May 2021

Richard Tarran Investigates.
As an executive coach my response to this was always yes until I started to investigate it with my coaching supervisor. All good coaches have their own coaching supervisor to ensure they learn continuously and maintain best practice.

During one of these sessions I started to challenge my own biases and investigate whether there may be some advantageous aspects to online (web based app or phone) over conventional face to face coaching.

I started to write a list:

1. The client can more easily choose a comfortable and safe environment, even at home.
2. Timing I can be more flexible.
3. People may say things online that they may not say face to face.
4. People can be less inhibited.
5. It may be easier to listen.
6. It I can be easier to interrupt the client.
7. It is easier to keep an eye on the time.
8. It is easier to ask someone to repeat what they said or seek clarification.
9. Both parties can more easily take notes without feeling inhibited.
10. The coach can refer to notes and reference documents more easily.

This started to make me think, is it just my perception that face to face coaching is better? Are my biases with respect to on-line coaching preventing me maximising its advantages?

My biases are not helped by hearing people refer to it as virtual coaching. Virtual implies almost or nearly as good as.

I recall discussing the use of a psychometric profiling tool I use frequently soon after the on-line version became available. I was clear in my own mind that my clients would get a better, more reliable output from the tool if it was delivered face to face using the paper version, with me setting the scene and ensuring the clients were in the right frame of mind and understood the terminology. How wrong I was. Even the Managing Director of the tool said he thought the same way until he saw the results. There was no difference.

So what does research indicate with respect to coaching?

Berry, Ashby, Gnilka and Matheny (2011) investigated the relationship between the working alliance and whether face to face versus distance coaching resulted in a difference with coaching outcomes and problem resolution.

The results of their study suggested that NO significant differences were found between the reported levels of face-to-face coaching sessions versus distance (phone) coaching sessions. Coaches self-reported strong levels of working alliance in both conditions. This suggests that coaches may actually have successful coaching relationships and outcomes regardless of the method of contact they use.

Interestingly, while historically I have always preferred to see my clients face-to-face, I personally found these finding to be true. Both my long distance online or phone sessions resulted in similar outcomes to coaching compared to those sessions conducted in person.

The crucial point of change was when I parked by biases and perceptions and gave it a go.

What does this mean for coaches?

Since coaches do not have access to as good, or at times any, visual cues such as body language or overall physiology, perhaps they need to communicate or check in with their clients throughout the session to ensure they are well in tune with the clients thoughts and/or feelings.

Using such questions as:

“So what exactly do you mean by that?”

“What is happening for you right now?”

“How do you feel about that?”

“Can you clarify what you mean by that?”

Rapport is still important to build at the start of a session. It is also important to ensure both parties are in a resourceful state. Distracting events at home such as children, a boiling kettle, a ringing phone or a knock at the front door are not good, but all can be managed with a bit of forethought.

As for companies seeking coaching goes, they may want to consider utilising the coach that is best suited for their client without eliminating coaches that may be long distance or not as accessible face-to-face. In fact, researchers such as Lambert & Barley (2001) suggest that 40% of the effects of an outcome is due to the expectancy of the coach and client, compared to skills/techniques (30%), the relationship (15%), and outside factors (15%). In other words, the extent to which the coach and client think there will be an improvement is more significant than other factors including whether or not the coach is working with them face-to-face.

Things I have discovered that are unique and advantageous to online coaching:

I do not have to use video.

I can do things that would not be possible face to face:

“I would like you to go and find something you value highly”

“let’s take a five minute break while you walk around and consider what we have just been talking about”

I am less likely to jump to conclusions.

I am less likely to give visual cues such as unconscious agreement.

A client may feel less inhibited about closing their eyes or looking away from the camera, or turning off the video mode.

I have many more resources to hand. I have a row of books I can easily access.

I can draw models and hold them to the camera, this blanks my face out of the equation and allows the client to focus on the model while I speak.

I can email something over direct, or with an App pass it immediately.

I can avoid glass fronted office rooms.

