Dear Carolyn

The BYB January Survey results are in! Thank you to all who participated and for giving me your feedback on your experience working with Better Your Best, what services you may be interested in taking advantage of in the future and how many of you better your best in your daily lives. Here are the results:

Top 5 Advantages of one-on-one coaching:

Asking tough questions
Giving new perspectives
Providing support
Providing an accountability process
Reminding to you celebrate your successes

Top 5 Favorite Books:

Good to Great
Get Out of Your Own Way
Mother Theresa Biographies
Mountains Beyond Mountains
CEO, Saint, Surfer

Top 3 future BYB services:

Lunch and Learn
Online success group
Small business planning, team training and corporate retreats

Top 3 events that people in the YVR area would like to be involved in were:

Cooking Class
Whistler Ski Day
Road Riding

Thanks again to all who participated for allowing BYB to continue to Better It’s Best! As you know I’m always open to feedback as to how I can improve your coaching experience!

New clients are often curious about how coaching works; in person versus over the phone. I know when I first started working with a coach I was a little unsure. All of my education and sports coach training had taught me the power of body language in communication. However once I got started with coaching I started appreciating the value of uninterrupted thought; the ability to reflect on something without being distracted by outside distractions.

Like anything you do for the first time it’s important to try all methods before making assumptions as both have their advantages and disadvantages. The following is a quick overview of some factors to consider about over the phone or in person coaching.

When you are meeting in person both the coach and the client can read each other’s body language, which provides both parties with an increased amount of information.

Although body language can provide more information, at times it can provide too much information, which can be distracting to both the coach and the client.

In any in person meeting there tends to be more time with pleasantries and extra small talk. This can make a meeting feel more personal, but when there is a time limit for the coaching session this fact can make a session much less effective.

One of the biggest advantages to telephone coaching sessions is that they are easy to coordinate for both the coach and the client.

When either party has to travel a coaching session it is harder to coordinate the clients and coaches availability.

Quite often when people have to travel to meetings they feel rushed, which can cause a feeling of franticness and can create a mindset that is unfocused and emotional.

When either party has any of those feelings it does not create an environment that is conducive to an effective coaching session.

After taking all of those factors into consideration it is very important that the coach has specific skills to make telephone sessions effective.

In a 2008 study by the I-Coach Academy and Middlesex University they found that telephone coaching can be very effective when a coach uses their skills:

In the end both in person and telephone sessions can be incredibly useful ways for a coach to help a client achieve their goals. What’s most important is for the client and coach to design a coaching method/style that will work best for the success of the coaching relationship.

You are invited to join other BYB clients and colleagues for our first ever ON-LINE book club “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.” From creating one page strategic plans, to keeping culture alive through corporate values we’ll be discussing the books ideas and how you’re using them or plan to use them in your business.