Part 1 Defining Role of a Coach

Question 1

What is coaching?

Answer 1

Coaching is a vehicle for helping people to achieve a higher level of well-being and performance in life and work, particularly when change is hard. Coaching is a growth-promoting relationship that elicits autonomous motivation, increases the capacity to change, and facilitates a change process through visioning, goal setting, and accountability, which at its best leads to sustainable change for the good.

Question 2

Coaches responsibility is to (4):

Answer 2

• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve.
• Encourage client self-discovery.
• Elicit collaborative and client-generated solutions and strategies
• Hold the client accountable and responsible

Question 3

The outcomes delivered by coaches include the following:

Answer 3

• Increased self-awareness and self knowledge
• Increase personal responsibility
• Acquisition of new knowledge and skills
• Attainment of personal and professional goals
• Sustainable behavior change
• Increased my satisfaction
• Increase self efficacy
• Developed sense of purpose and meaning
• Becoming ones best self

Question 4

Why we need health and wellness coaching:

Answer 4

Lifestyle-related chronic diseases, heart disease, stroke, and cancer account for 50% of deaths, whereas obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes are reaching epidemic levels of prevalence in the United States and spreading globally. U.S. healthcare costs associated with life-style related chronic diseases are estimated to be 75% of total costs.

Fewer than 5% of adults engage in the top health behaviors and only 20% of adults are thriving.

Lifestyle medicine is emerging in response.

• American College of Lifestyle Medicine
• Institute of Lifestyle Medicine

Employers healthcare costs.

Expert approach is not working.

Clients need whole-person view.

Each person is genetically unique.

Unique learning styles.

Question 5

With a focus on building self-efficacy and autonomy, professional coaches are trained to:

Answer 5

• Accept and meet clients where they are today
• Ask clients to take charge
• Guide clients in doing the mindful thinking , feeling, and doing work that builds confidence
• Help clients define a higher purpose in health and well-being
• Uncover a client’s natural impulse to be well
• Support clients in tapping into their innate fighting spirit
• Address mental and physical health together
• Assist clients with their own health and wellness blueprint
• Encourage clients to set and achieve realistic goals (small victories lay the foundation for self efficacy
• Harness the strengths needed to overcome our obstacles
• Reframe obstacles as opportunities to learn and grow
• Enable clients to build a support team
• Inspire and challenge clients to go beyond what they would do alone

Question 6

The goal of coaching is to:

Answer 6

Encourage personal responsibility reflective thinking self-discovery and self efficacy.

Question 7

Coaching approach rather than export:

Answer 7

Don’t direct client- instead guide the client.

Ask open ended questions like WHAT? HOW?

Not DO YOU? WILL YOU? DID YOU? WHY?

Use reflections and mirroring.
Such as “You’re excited and proud that you were able to walk three times this week.” “You’re feeling unhappy in your life balance, and you want to have more energy.”

Listen with empathy and curiosity.

Question 8

Self engagement allows patients to generate new self-concept, supports and environments, and to take new actions.

Answer 8

• Who is my best self?
• What supports my best self?
• What manifests my best self?

Question 9

I’m transitioning from the expert to the coach approach many coaches report the challenges as well as a rewards of:

Answer 9

• asking questions with a beginners mind not assuming that they already know the answers
• not making decisions and judgment calls quickly but allowing clients a chance to go deeper and to get you important topics
• not thinking about what to say next but instead listening for a dangling thread hanging of a client last words
• not generating quiet resistance with even a hint of know it all energy
• reading respecting and working with clients emotions as possible guide post to insights
• not rushing clients through their mark but instead compassionately helping them sit there until the desire to change gains energy
• not being on automatic pilot to ensure that a checklist gets completed but instead of being fully present to the clients reality and present needs

Question 10

Thomas Gordon 1970 has outlined 12 ways of being that do not demonstrate a coach approach:

Answer 10

1- Ordering, directing, commending
2- Warning, cautioning, or threatening
3- Giving advice, making suggestions, or providing solutions
4- Persuading with logic, arguing, or lecturing
5- Telling people what they should do
6- Disagreeing, judging, criticizing, or blaming
7- Agreeing, approving, or praising
8- Shaming, approving, or praising
9- Interpreting or analyzing
10- Reassuring, sympathizing, or consoling
11- Questioning or probing
12-Withdrawing, distracting, humoring, or changing the subject

Question 11

Research shows coaching for three months or longer are:

Answer 11

improving health outcomes for several chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer survivors.

