Frequently Asked Questions
Q: WHAT IS STUDENT SUCCESS COACHING?
Student Success Coaching is an iterative, targeted, interactive process designed to facilitate concrete changes in performance—and school related outcomes. I help students achieve their goals through pointed conversations that are intended to inspire new thinking, perceptions and behavior that actualize their potential, improve their performance and create focus and directional clarity.
Q: WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF A COACHING RELATIONSHIP?
The objective is to focus on your potential (your unrealized ability, capacity or possibility) by leveraging your strengths, uncovering what’s in your way, and targeting the areas you are most interested in addressing to help you reach your goals more effectively.
Q: WHAT DOES A COACH DO?
Listen, ask focused questions, challenge, and acknowledge
Promote intentional thought, build awareness, and encourage positive behavior change.
Apply enough dynamic tension to illicit growth, development, and positive behavior change.
Facilitate meaningful client skill building/action plans and hold them rigorously accountable to meeting their self-created goals.
Q: CAN I CHANGE THROUGH COACHING?
Yes, you can. I’ve seen many clients change in intentional ways. And they’ve likely had ambitions, goals, concerns and challenges that are similar to yours. Coaching can be the catalyst to profoundly shift the trajectory in school and life.
Q: HOW OFTEN WOULD WE MEET?
We will meet either every week or every other week depending on your goals and progress. This is enough time for reflection and application of learning between sessions, while maintaining the momentum of our work together.
Q: WHERE DO WE MEET?
In order to make coaching as convenient as possible for you, I offer both video conferencing and phone conferencing options. Field experiences are conducted on-site at various locations.
Q: HOW LONG DOES THE COACHING PROCESS TAKE?
The time frame can vary greatly and depends on a wide range of factors: your goal(s), your commitment and openness to change, your capacity for introspection, your circumstances, how quickly and thoughtfully you complete homework assignments, and other unique factors.
Q: WHAT IF I WANT TO END MY COACHING ENGAGEMENT?
You may choose to terminate work at any time, although it is helpful for me to have a week’s notice in order to prepare a final session that focuses on review and closure. Ultimately, that decision is up to you.
Q: HOW IS COACHING DIFFERENT FROM THERAPY?
The differences between coaching and therapy are:
Coaches focus on the present and future. Therapists tend to dive back into the past to find the origns.
Coaches center their work around the belief that clients are healthy. Therapists utilize a framework that is based on pathology.
Coaches work with the conscious mind. Therapists work with the unconscious mind.
Coaches’ work is often time-limited with specific desired behavioral outcomes.
There are similarities between coaching and psychotherapy as well. They are:
Both are concerned with making concrete changes in your emotional state and life.
Both work to understand the self-limiting beliefs or behavior caused by thoughts and emotions that you may or may not be aware of.
Both practices help you grow, change and master your emotions.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS LIKE?
Each coaching engagement starts with a 15-30 minute introduction meeting intended to gauge coach-client fit and set the foundation for a positive and productive coaching experience by discussing the coaching process and defining roles and responsibilities.
The introduction meeting is followed up with a 45-60 minute information gathering session. This session is designed to strengthen the coach-client connection and build a greater understanding of the background, current challenges and overall goals of the client.
During the coaching phase, the coach and client engage in weekly or bi-weekly 45 minute coaching sessions. Each session works to expand the client’s awareness, develop skills, and designate actions that align to the client’s overall coaching goal(s).
Q: WHAT IS THE COACHING STYLE THAT YOU WOULD EMPLOY IN OUR WORK TOGETHER?
The foundation of my coaching incorporates these primary styles:
Transformation-oriented: Although change in individuals is often measured on a behavioral basis, real change happens below the surface on a deeper level. Cultivating self-awareness, recalibrating your observational perspectives, and promoting paradigm shifts can yield huge personal and professional dividends and deep change.
Results-oriented: While I understand that it is the process that will get us to the result, I are not attached to a particular tool, technique or approach. This means that if something isn’t working, you and I will quickly apply a new strategy or approach. My primary style is very pragmatic with targeted strategies and tools often used to promote more effective action to achieve goals more quickly.
Direct: Honest, crucial conversations, when appropriate, are met head-on without reservation.
Holistic: While I may focus our work in a very targeted way, my coaching approach is holistic, integrative and systemic. I know that a change you make in one area often influences and impacts another.