Q: I just want more efficient solutions to my current operational challenges. Can you develop a plan for that?

A: This might be a good time to discuss what coaching is NOT. It’s important to understand that coaching is not training or consulting. Coaches do not teach or solve the client’s challenges. Rather, coaching supports clients to find their own answers. Tim Gallwey, the author of The Inner Game of Tennis, says “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

Q: Susan, do coaches have areas of specialty? What types of people have hired you as a coach?

A: Like any professional, I tend to work with successful business people and teams who can best benefit from my unique skills. This includes entrepreneurs, professionals, salespeople and managers.

Q: Can you give me an example of how someone was helped by coaching?

A: A small business owner hired me to work with a new sales executive. The executive knew the company’s product and business arena extremely well. However, he was stopping short in opening up new accounts and closing existing deals. We uncovered that his resistance to following through and organization was getting in the way. We also focused on the obstacles to his confidence in the sales process. The process of coaching supported him to step through the fears that had previously stopped him. He is successfully bringing in the business and has been promoted to firm partner.

Q: What’s the difference between coaching and therapy?

A: Therapy traditionally focuses on the client’s past and works on deep emotional issues, often centering on the family of origin. The primary distinction is that therapy moves the client from dysfunction to more normal function. People usually go to therapy because unresolved issues keep them from enjoying happiness in their daily life.

Coaching, on the other hand, is designed for emotionally healthy individuals. Coaching moves clients from satisfactory functioning to greater levels of success and fulfillment. The work is action-based and focuses on present and future goals.

Q: I’ve heard a great deal about coaching lately, but haven’t heard of Kolbe. Why do you embrace both?

A: I was first trained as a coach and subsequently found the Kolbe System to be invaluable in supporting individuals to design their lives effortlessly. I use my coaching and Kolbe skills interchangeably to support individuals and teams to be as successful and powerful as possible. I find the combination to be invaluable for clients to gain greater success with greater ease.