Frequently Asked Questions

What is leadership coaching?
Leadership coaching is about becoming the most effective leader you can be. It’s not about fixing your weaknesses; it’s about embracing who you really are.

It’s about tapping into your strengths, your gifts, and your unique abilities -- why you have been so successful so far.

Leadership coaching takes you to your next level -- and allows you to reveal the most powerful and influential person you can be, so others want to be a part of achieving the vision you set out before them.

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Why is leadership coaching so popular among executives and leaders?
In a word -- results. Leadership coaching accelerates the rate at which people achieve results. It increases productivity. And what’s more, it creates clarity around what leaders really want to accomplish. Imagine being able to be at your best, performing at your highest level, focusing on your clear long term goals, and building momentum over time to accomplish those goals. That would be a pretty powerful tool, wouldn’t it? No wonder more and more executives and leaders in all sectors are beginning to use coaching.

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How are changing demographics a factor in the increase in coaching?
First, we are now truly a global economy, and a highly competitive, rapidly changing one at that.  As a result, supervisors are managing many people and are often too busy to provide the kind of feedback their leaders deserve. Plus, they often already have very specific ideas about how you should perform. Leaders need professionals they can confide in, who don’t have a vested interest in how they do things. Coaching solves that need. You can count on your coach to be neutral and supportive, while holding you accountable to accomplish your benchmarks.

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Who does coaching work best for?

• If you are an executive who wants to make a change -- a professional coach can help you navigate the ever increasing complexities of your business in complete confidence.
• If you are a female executive -- professional coaching can really help you play to your strengths and balance all the competing demands you face.
• If you are managing teams -- professional coaches can help teams perform at higher levels.
• If you are a nonprofit leader - coaching can make the most of professional development resources and create the results you need -- with your board, your staff and your volunteers.
• If you are just starting out -- a professional coach can help jump start your career and help fast-track your learning, and quickly get you up to speed in new environments.
• If you are starting a new job -- or advancing to a new level -- “on-boarding” coaching helps executives hit the ground running and get off on the right foot, too.

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Why are more and more individuals hiring coaches?

• Individuals hire coaches for the same reason athletes hire personal trainers. They want to be in top shape. They want to learn a new sport. They want to run a big race. Maybe they’ve hit a plateau. Or they want to overcome an injury.
• Likewise, leaders may want to accomplish a big goal. They may want to perform better and get higher-level results. Perhaps they want to stretch in new areas and don’t know where to begin. Or maybe they’re stuck and want to tackle what has been plaguing them forever and holding them back from achieving their goals.
• Coaching can help individuals decide what they really want to do, how to go about accomplishing it and achieve the professional success they truly long for.

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Is coaching of value when starting a new job, too?
For employers, it’s critical to retain high-level new hires. Coaching gives organizations the kind of personalized, targeted support and accountability they need to help new leaders get acclimated, adjust to new cultures and navigate to new responsibilities. For new hires, coaching provides a wonderful sounding board and confidante to help ease the transition. The experience and wisdom of a leadership coach is just the kind of support you need to ensure success at the next level of your career.

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How do I know if I need a coach?

• Do you constantly find yourself second-guessing whether you’re doing the best you can?
• Do you want to reconnect to the passion you once had for your job? Do you feel drained and just going through the motions?
• Do you believe you’re missing something that is critical to your success?
• Do you lack complete confidence in your role or your abilities? 
• Do you wish you could be more like other leaders in the organization but believe you aren’t capable of doing what they do?
• Do you keep getting tripped up and don’t know why?
• Are you envious of others’ success?
• Are you ineffective at “managing up” to get the support you need from your supervisor or your board?
• Do you have trouble motivating others on your team?
• Are you frustrated by the lack of respect you feel you get?
• Do you wonder if your communication style is getting you the best results?
• Do you worry what others think of your style?
• Is your support at the office eroding and you have to decide whether to stay and increase your chances of success or possibly to move on?
• Do you want to make a shift but aren’t sure if or how to go about it?
• Do you want a promotion?
• Are you starting a new position?

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What results can I expect to achieve through coaching?

