Episode Transcript
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Thanks for listening and see you nexttime. Hello, and welcome to Coaches
to Now the Bite Sized podcast wherewe discuss one topic around coaching. I'm
your host Jamie and today I'm joinedby coach Elizabeth and our topic today is
coachability. Coach Elizabeth has spent overtwo decades quote coaching unquote training developing leaders
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at well known brands such as Nikeand Anthropology and others before coming a full
time executive and wellness coach. Hercorporate career has given her first hand experience
as to what it is like toactually be a coachy and be on the
other side of an engagement, andlike many of her clients, she wears
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many hats, including wife, stepmomand durrance athlete, yogi manation teacher,
and world traveler. Her clients arethose seeking to align their lifestyle and professional
goals with their values, and shehelps both individuals and teens identify what those
values are put them into action inorder to achieve cohesion, collaboration, and
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inclusivity. She also specializes in organizationalchange, purpose, communication, presentation,
and executive presence. So thank youCoach Elizabeth for joining me here today,
and we're going to start off withthe fundamental premise that I have often believed,
which is that everyone is coachable.But the question really is is that
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true? Are they? And partof this question came out of this conversation
I had with another coach who toldme that less than ten percent of people
are actually coachable. So I'm excitedfor today's discussion. I'm just excited for
your insight around this topic. Butwhy don't we start by defining what we
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need by coachability, what it isand what it isn't. Okay, wonderful,
Thank you, Jamie. I'm sothrilled to be here. Thank you
for having me and what an importanttopic. The basis of being a coach
is working with people who are infact coachable. You know, I tell
you that the answer probably is subjective, you know, it's an opinion whether
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or not somebody is coachable or not. My belief and my premise, however,
is that a few things need tobe aligned to determine if someone is
coachable. Everybody has the ability tobe coached, but I believe that people,
places, and things need to bealigned at the right time for it
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to really be a stellar fit.So people, the person, the coaching,
the client needs to show up readyto in fact in the process.
But compatibility needs to be there withtheir coach. So the people factor,
the people relationship is very inagural,the part it's a partnership, it's a
one on one partnership between coachy andcoach, and so compatibility, the ability
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for the coach to be a trustedguide and a thought partner for that coaching
is of paramount importance. Places placeDoes the coaching have the right place in
their life? Are they ready andequipped to dive into certain focuses. Are
they in a life place to makethe effort to do the progress and to
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do some self discovery about themselves?And then things? People, places and
things are the focuses, the objectives, the intentions, and the goals that
they have aligned with where they arein their place in life professionally or personally,
and with that coach that they're workingwith. So people, places and
things are really important, and willingnessis a key factor as well. Great,
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thank you so much for that.I'm like this idea that there's three
factors that contribute to whether somebody iscoachable or not coachable. What do you
find is the biggest challenge to somebody'scoachability. Is it the people, is
it the place or is it thethings? Yeah? And you know,
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I go from people, places inthings, and I break it down to
an acronym that I really like touse, and I think this will answer
your question. And if we takethe word coach ability and I look at
the word coach, coacch let's talkthrough those letters because I think this will
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really provide insight for anybody thinking aboutexploring being coached, just pecially if they're
first time coaching. And I'll pauseby saying, coaching covers a great gamut
of different types of coachingice coaching,leadership and business coaching. That's executive coaching.
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That's what I specialize in. Relationshipcoaching, communication coaching, wellness,
health, nutrition coaching, et cetera. But regardless of the focus of the
type of coaching somebody is engaging in, they need to be curious. So
the see from coach is curiosity.Is that person willing to have a beginner's
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mind. Are they ready to beopen and to learn new things, not
specifically learning from the coach, butlearning about themselves. So that curiosity factor
is really key in my experience withcoaches. They need to be open.
Are they open minded? Are theyopen to outcome that will come about during
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the process rather than being very attachedto outcomes. Sometimes I work with a
coachy who says, Hey, Elizabeth, I want to dive into this one
specific focus and I want you tohelp me get from point A to point
B, and I want to tellyou how I want to get there.
And the openness to allowing the pathto unfold naturally is really important that organic
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process. So openness is key.The coaching needs to be available and accountable
both, So that's my a inthe acronym coach. They need to be
accountable to the process and really doingsome you know, potentially after work following
a session, which allows them todo some reflection. Sometimes there are some
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light exercises that may be talked about, but really being accountable to moving the
ball along during the process and makingtime for it. Typically coaching sessions have
some kind of cadence, a predeterminedcadence, and so being available at that
set time to work with your coachis key. Commitment, of course,
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is important as well. I talkedabout compatibility between the two people, but
commitment to the overall journey is key. And then honesty are you honestly ready
and willing to make this a partof your personal journey, be it for
professional growth or personal growth. Soto answer your question, what is the
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most challenging you know, what sometimesis the hurdle or the roadblock that I
find it typically is the willingness andaccountability to committing to the process. I
believe that coaches come to a coachbecause they have some interest. There's something
that has sparked a desire to grow, to transform, to evolve in their
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personal or professional life, and sothat seed of inquiry is there in the
coaching. Hence they seek out acoach. But once they start to open
up and do the work and perhapsdiscover some things about themselves, they establish
their own roadblock and halt and say, hey, maybe I'm not ready for
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this journey. So that is,you know, sort of the accountability and
the timing and being available in thatin that place. Thank you for that
explanation. I always love an acronymsfor describing, you know, different concept
different ideas, which makes them muchmore memorable. In terms of thinking about
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willingness and accountability. Have you everbeen engaged with a client where you felt
like that was their roadblock, butthen they were actually able to get through
it because you know, we allknow you meet a coach, you have
a discovery session, an introductory sessionwhich doesn't cost you anything more than your
time, and it's a getting toknow you period, and then the first
couple of sessions are really critical.Is it with that within those first we'll
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say two to three sessions that youcan that it's possible to turn around and
become basically overcome unwillingness or overcome accountability. There is absolutely and I believe that
the spark that sort of aha momentthat a coache or a client may may
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have comes from certainly the dynamic betweenthe coachy and their coach, because again,
this is a very intimate partnership.You know, we work one on
one with one another. There isa lot of vulnerability. There is openness
to the past, talking about thingsthat have been experiences or you know,
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other other paths that they've gone down, and then where they want to go
in the future and being really honestand willing to explore that with a coach
requires vulnerability. So I find thatin that sort of fit test, that
meet and greet that happens in thebeginning or in the first couple of sessions.