It is easier to flip between an Authoritative and a Facilitative style

We are drowning in a sea of overwhelm. Burdened by our massive to-do lists and stifled by the requisite needs of familial, career and business obligations, it’s quite easy to see why we tend to veer off track. And with each passing day, it seems like we get further and further away from our goals rather than closer and closer to them.

In this Digital Age of technological revolutions and conveniences that seem to beckon us at every turn, what was once hailed and conveyed as life-altering benefits in this real-time era of instant-and-always-on communications afforded to us by the internet and its subsequent birth of social media, have arguably left the masses no further ahead than we were decades ago.

The truth? While the internet has most certainly provided us with accessibilities to on-demand services, commerce and interactions that were once far more complex, it’s also glued us to our devices. It’s easy to see how we get sidetracked by Facebook notifications or Twitter alerts and Instagram photo comments.

These distractions alter our perception of reality, sucking us into the digital ether, leaving us dismayed and beleaguered in our quests to achieve our goals. And as more and more of the globe’s population becomes connected to the ever-increasing-and-sprawling web, those initial conveniences afforded by that connectivity will further fall to the wayside as ever-growing distractions abound.

While so much has come out of the web, with both its pros and cons, today, for those that are willing to cut through the proverbial noise, life coaching offers a shortcut to achieving your dreams. It offers the clichéd “life hack,” or an alternative approach, to increased productivity and lessened attention to distractions.

And with the ease of use afforded by communication tools like Skype or FaceTime and iMessage, these individuals don’t need to travel the globe just to meet with their clients. Whether it’s to enhance your career, fulfill your goals, help you to grow and scale your business or drive more traffic to your website, digital coaches offer a golden ticket of sorts to achieving your life and business dreams.

It’s clear to see why they can be instrumental in assisting us with the achievement of our goals. Simply having someone that holds us accountable is one such way we can accomplish seemingly insurmountable goals. Life coaches are similar to their trainer counterparts, offering guidance and advice at the highest level of industries such as professional sports or entertainment.

Obviously, if you’re going to play life at the highest levels, or even if you intend to cut through some of the noise and cancel out distractions by having someone skilled enough to help move you closer and closer to your goals, you need guidance just as much as an entrepreneur needs a business coach or an athlete needs a sports coach.

These individuals are instrumental in our propensity for achievement. They’ve been through the ringer and they know just what it takes to succeed. They help us to chop down the time it takes to master a certain skill or understand an industry, acting as our partners as we move towards the desired outcomes in our lives.

The Importance Of Having A Digital Life Coach

What most people don’t realize is that time is more valuable than money. I have long professed the importance of time and the focus on passive-income-generating activities because I don’t believe in directly exchanging my time for money. Within our limited spectrum of knowledge, time, as we know it today, cannot be created or destroyed. It can’t be saved or replaced. Once it’s used, it’s gone forever.

Time is the great equalizer in life. Money, on the other hand, can be spent and earned. It can be lost and saved. It can be pilfered and squandered, or amassed in great fortunes. But not time. And that’s why time is so much more important than money. Once you understand that, you’ll govern your life far differently.

For that reason, life coaching offers a reprieve from the norm. It allows you to breakthrough your pre-existing limitations, giving you the ability to achieve your loftiest goals. And the beauty of this in the Digital Age is that it can be done from anywhere. No matter where you are on this earth, you can find someone to help you achieve anything you desire to achieve.

Remote work is nothing new. The biggest problem that abounds is finding someone who helps to support you, someone who helps you recognize and see the problems that have been repeatedly wreaking havoc in your life, causing you to falter and fail as you reach towards your goals. That part isn’t as easy.

Benefits Of Life Coaching

While I could easily outline hundreds of benefits that come along with having a virtual guide who’s there for you at your beck and call, there are really 23 core benefits that exist. We simply have to realize that we can’t do everything ourselves. Sometimes, we require the skills and expertise of someone who’s immersed in the field of success and self-improvement, able to guide and steer us in the right direction.

