What IO Coaching Is…
Invisible Obvious coaching is a nuanced and holistic approach to better understanding you! We start with an assessment of your personality, values, work style, world view and other things and take the needed time to really unpack it. Then we take that knowledge to the next level with your team and your organization. ( Process )
I’m not going to be telling you what to do, but rather actively listening and asking questions to help you leverage a valuable outside perspective in order to help you become a better observer of yourself. By becoming observers of our own behavior, we can then start to identify the ways in which we can be better.
The Tools I’ll Use
● Inquiry - A lot of questions. Open questions. Probing and incisive questions. Questions designed to help you observe yourself on the playing field of life and work.
● Mirroring – I’ll share with you the patterns I’m seeing, changes in your observable body language, if and when it’s relevant and helpful. I’ll remind you of things you’ve said or committed to.
● Relevant Context – I’ll help you understand human behavior and intra- and interpersonal dynamics as I’m familiar with the unique context of being an entrepreneur, founder, executive, or individual contributor in the world of startups, scaling/growth-stage companies, venture, etc.
Coaching = Movement
Lastly, it’s helpful to think about my fractional growth work and coaching as being designed to get you somewhere you want to go.
What IO Coaching Isn’t …
Coaching Vs. Other Helping Relationships
IO coaching is different from other forms of helping (e.g. therapy, mentoring, advising, consulting, etc.).
Therapy
The therapist seeks to help a client move from an unhealthy understanding of their past that may have created limiting beliefs holding them back in the present to a healthier understanding of what happened in the past so that the client can become unblocked in the present.
Advising & Mentoring
Advising and Mentoring are similar, with one key difference. An advisor gives advice based on a similar macro context. A mentor is somebody who's done the exact same job as you.
Consulting
Consultants bring a certain skill-set or area of expertise to bear on a specific problem or challenge and may or may not be a part of the actual action of solving the problem, but they are definitely involved in diagnosing the problem and sharing recommendations.
An Ongoing Practice
Growth isn’t a linear process--it’s not like you go through Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, and you’re done. Rather, as a client, you’ll likely be moving through several concurrent change processes at once. Some of it may feel straightforward and simple, and other aspects may feel cyclical and drawn out. But having a model of how the change process works can help you feel less lost in the process and more confident that the work you’re doing is moving you forward.
