Why Coaching?

What is Coaching?
Why do you predominantly coach over the telephone instead of in person?
How is coaching different from therapy?
Why does coaching work?
Can’t my friends do this just as well?
Who hires a coach?

What is Coaching?
Coaching is about empowering clients. It’s a fairly new profession and coaches:

  • Ask clients to stretch themselves to do more than they would have done on their own.
  • Focus clients to more quickly produce their desired results.
  • Provide structure, support, processes and tools for clients to accomplish more.
  • Provide insight and perspective to empower clients to breakthrough their personal barriers.

Why do you coach over the telephone instead of in person? Is telephone coaching effective?
Curiously and unexpectedly, coaching is often more effective and efficient for the client when conducted over the telephone. The reason is that we spend a lot of energy when interacting in person, distracted with the body language of the other person, making sure our own body language is appropriate, sometimes distracted by other visible elements such as pictures, a dusty table, etc.

When the coaching is held over the phone, all of that attention can be focused inwardly, to find the answers from within. The client may close his/her eyes, pace, and take notes without worrying about how the coach may perceive such actions. The client’s voice tells the trained coach quite a bit of information about the client’s state of mind, which may reveal some interesting insights for the client to ponder. I also find that having that sense of anonymity is also comforting, particularly executive clients. Conducting coaching over the telephone also saves the client time and enables him/her to even ‘meet’ during a work/lunch break.

How is coaching different from therapy?
Broadly speaking, coaching doesn’t get into healing the past or trying to understanding human behavior. We leave that up to the client to know and figure out, or to work on with other service providers. Coaching helps clients to move forward and set personal and professional goals that will give them the life they really want to be moving towards.

Can’t talking to my friends be just as effective as coaching?
Friends are great! However a friend often can’t be objective, nor do they often want you to change and grow very much. A trained coach has the skills and resources to provide a structure and process to help you move towards your goals. A coach also can provide the objective messages that no one else in your life will tell you. Have a coach and a best friend!


Coaching works for several reasons:

  • Synergy between the coach and client creates momentum.
  • Better goals are set — ones that naturally pull the client toward the goal rather than goals that require the client to push themselves to the goal.
  • The client develops new skills, and these skills translate into more success.

Who hires a coach?
People who are at the top of their field and want to stay there, or those who want to be. People at the top of their field are looking for someone to tell them what they need to hear, sometimes the hard truth. They value the outside objective perspective of a coach who doesn’t have any hidden agenda or conflict of interest.

Fee schedule?
Four levels are available to meet the needs of my clients for the following reasons:

First, of course, is from a budgetary stand point. I don’t want money to stand in the way of you moving forward towards your goals.

The second reason is urgency. Perhaps you are between jobs and want to fully leverage this opportunity of time to fully explore different options. Working on a weekly basis would probably make sense here. Or, perhaps you want to start planning out your retirement strategy targeted to occur a few years out. In this case the Bronze level may make more sense.

Next is the situation of time. Executives often find themselves in the situation that as soon as they hang up the phone with his/her coach, their direct reports or family are demanding his/her attention. For this reason executives often choose the Platinum level as it provides a weekly forum for being able to strategize and bounce around ideas.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, is the factor of the client’s personality. Some clients do a lot of their work between calls, and use coaching for staying on track and navigating a few glitches. Others find that they do their best work thinking out loud. These clients can make tremendous shifts during the calls, as hearing themselves talk things through can often lead to aha moments. In this case the Gold or Platinum levels provide the longer, more frequent sessions to provide the environment for the client to rapidly reap the benefits of coaching.

All monthly retainer fees include quick calls and unlimited email support between sessions.

Client Testimonial: “During my two-month coaching experience with Gwyneth Anne… I experienced accelerated growth equivalent to one year…”

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