#1 — Gain clarity of purpose

They’ll help you gain clarity of purpose. It’s hard to achieve anything worthwhile when you’re unable to define your purpose in life. By clearly defining the reasons you do what you do, you can better approach the task at hand with a clear mind and an enthusiastic sense of spirit. This makes all the difference in our attempts to achieve outlandish dreams.

#2 — Held accountable for your actions

Sometimes, we don’t have anyone holding us accountable. Even if your coach is just a digital coach who’s there for you over Skype or instant message, we often tend to get things done when we know that someone is going to hold us accountable for it. It’s hard to push through some of our personal stumbling blocks when we don’t have someone ensuring we take consistent action.

#3 — Provides insightful perspectives

Your life coach can provide insightful perspectives on all areas of your life. Often, it’s good to have the perspective of an objective third-party and it allows you to reach deeper understandings about certain things in life or in business. An effective coach can help you look at things in a way you might not have seen them before in the past.

#4 — Conveys experiential knowledge

Coaches who operate at the highest levels of life, business and sports, often come along with great experiential knowledge. In sports, the most effective coaches are often former superstars in their own rights. Same thing for business and in life. Finding the right coach is important, and it comes with a high degree of experiential knowledge, very much similar to a mentor, who can help to guide you through difficult times.

#5 — Helps to increase your productivity

Working with a coach helps to naturally increase your productivity. You feel more inclined to do the work because you have the guidance of a professional to help move you closer to your goals rather than away from them. They illuminate fundamental principles such as the 80/20 rule to help you achieve more in the same amount of time.

#6 — Assists you to take more action

Taking action is hard. We often feel stifled by procrastination. But a digital life coach is there for you to help move you past your tendencies for procrastination, making you better able to achieve your overall goals. When you can take a little bit of action every single day, you make progress rather than feeling left behind.

#7 — Allows you to mitigate distractions

Time-wasters are the number one destructive things move us further away from our goals. We tend to get sucked into bad habits or spend time doing things that don’t move us towards our goals. These professionals, even those working remotely, can help us to avoid those distractions through a number of strategies and methods that are akin to great coaches.

#8 — Improves time management

They can help us better to manage our time. Time management is one of the best skills that we can develop to achieve our goals, and the better we learn to manage our time, the more likely we’ll be to achieve big things. These individuals, working remotely over Skype or on the phone, can help to guide us through the best efforts for managing time better.

#9 — Enhances communication skills

Naturally, you become better at expressing yourself, thus enhancing your communication skills. When you’re required to convey your thoughts and motivations and emotions to someone on a regular basis, this is a natural occurrence. You eventually get better at stating precisely what’s on your mind, enhancing your ability to articulate yourself over time.

#10 — Boosts self-confidence

They’re great at boosting our self confidence. Although some might consider it their job, when you have someone in your corner that’s cheering you on, there for you when you need them, it’s much easier to become self-confident. Often, it’s that little push that we all need to reach our goals.

#11 — Provides a healthier, more active lifestyle

Our health is paramount. Without it, how can we expect to achieve our goals? The truth is that, for the most part, we don’t treat our bodies right. But having a coach by our side to help see us through some of the more difficult plateaus that we tend to experience while trying to get healthy and more active is an integral part in the process of self-improvement.

#12 — Revitalizes relationships

Whether they’re personal or business relationships, romantic or friendship, life coaches can help us revitalize existing relationships while also tending to new ones. They allow us to nurture existing connections, while also focusing on building up new ones with people in our social or career networks.

#13 — Increases work-life balance

It’s easy to get sidetracked when trying to pursue business or career goals. We tend to lack the work-life balance that offers a healthy state-of-mind. When we’re actively pursuing success in some endeavor, everything else tends to suffer and the people around us clamor for our time that we simply aren’t willing to give. They also help us improve work-life balance so that we can happily achieve rather than achieving to be happy.

#14 — Helps you to achieve goals

Goals are important any way you cut it. Most of us have big goals but are unable to see the proverbial forest through the trees because we’re entangled in the brush. They help you to properly define and achieve your goals, no matter how big or small they might be.

