Diane Birch Business Coaching Solutions

Questions & Answers

1. How long have you been coaching?

I’ve been coaching now for about 10 years. My clients have ranged from 14 year olds who have a low self esteem, to Directors of businesses who have lost their motivation or are so stressed they can’t sleep, let alone think!

2. Have you had any successes? What were they?

I am very pleased to say that I haven’t had a single client who has not achieved what they set out to achieve with me.

3. Have you had any situations where you have been unable to help a client? What happened?

I did have a client once who admitted to being addicted to cocaine. This was detrimental to the coaching process and with the best will in the world it wouldn’t have mattered what I had done, as I would have been fighting against her addiction. We discussed this and I declared that I could not continue with the coaching relationship. This shocked her so much that she admitted to herself that her drug use was not the occasional habit that she had convinced herself it was and she sought professional help. She came back to me 6 months later to resume the relationship and was successful in achieving her goal.

4. Would you explain to me the difference between Coaching and Counselling?

A very basic description is that Counselling looks at your past history and works on the ‘why you are the way you are’.

Coaching very much looks at the future and helps you to identify your goals and plan to achieve the life you want. We do this by helping you to understand your values, beliefs and principles and eliminating the barriers that are in the way of you achieving the success and happiness you deserve.

5. Will you expect me to do any exercises in between our sessions?

There will be a certain amount of ‘homework’ but it is limited and will not require much physical effort! It will however provoke you to think about things and examine your feelings and motivations.

6. How will I know when I am ready to stop our sessions? How many do you think I might need?

There is no ‘one stop shop’ or ‘one size fits all’ in Coaching, but in saying that most of my clients have achieved excellent progress between 5 and 10 sessions. We will continuously discuss the time lapse between our sessions (normally between 2 weeks and 1 month) and you will be very clear yourself once you are at a point that you no longer require my services. There is nothing I like better than to lose a successful client!

7. Will you give me advice about the things that are going wrong in my life?

We will discuss how your life is working and what it is that you want to change; together we will then draw up an action plan to achieve it.

8. Will you expect me to open up about things that are personal to me?

In any Coaching relationship it is inevitable that personal issues will come to the fore but it is up to you whether you want to discuss them with me. In saying that everything we discuss is confidential and sometimes it does help to talk about these things as they can be the very barriers that are holding us back!

9. What can I expect from you in this coaching relationship?

I will never judge you, I will support you, I will be your confidant and mentor, I will challenge you and I am very direct in my approach. I will always be honest with you, which can sometimes be very hard to take. I will push you and champion you to achieve more than you ever thought possible. Change isn’t easy, but it will be easier with me by your side.

10. Will all of our conversations be confidential? Will you take notes and if so where will you keep my case notes?

Totally confidential, I will take notes and if you want me to I will write them up for you after the session so that you can reflect on what has been said/achieved.

All case notes are kept in a secure cabinet of which I am the only keyholder.

11. Will I need to prepare for our coaching session in any way?

Only by coming with an open and willing mind.

for more information, please call: 01268 680753