Question 12

Who published a systematic review of health and wellness coaching literature that operationalized health and wellness coaching?

Answer 12

Wolever and colleagues in 2013 including 284 articles.

Question 13

Health and wellness research outcomes from Wolves review:

Answer 13

1. A process that is fully or partially patient centered
2. Includes patient determined goals
3. Incorporates self-discovery and active learning processes (rather than more passive receipt of advice)
4. Encourages accountability and behavioral goals
5. Provides some type of education along with using coaching processes
6. Coaching occurs as an ongoing relationship with a coach who is trained in specific behavior change , communication, and motivational skill

Question 14

Expert approach:

Answer 14

Authority
Educator
Defines agendas
Feels responsible for client's health 
Solves problems
Focuses on what's wrong
Has the answers 
Interrupts if oof topic
Wrestles with client

Question 15

Coach approach:

Answer 15

Partner
Facilitator of change
Elicits client's agenda
Client is responsible for health
Fosters possibilities
Focuses on what is right
Co-discovers the answers
Learn's from client's story
Client works as hard as coach
Dances with client

Question 16

Process of coaching

Answer 16

Self determination is the driver

designed to facilitate sustainable change

Move from dependency to empowerment

Question 17

Coaching progresses through several stages:

Answer 17

• Coaches and clients discuss a coaching contract so that clients understand the coaching process and expectations for the role of coach and client
• Before and during the first coaching session, clients provide background information so that coaches are well-informed on the priorities, key concerns, and any medical conditions. Increasing self-awareness is an important goal of coaching, and assessments are an efficient tool to support self-discovery in the beginning
• During the first coaching sessions (which may occur in one longer session over the course of several sessions), clients work toward the creation of a vision. Clients confirm that they are ready and want to do the work to make changes in at east one area. This is also described as a wellness vision process and ideally is completed once per year
• The vision and three-month goals are reviewed and agreed in detail. Clients also commit to three to five goals or small steps or experiments each week to enable progress toward the goals and visions
• In each subsequent coaching session, weekly or as needed, coaches and clients review progress, elevating energy, brainstorming, strategies, meeting challenges, developing solutions, generating possibilities, and agreeing on goals for the following week
• During most sessions, a key topic is explored and resolved in a generative moment so that the client navigates around emerging challenges to continue on the path
• The ideal length of these sessions is 30-45 minutes, although some circumstances require more or less time. In fact, some protocols suggest that longer sessions (e.g. 60 minutes, occurring less frequently (once or twice a month) can have a greater impact than shorter more frequent sessions. With the use of the coach approach, an impactful, life-giving, growth -promoting session is possible within even 10 minutes

Question 18

Integrating the coach approach:

Answer 18

1. Make sure the client is working as hard as you are
2. Make sure the client is talking more than you are
3. Make sure clients first try to find the answers for themselves
4. Ask permission to give expert advice, if you think it may be beneficial, so that the client is still in control
5. Brainstorm two or three choices with a client so that the client taps into his or her own creativity and is the informed decision maker
6. Speak less- speak simply- deliver only one question at at time
7. At every turn in the coaching conversation, stop and consider how to use the coach approach (inquiry/reflection) with the client before offering and expert approach
8. Balance questions with reflections so that clients don’t feel like they are being interrogated
9. Use silence to elicit deeper thinking
10. If clients confirm that they need two acquire new knowledge and skills to reach their goals