#15 — Reduces stress and anxiety

When you have someone you can rely on, it reduces your overall stress and anxiety. They’re known for helping us during the toughest of times so it’s easy to see why they can ease the emotional burdens that we tend to suffer.

#16 — Creates a laser-focused career approach

Your coach can help you laser-focus your career approach by determining just what you want, why you want it and what steps you need to take to reach that mark in your career. It isn’t easy and it often requires the perspective and experience of someone who’s been through the ringer and can help direct us along our journey.

#17 — Guides you to make more money

By understanding what you want out of life and helping you to create a plan to get there, your life or business coach can easily teach you how to make more money. They are great at improving our skills and refining our approach, especially when it comes to our finances.

#18 — Plays a role in overcoming fears

Most of us are stifled by our fears. Our inability to act is derived from the inherent threats to our physical, emotional or mental states that exist within the far-reaches of our minds. Coaches can help us to overcome those fears. They help to illuminate the pain-versus-pleasure paradigm so that it serves us rather than holds us back.

#19 — Works to address limiting beliefs

It’s easy to see why we feel left behind in life when our limiting beliefs tend to hold us back rather than empower us to lurch forward. When you have a limiting belief that’s so ingrained over years and decades of repetitious mention such as “I’m just big-boned” or “money doesn’t grow on trees,” it’s hard to overcome without the guidance of a professional.

#20 — Allows you to embrace a new lifestyle

We often seek the help of a life coach when we’re looking for a change. We’re tired of the old patterns and we’re looking to embrace a new lifestyle, one that will help to fulfill and drive us rather than burden and suffocate us.

#21 — Improves overall motivation

It’s not easy motivating yourself all the time. Even when you have powerful goals, sometimes you want to just take a break. And when that happens, you get left behind. Coaches can help to empower us by motivating on a daily basis. Like any other habit, that constant motivation can eventually settle in and become commonplace in our lives thanks to the help of a coach.

#22 — Gets you inspired and hungry

Inspiration isn’t always easy to find. Before we can become motivated, we need to be inspired. What inspires you? Life coaches can help to illuminate that inspiration and bring it out into the forefront of your mind. This is an integral part of the process in achieving anything.

#23 — Helps you to feel more appreciated

It’s easy to say that we don’t need to feel appreciated. But when everyone around you ignores your feelings and doesn’t appreciate the things you do, it’s quite simple to get discouraged. Your coach can help to counterbalance that by telling you how much people do actually appreciate you, even if they don’t tell you all the time.

Forbes.com

Since well before our current crisis, smart companies have been asking tough questions about traditional approaches to training and developing their people. The early 21st Century fantasy of “all-online digital learning” has largely not played out, especially since some of the most important management competencies are best taught and learned in-person. “The soft stuff,” it turns out, is actually the hard stuff, and managers seeking to develop interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to engage and influence others aren’t going to improve much via an on-line module.

That said, 2020’s entirely unexpected change of course is forcing all of us to rethink how we can develop and train our people and create and strengthen organizational capabilities and culture when we simply cannot get together in person. Managers must coach more (as they should do anyway), and HR and training departments have to get more creative in their programming. Simply putting people-development on pause until we “get back to normal” is not an option, because we’re not going “back to normal” anytime soon, if ever.

While it’s still not clear what “the way we work” will look like in a post-Covid world—the answer to that question will likely take years, not months, to figure out—in talking with our colleagues and clients some good ideas for acting in the present are starting to emerge. The better organizations are actively wrestling with the questions of how to invest in their people to develop skills (including new skills to lead change and stay resilient through this pandemic), fortify their cultures, and help employees execute and create value for all their stakeholders.

Some Lessons learnt about developing people during these times:
1. Be Courageous
2. Plan, Consult, and Make Decisions in an Inclusive Way
3. Challenge with Support
4. “We Are All in This Together”

The unimaginable challenges of 2020 have made business-as-usual difficult if not impossible in almost every sector. As is usually the case, the organizations that are creative and tenacious on focusing on what they can do, rather than what they can’t do, to maintain momentum, growth, and the engagement of their people and their customers will be the ones who survive and eventually thrive in 2021 and beyond.

