Frequently Asked Questions

Coaching is an interactive, thought-provoking partnership that inspires clients to maximize their personal and professional potential, often unlocking untapped sources of imagination, creativity, productivity and leadership. Rather than giving advice, coaches gather information in the co-created process of change to help clients re-frame, shift perspective, and redefine themselves and their situations. 

Coaches act as thinking partners for those who are often stuck inside their stories and perceptions. They help clients think more broadly for themselves, beyond their fears, inherited beliefs, and limiting assumptions. Coaches asks questions from a place of curiosity to encourage growth and change; and they recognize that their clients are whole and have the answers inside themselves. Coaching is:

• Client-directed and client-focused
• Co-equal partnership
• Co-created process for change
• Focuses on the here and now
• Defines future vision
• Action- and goal-oriented
• Specific and measurable 

The coaching relationship is bound to confidentiality by the International Coaching Federation's Code of Ethics. While the coaching relationship is not considered a legally confidential relationship (like in Medicine or Law), confidentiality begins the moment we connect, during our coaching relationship and afterwards.

The time that your coaching process takes depends on the complexity of your goals and your commitment and openness to your process. We recommend four sessions as a baseline to see the benefits of your coaching relationship.

Coaching doesn’t spend a lot of time exploring the past. Rather, coaching focuses on defining a future vision and developing a tactical plan to set and achieve goals. Therapy, on the other hand, supports those experiencing psychological anguish so acutely that it interferes with their everyday life. Therapy is meant to generate awareness that inspires healing to help patients return to life in a more functional way. Therapy works with the past to process healing, whereas coaching picks up where therapy leaves off to move clients toward future goals.

Appreciative Inquiry is a technique used in Person-Centered* coaching. It is an alternative to focusing on problems and problem solving. Focusing on problems often results in solving the wrong one or causing a more serious problem to surface. Appreciative Inquiry helps clients discover and build upon past and present successes to discover ways to move forward with positive intent. (*Sheryl Bird is a Person-Centered coach)

Active Listening is a technique used in Person-Centered* coaching. It supports the client's bravery and creates a safe space for the client to engage in authentic self-expression. By listening fully and approaching everything from a place of curiosity and non-judgment, coaches shine a light on blind spots and build upon the client’s ideas to create action steps for new ways of thinking, seeing and doing. (*Sheryl Bird is a Person-Centered coach)

Anyone can call themselves a coach. But ICF-credentialed coaches are professionals who have met stringent education and experience requirements, and have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the coaching competencies that set the standard in the profession. Additionally, they adhere to strict ethical guidelines as part of ICF’s mission to protect and serve coaching consumers.