How can you handle so many different types of services?

My Whole Life offers four different types of coaching.  We cover a large area, because the knowledge we have to share is broad and based on broad personal experience with both areas of life – professional and personal. Plus, the precision questioning and support is the same irrespective of the area.

How is confidentiality handled?

All information shared in coaching will be kept strictly confidential.  No information will be released to anyone without written permission from you, except as required by law. 

Who is the ideal client?

Our ideal clients are people who strive for the highest good and positive change in the world. They seek meaningful work that fulfills their true potential. Our clients define success in a more holistic way, where success is measured not only what you do for your work, but also your legacy whether it be your children or community service. Our clients are committed to their personal growth, internally motivated, and open minded. 

What to look for in a coach?

Coaching has experienced tremendous growth with virtually no regulation.  Almost anyone can say they are a “coach.” The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is setting standards in the US and abroad, anticipating future regulation.  So look for a coach who has graduated from an ICF accredited program or obtained a Certified Professional Coach (CPC).  You can find the list of accredited training programs by going to: http://www.coachfederation.org/training/programs.asp?prog=1.  Also find someone you feel comfortable with, who has work or life experience that is relevant to you.   A trial session with any prospective coach will give you a better sense of her/his abilities, philosophy, approach, tone and manner.

How does coaching compare with participating in a workshop or reading a book?

There are many ways for a person to experience personal growth.  Coaching is a highly effective and very personalized way of experiencing growth and learning.  Books and workshops are good in that they help you learn in a generalized sense, how one person thinks about an issue.  However, they do not generally address your specific set of issues, nor require you to take action.  Coaching is interactive and has an ongoing presence and accountability usually not found in other means.  The learning happens not only by increasing your awareness of what you want, but also experiencing and doing things week-by-week to move you forward. 

What is difference between coaching and consulting?

Coaching is like consulting in that both provide the benefit of support, inquiry, perspective and facilitation from an impartial source.  The difference is in how the client is viewed.  Coaching assumes the client is the expert.  Coaching approaches the client as fully empowered, accountable, capable, and resourceful and assumes the best answers and solutions are already inside the client.  Consultants are viewed as the expert and the client is hiring them because they do not have the knowledge, information, or skill to figure the problem out (e.g.-earthquake engineer), and the client can benefit from the skills and expertise of the consultant.  In most cases, we lean towards coaching since when ideas that are generated by the client, there is a much larger likelihood of client’s follow-through, personal commitment, and progress

What is the difference between coaching and psychology?

Therapy generally deals with dysfunction, emotional or behavioral problems.  Coaching takes an already successfully functioning person toward higher functioning. Coaching is for normal problems that you are consciously aware of. Therapy deals with underlying causes of behavior that you may are unconscious of. Coaching tends to deal with observable behavior. It is more concerned with present events than with past events (e.g. - making next career move versus childhood traumas). Therapy tries to work with emotional pain, coaching tries to reach a higher level emotional intelligence.  Therapy makes the bad stuff in a person’s life smaller; coaching makes the good stuff in a person’s life bigger. Coaching focuses on choices that you make and actions to be taken to move you toward a goal. There are many ways for a person to make progress.  Sometimes it requires conscious understanding.  Other times it requires experiencing success based on learning-by-doing.  Coaching handles both of these realms. While coaching may help in identifying fears, unconscious language patterns, or attitudes that limit you, it doesn’t address the underlying root cause associated with the problem.        

CJ Liu Work Life Coach