#ExperienceCoaching for yourself.

Coaching can be a transformational experience, but how do you find the right coach? To help you with this process, ICF developed the Credentialed Coach Finder, a free searchable directory with listings for thousands of qualified ICF Credentialed Coaches worldwide.

Why Choose an ICF Credentialed Coach?

Anyone can call themselves a coach. ICF Credentialed Coaches are professional coaches who have met stringent education and experience requirements, and have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the coaching competencies that set the standard in the profession.

In addition, ICF Credentialed Coaches adhere to strict ethical guidelines as part of ICF’s mission to protect and serve coaching consumers.

https://apps.coachingfederation.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?webcode=TPSS

Organization Name: The Life Coaching Academy
Bookmark this program: Open in New Window
Program Name: Professional Coach
Program Type: ACTP
Program Hours: 185.00 plus
Organization Description: The Life Coaching Academy is a well established and respected training provider. The LCA was the first training organization to receive National accreditation from the Australian Government and is still one of the only organizations that offers both National and International (ICF) accreditation.

Program Description: This Online Interactive Program is delivered via interactive Webinars.
Practical Coaching Sessions are completed via Skype with fellow Students.
Students are assigned a Personal Coach & Mentor Students complete assessment based assignments as well as practical business units.
Students have the option of selecting specialty streaming in NLP, (Neuro – Linguistic Programing), Wellness Coaching, Goal Mapping, Mindfulness, Executive Coaching, Workplace Coaching & Business Coaching.
Students also have the option of upgrading their program to The Diploma of Life Coaching.

Organization: The Life Coaching Academy
29 Crombie Avenue, Bundall
Gold Coast, QLD 4217
AUSTRALIA
info@lifecoachingacademy.edu.au

Home

Phone: 1800 032 151
Student Contact:
Learning Method: Combination
Language: English

Coaching Specialties: Business/Organizations, Career/Transition, Coaching Other Coaches, Creativity, Executive, Health & Fitness, Internal, Leadership, Life Vision & Enhancement, Personal/Organizational, Relationship, Small Business
Approval Start Date: February 19, 2003 Accreditation Renewal Date: January 31, 2022

Sarah Smith, PCC, is joined by Carolyn Hartwig to explore what it takes to be well prepared for virtual coaching, how your confidence with the platform impacts the coachee and what creative techniques you can experiment with to make sure you are in the best possible shape to coach.

Sarah Smith, PCC, is Director of Indigo Leadership, working with organisations who have a strong sense of their social value.

She’s coached over 20 years.

Her guest, Carolyn Hartwig, specialises in supporting coaches and trainers to get the most from their virtual platforms. She’s currently working towards ACC.

Launched in 1999, International Coaching Week (ICW) is a week-long global celebration that educates the public about the value of working with a professional coach and acknowledges the results and progress made through the coaching process.

International Coaching Week 2021 will take place May 17–23, 2021.

Professional Coaching has the power to transform individuals and organizations but what better way to discover this transformative power than to be experiencing it first hand?

During ICW, we encourage individuals and organizations all over the world to understand, explore, test and discover the possibilities coaching provides.

You’ll have the opportunity to join a variety of ICW events, including webinars, conferences, educational workshops, panel discussions, public coaching demonstrations, pro bono sessions and many more activities organized by our ICF chapters and members in their local communities.

To make finding and attending ICW events easier, we’ve created a centralized location: the International Coaching Week events platform. Here you’ll find the best ICW event(s) for your needs, available in many languages and time zones.

ICF Members and chapters are also able to create and host their own events using the same credentials as your ICF Member Profile on coachingfederation.org.

Discover new opportunities to learn and experience all that Coaching has to offer. Join us for International Coaching Week 2021 and celebrate the art, science and practice of professional coaching in the world.

