CTA’s Certified Coach Program. She is an experienced veteran of coaching and author of the Do It Yourself Relationship Repair Guide.
All of us @ Coach Training Alliance want to say Thank You!
If you are a veteran considering coaching – please call Lisa Pisano at 303 991 0388 today for an amazing offer to make starting your new coaching business a whole LOT easier…
by David Krueger, M.D.
Some time ago I saw a cartoon of a dog straining at its leash, barking ferociously at a cat, as if to say, “Just lemme at ’em.” The cat wasn’t too shabby – actually looked mean – and was at least as big as the dog. All of a sudden in the middle of a ferocious bark, the leash snapped so the dog was free to go after the cat. He looked astonished. Scared to death. He quickly grabbed the leash, ran back and tied a triple knot. Then, he could again safely strain at the leash and bark his fiery, “Just lemme at ’em.”
Every story of an obstacle has a shadow story of desire. The obstacle contains yet conceals the desire. What you seek is camouflaged in what you fear.
The secret hiding in the open is that an obstacle is the unconscious mnemonic of desire – it reminds you of what you want, but makes it safe to want if you’re afraid.
When viewing a scene in a film you don’t want to see, you cover your face with your hands as if to say, “No, I don’t want to look.” But then the desire creeps in and you peek through your fingers at what you’re drawn to see. The obstacle makes looking acceptable.
Sometimes we need an obstacle to free a desire. When the obstacle is unpacked, the forbidden desire also emerges. When Pandora’s box was opened, all of the evils were released into the world. Remember the last thing to emerge? It was hope.
Pay attention to the obstacles that you construct, especially to your vocabulary of impediments. Worry simply holds onto things, as a form of storage.
When you find yourself focusing on an obstacle (“I can’t find time to exercise”, “I can’t put away any savings”), reflect on the underlying desire. When you’re ready to consider that you create the obstacle, you’re also ready to consider the possibility of not creating it.
Imagine what it would be like to not create your obstacles.
DAVID KRUEGER, M.D., Dean of Curriculum and Mentor Coach at Coach Training Alliance, is an Executive Mentor Coach who works with executives and professionals to develop and sustain success strategies. A former Professor, Psychiatrist, and Psychoanalyst, his coaching and writing focus on the art and science of success strategies: mind over matters.
Dave is author of 17 books on success, money, wellness and self-development. His latest book, The Secret Language of Money(McGraw Hill), is a Business Bestseller translated into 10 languages.
Chris Osborn, president and chief executive of Coach Training Alliance discusses coaching and how he “got into it” with Maggie Shafer of the Northern Colorado Business Report.
Take a moment to read this Coaching Q&A learn a bit about our CEO.
http://www.ncbr.com/article/20131101/EDITION02/131039983/-1/EDITION
by Will Craig
How many times have you heard, ‘It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.’ People not only hear what you are saying, they feel what you are feeling. Your belief and mindset affect how you are being with people and how they respond to you.
Often times it’s not what you’re doing that counts. You can do all of the right things to get your business established but if you give sanction to the belief that you are not valuable, this will come across in unspoken terms as lack of confidence. People will feel your doubt. They will sense it and, in turn, will also doubt you.
On the other hand, if you are steadfast in your belief about yourself and believe that your coaching benefits people, you will notice a different response from them. The comfort and confidence you feel and demonstrate is felt by others and they respond to you with confidence.
You become magnetic because you are relaxed and comfortable. Whatever you believe about yourself comes across loud and clear. You can’t help this, it just comes through. The reason for this is that we are not human doings, we are human beings.
Will Craig is the Founder of Coach Training Alliance and holds a Masters Degree in Education and Human Development. He is co-author of the #1 best-selling coaching home study course – the Coach Training Accelerator.
The Question Is…
What is a legitimate coaching business model, that only takes the same marketing effort as one new one-to-one client, that leverages your time and your earning potential, and is highly profitable?
That’s right! Group Coaching!
We used to believe that group coaching was an extension of one-to-one work with our clients. We believed that we could only fill groups with the folks who were already in our “base”.
The truth is that Group Coaching is a legitimate business model. It takes the same marketing time, skill and effort to market, enroll and fill an entire Coaching Group as it does to get one new one-to-one client! Group Coaching is the best way to leverage your time and earning potential as a coach; meaning you serve more clients, in less time, for more dollars.
The Benefits
When you facilitate small coaching groups you…
- Position yourself very competitively in the marketplace;
- Create demand for your expertise;
- Deliver accessible, affordable and tremendously valuable services;
- Charge group clients less than your one-to-one clients;
- Greatly increase your own hourly earnings in the most highly profitable coaching service you can include in your mix of services.