As you mentioned, sparks can happenorganically where coach says, oh,
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my goodness, you just asked mea question, or we started to discuss
a topic that I wasn't even planningon, you know, journeying with you,
but it gives me great pause toexplore that. And so the organic
nature of how a coaching engagement canstart is typically what shifts in a person
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that makes them more accountable and morewilling and more interested. So that goes
back to that first see in thecoach acronym, which is curiosity really being
open and curious to do the selfdiscovery m So it sounds like, you
know, even if somebody is interestedbut maybe not not sure the timing is
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right. You know, it's alwaysworth at least two to three sessions to
draw to give your yourself the opportunityto be drawn in. And if the
time is not right, then it'snot right right and then you can pull
the plug or say, you know, I need to put pause or whatever.
But ultimately you know it's not goingto be always instantaneous, so sometimes
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you have to give your self time. As the coachy to get into the
process. That's right, that's right. I think for the process to be
effective and to really bring value tothe coaching, because that's what we do
as coaches. We are service providers, we are servant leaders, really intending
to bring great value to the client, to the coaching of their time,
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of their of their money, oftheir investment. So in order to do
that, coming into the process,you know, I would I would recommend
to any coachee who's considering hiring acoach, what is the purpose and what
is the passion that you have?It's that simple. Is there a clarity
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of purpose? Is there a definitionor a refinement of purpose that you're looking
for? And do you have passionaround it? Is your head open,
is your heart open? Are youwilling to take that journey? So I
say, you know, are youcoming into define or refine something about your
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life? Define or refine a purposethat you may have a clarity that you're
looking for. Are you looking toinform or transform something in your life or
some part of your journey again personallyor professionally. Thank you for that explanation.
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We have time for one more question, and I just want to know
have you ever been engaged with aclient that wasn't ready and how do you
how do you as the coach nowand did the coaching now? Yeah,
that's a great question. The answeris yes. I will also say that
I have been a coaching who wasnot ready for the process, and personally,
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it was the very first executive coachthat was offered to me, and
at the time, I felt likethey were assigned to me, and I
felt like it was you know,punitive rather than additive in my senior role
in my career, and because Ididn't really take the time to understand what
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an investment was being made, theinvestment that was being made in me to
grow my scope of responsibility and myscope of learning about myself as a leader,
to transform me and it was anamazing gift. But in the beginning,
I wasn't ready because I just didn'tunderstand the opportunity and the gift that
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having a coach would give to me. For myself, I have had a
few coaches come to me interested ingrowing, interested in learning a little bit
more about a process of working witha coach versus a therapist or a counselor
or other related service providers. Andthe issue really became a lack of clarity
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around where they wanted to go withthe process, and they wanted to be
led and told and almost advised morethan being invested themselves to do the work
and do the reflection and to reallyshow up to sessions and show up to
engagements with their own investment in topicand content and setting goals and intentions for
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themselves. So I think if youcan align with the coaching what their purpose
is and their passion to the process, it really helps inform them that,
oh, I have an accountability tothis and I want to do this,
and so the desire needs to bethere. Again, going back to willingness,
I think the person being really willingto show up in a one on
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one partnership and not just be ledand actually lead itself through the journey is
important. Yeah, it sounds likesort of that willingness piece is really about
an emotional investment into your own success. It is. It is it's saying,
you know, I have a coachthat I have a compatibility with.
So we've done the fit test,we've done the meet and greet, and
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we have a compatibility as people.But then the place that I am in
my life am I willing to investmy time and my thought, and my
heart and my head into this,being open to outcomes, not attached to
a specific end result, as Isaid, and then really using the coach
as a thought partner and a trustedguide, a confidant, you know,
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and the confidant that they may nothave elsewhere in their life personally or professionally,
to to grow and to pivot andto transform. Thank you. That's
a wonderful note to end on.I've greatly enjoyed our conversation today, Coach
Elizabeth uh and it's hard to imagineyou not being compatible with every coach EU
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that you that you come across toour audience. If you were. If
you're interested in learning more about CoachElizabeth, I would like to work with
Coach Elizabeth. Please check out herprofile on theidms dot com and thank you
so much for joining us today.Thank you, thanks for listening. Please
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subscribe wherever you listen and leave usa review. Find your ideal coach at
www dot viidmix dot com. Specialthanks to our producer Martin Maluski and singer
songwriter Doug Allen Ba