See What a Coaching Cycle with me looks like.
Nowadays, leadership coaching is no longer an unknown term, especially for those who have already tried it. But for many leaders or employees who have no experience with coaching, it can be difficult to imagine a coaching session at first. That's why this blog post is all about giving you greater insights into my coaching.
Why is coaching valuable? What skills can you learn? How does my leadership coaching look like? And what do 6 coaching sessions/one coaching cycle with me bring you? I answer those questions below.
Special thanks to my coachee Michael Dustmann, Team Lead at netgo, for letting me share our coaching picture. I appreciate the support and the great time with you during our year of coaching. All the best for you in the future! :)
Why do Coaching?
Whether you have just started in a leadership position, have been leading a large team for years or simply want to try out coaching: Coaching is valuable for everyone! Coaching is all about you and your ability to lead!
As a certified coach, I have my methods and tools to best support and accompany you on your coaching journey. For example, I use my self-designed Soccer Field Model©️ or the Visions Burger as methods. Nevertheless, each coaching session is different and customized to your needs. During each session we talk about the questions that are on your mind, but also about the solutions and how you develop yourself.
Depending on the topic, we will develop strategies and use tools to support you in effectively dealing with situations in both your professional and private life. You will learn how to approach difficult conversations more effectively and therefore you'll learn how to respond more quickly. Here are a few examples of themes we could work on:
How can I give feedback effectively?
How can I delegate tasks?
How do I set limits?
How do I stay calm during difficult conversations?
How do I decide quick and effectivly?
How do I manage my time successfuly (e.g. calendar management, email management)?
How do I create a"we-feeling" in my team?
How do I motivate & develope employees?
How do I embrace my own leadership style?
Two Examples in more Depth:
Many of my coachees are not sure how they should behave or react in conversations with their employees. That's why in our coaching sessions we focus, among other things, on how they can handle conversations. Especially for managers it is important to know: How do I give effective feedback? How do I motivate my employees? How do I remain appreciative, but at the same time communicate my expectations? A common question is also how to strengthen the "we-feeling" in the team. I ask those coachees many questions and we talk about their own understanding of their roles and how satisfied they are with their own boundaries. Of course, I support them here with tools that may surprise you as well.
A constant companion and also the starting point of my coaching sessions is the topic of inner peace. Many managers and employees feel a lot of pressure and stress in their daily work. In coaching sessions I like to say:
"When a barrel is full, you can't put anything else in it. It's the same with you and your employees. When you're at your limit, you can't do more. Therefore, we have to reduce this weight of your shoulders with simple methods. If we practice this a bit, at some point you will only need a small imagination exercise to be able to take a step back and find your inner peace."
At the beginning, this usually seems difficult, because the coachee doesn't know any effective methods for how to find inner peace. Therefore, we work on integrating tools that help you find your inner peace. If you want to know more about inner peace, check out this blog post.
What is a coaching cycle? And How do 6 coaching sessions with Coco look like?
Before starting the coaching journey, I recommend every coachee to book a inital call with me first to check whether the chemistry fits. Additionally, this helps you to get an idea how I can help you. Then we start with the first coaching cycle of 6 sessions. This cycle should not be seen as a collection of single sessions, but as a 3 month process and a journey together. While even a single coaching session is effective, however, 6 coaching sessions will bring more confidence and joy in your own role. It takes time and also a little bit of effort to bring about change. Therefore 6 coaching sessions are a good choice in terms of length.
To give you a better idea, I would like to tell you more about the individual sessions:
1. Session: In the first session we get to know each other better and define your goals for the coaching. But don't worry! I will guide you through this process by asking you some questions. Such questions are: "How satisfied are you with your resilience? Your inner peace? Giving feedback? Delegating? Your tone & anger management? How satisfied are you with your ability to say "no"?"
2. - 5. Session: In these sessions we work on your goals. Of course, there could be always something new on your mind what we could focus on. Therefore, I start each session by asking you what you have experienced since the last time we saw each other and I ask what our common goal for today's session is . During the 45 minutes we use different tools and adapt them to your needs. At the end it is always important to know: "What do you take away from today?
6. Session: In the last session, we evaluate what we have accomplished, how far we have come and what comes next. Of course I would be happy if you want to be supported by me in the future and are interested in continuing the coaching journey with me. But even if you want to work on your development alone , we will discuss what you can take with you.
7 Reasons Why 6 Coaching Sessions are Worth it
To put all possible concerns aside, I would like to give you 7 reasons why 6 sessions can be a valuable start for you:
Reduce stress & find joy: in your own role! Coaching is a process in which you are not alone. You don't need to know or prepare anything in advance. I guide and accompany you through your coaching journey. For example, some of my coachees are thinking about changing jobs or are unhappy because things are not going well in their team. We can talk about these challenges together and work on how you can best deal with this situation.
Receive methods & tools: With the help of my methods, I can give you helpful and long-term tools that you can use in the future. They help you to delegate, to set limits, to find inner peace, to strengthen your team and much more! You will enjoy using those methods in your professional and private life.
Optimize your negotiation skills: Difficult conversations need negotiation skills, and these can be learned. Don't give away your voice without thinking. Learn how to position yourself and how to convey your convinced vision in the best possible way.
Strengthen your inner calm & take care of yourself: Often we are very strict with ourselves. In coaching, we learn to navigate the inner critic and focus on our deeply held beliefs and strengths. This supports your resilience and let's you focus on what is important. Your own health is always reason enough to go through your daily life mindfully and self-determined.
Embrace your authentic leadership style: Your experience and gut feeling are your best guide. You will realize that you do things exactly the way you want and are exactly the way you want to be. Your individual style and pace are yours, keep it.
Strengthening the "we-feeling": Whether digitally or in person, in coaching you can learn how to authentically and quickly build trust in your team. This also helps to strengthen the "we-feeling" very easily. Team meetings are an important part of being "close" to your team as you can engage with the whole team.
Ask new questions: In coaching you learn to ask new questions. This is true for asking yourself as well as your employees new questions. You can't know everything. So in our coaching, I show you how to guide your conversations. Think of it this way: We work on you passing the ball to your employees and helping them to develop instead of catching and receiving every ball yourself.
In the 6 sessions, we can focus on your very personal questions about leadership. It is all about you and that you feel supported in your personal development. There are no taboos.
What Else?
Humor should not be missing in a coaching. People like to laugh and are thus much more open to learn and develop.
All coaching sessions can be scheduled according to your needs. If you live in Berlin like I do, we can have coaching in person, but virtual coaching is also very convenient and offers you a lot of flexibility. Good to know: Virtual coaching can be just as effective and personal as in person.
6 sessions is a good length. On the one hand, you can try it out but on the other, you also already see a development. In addition, you can have a first meeting with me for free before the 1st session. Some of my coachees add one or multiple coaching cycles. However, I also have coachees with whom I have been working with for 6, 12 or 24 months or even longer.
If you feel like learning more about my coaching, feel free to listen to the experiences of my coachees. In this blog post, Annabelle, Namakau and Ulrike share their coaching journey with me.
If you are interested in having coaching sessions with me, feel free to reach out to me! You can book a first, initial meeting in my calendar above or write an email to: coco@cocodecrouppe.com
I hope you enjoyed the article. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! :)