In today’s economic environment people need our services more than ever before and we have an obligation to be available to support our clients. Group Coaching is a delivery system that allows us to do just that, at a price point that people can afford, and in a format that will leverage our time and be highly profitable.
I wish you well on your journey to Be, Do and Have everything in your life that supports and affirms your best and most brilliant, passionate Self!
Dr. Jackie Black is a mentor coach and trainer for Coach Training Alliance. She is an experienced veteran of group coaching and author of The Sage and Scholar’s Guide to Coaching Groups and facilitator of the upcoming Art & Science of Coaching Groups.
Follow Dr. Jackie on Facebook!
Our very own Lisa Pisano interviews Bob Brenner. Find out, in Bob’s own words, how being on ABC’s Extreme Weightloss changed his life, sparked the desire to become a coach and why he chose Coach Training Alliance for his coach training and certification.
Take a few minutes to listen to this lively interview and be inspired by his story of professional growth as a Certified CTA coach.
Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts with us!
*And be sure to follow Bob Brenner on Facebook – let him know we sent you there!
😉
The Art and Science Series
Devoted to helping you discover your area of specialization and developing it into a profitable coaching niche. Each program goes beyond the typical “how to” information (the science) and immerses the student in the subtleties and nuances (the art) that truly make for masterful coaching. Our Expert Guides, who are the best and brightest professionals in the industry, are contributing their expertise in these dynamic teleclasses.
Art & Science of Coaching Transitions
Successful Navigation of Life Changes helps you learn the art and science of strategic navigation of change and transition:
- Understand the dynamics and developmental stages of both change and transition
- Learn to avoid common derailments in change and transition
- Develop new skills for mentoring the transition passage
- Incorporate psychology and neuroscience to implement changes of mind, brain, and behavior
Starts Monday, October 7 @ 7pm ET
Learn More…
Art & Science of Coaching Career Transitions
Guiding Your Clients to Finding Work, Enjoying Their Work, and Enjoying Their Lives
Reinvention and multiple (different) careers are commonplace in today’s working world. These factors, along with the strong desire for a better quality of life inside and outside of work, are driving the demand and need for Career Coaches.
Most people in the workplace today live with change on a daily basis. They are in need of assistance, perspective and guidance on how to handle this change and use it to their advantage. Today, more than ever, people need career coaches to help them find new jobs, new careers, or deal with the new challenges (and opportunities) they encounter at work everyday.
Starts Saturday, October 12 @ 11:30am ET
Learn More…
Art & Science of Coaching Groups
Designing and Enrolling Small Coaching Groups
Are you ready to leverage your time and help more people make measurable and sustainable changes in their lives than you ever could coaching one client at a time?
Is it time to be a leader in the field and deliver the most highly profitable coaching service at the same time?
Decide today to join the top tier of coaches who are including Group Coaching on the list of services they offer and become knowledgeable about the design, development and enrollment of Small Coaching Groups.
Starts Monday, October 21 @ 9pm ET
Learn More…
Each and everyday at CTA we have the opportunity to talk with people who are looking at redeploying their talents into something “they love” or “makes a difference”. Most often we see these explorers choose coaching as a way to have fun, build a new career with flexibility and help others. Its legacy work at the individual level on up. The recent NYT article showed just one venue for this great work. What a fantastic way to extend ones professional relevance and enjoy the fruits of sage well earned.
by Dave Krueger MD
There are things we don’t want to happen, but have to accept; things we don’t want to know, but have to learn; people we can’t live without, but have to let go. And some things we can get ready for only after they’ve already happened.
The change is the event. The situation. You move to a new city, divorce, retire, experience a significant loss, take a new job, lose an old one, or change careers. As we focus on change, we address the rituals of change, the work tools, the strategic goals. And every ending begins something new.
The transition is the process. It’s the internal story of change: a shift in orientation, even in definition. In transition, we let go of the old story, the outlived chapter, and evolve into a new story. A new identity internalizes the changes to sustain and enhance them. Otherwise, this most powerful organizer of the human psyche, our identity, is what we return to no matter what new behaviors we engage in – unless we evolve our identity along with the new experiences. We can develop a transition story that provides the coherence to reassure in the present and foreshadow the future.
The ability to understand the dynamics of both change and transition, and to craft a meaningful story is essential to the success of dealing with significant life change. The strategically informed bridge between past and present creates a successful passage to the uncertain future.
There is both an art and science of coaching transitions: understanding the dynamics, developmental stages, and strategic steps.
It’s the ending that makes the beginning possible.
Dr. David Krueger MD, Executive Mentor Coach, and Dean of Curriculum at Coach Training Alliance, begins a new series: Coaching Transitions: Successful Navigation of Life Changes on October 7th, Mondays, at 7:00pm Eastern.
See below for more information.
Learn more…