• You can expect to be a more effective leader. Why? Because of increased confidence in who you are and a whole new outlook on your leadership abilities.
• You can expect increased clarity about your essential strategy for success. And to be well on your way to implementing your essential strategy. You’ll be building momentum and achieving the positive results you want.
• Clients consistently report they have better networks and are networking internally and externally much more effectively.
• Increased effectiveness in “managing up”. Helping your boss or your board support you more fully and be better advocates for you within your organization.
• A better understanding of intergenerational issues. And the ability to lead and get the best results from your staff.
• New perspective around what is really holding you back from the success you seek. And specific strategies to overcome those obstacles.
• Increased motivation and productivity. A sense of accomplishment.

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How long do I need to get sustainable results through coaching?
Three months to six months will get you moving along the path to your success. Six months to a year and you’ll be really practiced at being at your best. And you get some great advantages working with a coach for six months or longer. For example, the Yes2Yes six-month program gives you unlimited access (not limited to “regular business hours”), priority responses to your phone calls and e-mail, as well as locking in your best time for coaching for the entire engagement. PLUS, you’ll have the flexibility to change that time when your situation changes.

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How can I determine if coaching is for me?

• Consider how your life would be different if you were more productive and more satisfied with your professional growth and development.
• Determine the benefit of increased staff retention.
• Cost out the high cost of turnover of that new employee you just brought on board.
• Ask yourself the cost of productivity lost on conflict within your team.
• What is the cost to you -- and to those you serve -- of not accomplishing what you want to accomplish as a leader?
• What is the opportunity cost of not focusing on improving your leadership at this time?
• Will increased productivity and confidence positively impact your career path?
• Will being a better leader motivate your team to increase productivity?
• Will improving your relationships and communication skills have a positive impact on your effectiveness?

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How is coaching different from other professional services?
(We want to acknowledge the International Coach Federation for providing clarity to this answer.)

Professional coaching is a distinct service which focuses on an individual’s life as it relates to goal setting, outcome creation and personal change management. In an effort to understand what a coach is, it can be helpful to distinguish coaching from other professions that provide personal or organizational support.

Therapy -- Coaching can be distinguished from therapy in a number of ways. First, coaching is a profession that supports personal and professional growth and development based on individual-initiated change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is forward moving and future focused. Therapy, on the other hand, deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or a relationship between two or more individuals. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past which hamper an individual's emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with present life and work circumstances in more emotionally healthy ways. Therapy outcomes often include improved emotional/feeling states. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one's work or personal life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action, accountability and follow-through.

Consulting -- Consultants may be retained by individuals or organizations for the purpose of accessing specialized expertise. While consulting approaches vary widely, there is often an assumption that the consultant diagnoses problems and prescribes and sometimes implements solutions. In general, the assumption with coaching is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.

Mentoring -- Mentoring, which can be thought of as guiding from one’s own experience, or sharing of experience in a specific area of industry or career development, is sometimes confused with coaching. Although some coaches provide mentoring as part of their coaching, such as in mentor coaching new coaches, coaches are not typically mentors to those they coach.

Training -- Training programs are based on the acquisition of certain learning objectives as set out by the trainer or instructor. Though objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path which coincides with an established curriculum. Coaching is less linear without a set curriculum plan.

Athletic Development -- Though sports metaphors are often used, professional coaching is different from the traditional sports coach. The athletic coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs the behavior of individuals or teams based on his or her greater experience and knowledge. Professional coaches possess these qualities, but it is the experience and knowledge of the individual or team that determines the direction. Additionally, professional coaching, unlike athletic development, does not focus on behaviors that are being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the focus is on identifying opportunity for development based on individual strengths and capabilities.

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What is unique about Yes2Yes coaching?
What’s most unique about Yes2Yes coaching is its belief in you. Yes2Yes believes you have the capacity to achieve exactly what you want, and we help you create the clarity to do just that. Optimism. Positive leadership. Possibility. That’s what we’re all about. So we first and foremost want to build your confidence in your abilities, strengths and gifts. Build upon your success, really. Yes2Yes loves to work with successful people and organizations to help them be even more successful. That’s where we’re most effective.

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When can I start?
You can start as soon as there is an opening in our schedule. Based on experience, that is often within a month of initial contact.