What is coaching? 

Coaching is partnering with a client i.e. you, the Coachee in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires you to maximise your personal and professional potential to bring forth desired results. 

 

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Who is a Coach?

A coach is a trained and ethically bound professional, that enhances change like a catalyst, showing you your blind spots like a mirror and staying alongside you like the bank of a river until you are ready to merge into the ocean.

 

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What does the coaching process involve?

As the Coachee you are always the center of the coaching session, i.e. you decide the agenda of the session. The Coach proceeds to ask a series of powerful questions and engages you in deep conversations. As the Coach presents an objective perspective to you, insights unfold for you.

 

The coach uses active listening to hear what you say or don’t say. Very often clients talk about something but the real issue is something else! The coach holds a confidential space for you to explore and talk freely without judgment. When the coach reflects what you are saying, you realizes what you sound like to another person. Although each conversation is unique, most coaching conversations attempt to answer the following series of questions:

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• What do you really want? Why do you want it? How will you know you are there?

The coach helps you get more clarity about the goal and set ambitious but practical goals, which are measurable.

• How do you plan to get there?

This is the planning and strategizing stage. What are the obstacles? What is holding you back? The coach works with you to draw up an action plan and acts as a sounding board to help you figure out what might be the best course of action. The coach may observe blind spots and an entirely different perspective may emerge for you. Also, at every step of the way, if you wish so, the coach is also an accountability partner and therefore has the right to ask you – Have you done your committed tasks set for the last week? When you know you are answerable to that question, you most likely follow through on commitments!

• How will you maintain the momentum?

Once you achieve what you want, the next question is – how do you keep this up? At every small step taken towards your goal, the coach encourages and acknowledges your achievement. This sense of validation goes a long way in increasing self-confidence and self-esteem. You begin to make inherent changes in your self-talk - I HAVE DONE IT AND I CAN DO IT AGAIN!

 

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How is coaching so effective?

Coaching is the only life tool that makes the Coachee do all the work in the presence of the Coach, which in turn becomes a deep dive experience despite the seemingly huge hurdles and dark clouds there seem to be at the start. The Coach and Coachee come into the session with an open mind to get to the root of the whole problem at hand while keeping the goal in focus. The Coach supports and believes in the client’s ability to find their solutions as 100% and hence there is no need for advice! The overall essence here is that it is possible to make a change because I believe YOU are WHOLE and you have the ability to bring about change in your life ... because you are enough!

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Is coaching like therapy or counseling?

Coaching is neither. Therapy or counseling looks at the past to resolve issues whereas coaching is focused on the future or in the here and now. If a person is emotionally disturbed or traumatized, then they need to see a psychologist. People with serious mental illnesses need a psychiatrist. They need medical intervention or therapy, not coaching. In some cases, post a therapy engagement, the individual may be ready to be coached. This decision is entirely up to all the professionals involved.

 

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Is coaching the same as consulting or mentoring?

Coaching is neither. A consultant is an expert and will charge you a hefty fee top study your situation and give you advice. A mentor is at the top of their game and when giving you advice or imparting skills – they may or may not charge you a fee for their perspective. Your coach, on the other hand, will not offer you advice but will help you explore and examine all the options available to you. But the decision is always yours to take.

 

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Who can benefit from coaching? How do I know coaching is for me?

Everyone, in my opinion, needs a coach, whether the Coachee is of any gender, age, profession, class, religion, etc. When I started work with my own coach, I didn’t realize how much there was for me to figure out. Hiring a coach does not mean something is wrong with you. In fact, it is an investment in yourself!

 

On the contrary, because coaching does not look at the past, it is a builder-upper of new dreams, clearing clouds, setting and achieving the vision, achieving bigger milestones and so much more … Coaching is actually a reward for high potentials, for leaders, people making life transitions. Of course, you can achieve your goals by yourself. But it is much quicker when you have a coach alongside you.

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What are the topics that I could get coached on?

The various areas I have worked on with my clients include:

• Workplace challenges – conflict management, team building

• Vision setting and adoption

• Work-life balance

• Searching for one’s life purpose

• Career change

• Starting a new business

• Taking your business to the next level

• Relationships coaching with the partner / children / parents / friends

• Health and fitness 

• Parenting

• Career planning

• Leadership

• Practicing Forgiveness/ Mindfulness

 

As your coach, I can even help you figure out what is most important for you to work with. Some topics flow into each other or have a common thread, thus allowing you to resolve several issues at the same time! The possibilities are endless really and all open for you to pick.

 

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Will there be a contractual agreement?

Yes. There is always a contract once the engagement details are agreed upon, and it is signed by your Coach and you. All terms and conditions of the contract will be mentioned in the agreement.

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Is there a minimum commitment?

I encourage my clients to sign-up for a minimum of 6 coaching sessions which are for an hour each. Change requires time and patience and hence we will agree to give the engagement a reasonable span of time in order to see significant results. However, it is entirely up to you to decide how many sessions you want to have. I offer single one time sessions too, if you so wish.

 

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How do your coaching sessions work?

We will initially do the first free chemistry session to get to know each other and develop a basic comfort of working together. This session gives you the opportunity to understand what coaching could do for your life situation. For me, it clarifies what your coaching needs may be. During the session, we could also finalize the details of the coaching package you wish to pick. Thereafter, once the agreement is signed and payment is made, we can start coaching immediately.

 

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How often will we meet for coaching?

I usually meet my clients in person (if mutually convenient) or virtually once in a week. However, if your schedule does not permit weekly sessions, we could customize sessions as per your calendar.

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Can I connect with you between sessions?

Yes, you may connect via email or do a quick call or on WhatsApp to share something that cannot wait until the next session. There will be no additional charge for this service.

 

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What about missed sessions?

If a scheduled session is missed without prior notice or it is a “no-show”, the session will be fully charged for. However, if you cancel a session 24 hours or more in advance, there is no deduction. We will then simply reschedule the session. Please remember that frequent cancellations disturb the flow of the process. Therefore, my request would be that as far as possible, try not to cancel/reschedule sessions.

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What if I travel a lot?

It does not matter which part of the world you are located in since almost all my coaching clients prefer to have their sessions done via Zoom/ Skype/ FaceTime – these are great platforms to connect on. Needless to say, prior intimation by both parties about travel plans helps schedule calls at mutually convenient times.

 

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What are your coaching hours like?

Currently, I reside in Mumbai, India, and am available to coach from 8.30 am IST (India Standard Time: GMT + 5.5hours) to 9.30 pm IST.

 

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What are your payment terms?

Except for the free first session, payments for all the scheduled sessions must be made prior to the first session!

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CONTACT ME at priyasharmashaikh@gmail.com

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OR, Book a FREE Sample COACHING SESSION today!