Do you ever feel that your goals are either too easy or too overwhelming and they’re not really helping you get where you want to be?
Part of the role of a coach is to help you find that perfect whelm – the balance between too easy and too difficult, to help you bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be.
The most powerful way to do this?
By asking challenging questions!
The way coaches do this is by asking powerful questions to raise self-awareness, to inspire you to think big and to challenge you to consider a different perspective.

Here at The Life Coaching Academy we always say that the first person you coach will be yourself. At the same time, we recognize that sometimes we don’t challenge ourselves enough, simply not hit that bullseye question that will move us out of our comfort zone.
Some people prefer to stay in that comfort zone and some choose to work outside of it.
There is no right or wrong way to do this, it all comes down to preferences. In periods of stress, uncertainty, or anxiety, that comfort zone offers a secure place for us to ride out the storm and that’s important.
And it’s easy to get used to the comfort zone. It’s familiar, it’s safe, it’s predictable. But there comes a time when we need to let go of it.
Growth happens outside of our comfort zone and the only way we can get there is to start challenging ourselves.
Whether you’re feeling stuck, you want to work on your big goal, or you need a gentle push to help you get where you want to be, these questions will be useful to you.

Here are 9 powerful coaching questions to gently challenge you and start moving you towards your big goals!

1. If you are what you have, and what you have is gone, who are you?
2. How old is that story?
3. What can you do, from where you are now, with what you have, to get you closer to your goal?
4. How is it serving you to buy into this smaller version of yourself?
5. What are you prepared to sacrifice to achieve your goal?
6. What would tomorrow be like if you were to let go of this belief?
7. In what way are you resisting success?
8. What lifelong struggle are you willing to see change?
9. Have you run out of answers, or have you run out of easy answers?

Questions are the key to self-awareness and personal growth.
When asked at the right time, they can be a powerful force to get you moving forward, one way or another. As coaches, it’s our job to respectfully challenge our clients from time to time to reaffirm their commitment to the goal or to challenge their limiting beliefs.
It can mean the difference between stagnation and success.

Interested in empowering others to achieve their dreams?
Life coaching might be the path you are looking for. Find out how you could start a new career as a life coach, or add life coaching skills to your current work by contacting one of the LCA Team Members on 1800 032 151 or emailing them at info@lifecoachingacademy.edu.au .
Our programmes are all accredited by professional bodies so you know that you are receiving the highest quality training.

Are you a personal trainer or P.E teacher?
Coaching might be that special skill you need to help your clients to become the very best version of themselves.
DISC Master Trainer and Coach, Dave Pill, has worked with many trainers in his 15 years of owning a chain of health and fitness clubs. In today’s article, he’s sharing the key to the success of his top-performing trainers. Read on!

Sometimes you have a grand plan to get where you are going and other times you just arrive and acknowledge where you’ve been to get there! In my case, it is and was the latter. I did plan to become a P.E. Teacher in a Comprehensive school and enjoyed my time in that role for 6 years in the lovely market town of Ludlow in Shropshire.
That was where the pre-planning ended though as I went on to be a Lecturer for 4 years for a change of pace rather than a planned next step in a career and then became an ‘owner operator’ of a chain of health & fitness clubs over the following 15 years – That journey is a whole other story for another time.
In fact, there have been many adventures since then, including becoming an NLP practitioner, DISC master trainer and of course a life coach among other things.

I am sharing my potted history with you to pre-fame this blog because, during this time, I would like you to know that I worked with a great many personal trainers over the years, many of whom were not great and many who were… and when I looked at the reasons why some fared better than others, I managed to identify their keys to success.

The personal trainers I worked with, without exception:
• Were very well qualified by training with a professional organisation
• Had a great understanding of how the body worked
• Knew the right training formulas to help clients achieve results
• Understood how the body responded to various forms of exercise.
• They had excellent personal form when they demonstrated exercises to clients and encouraged the same from them
• They knew how to promote their products and services

Generally speaking, the ones that got a fair bit of repeat business were the ones who could build rapport easily or to put it another way, the ones who could build rapport by understanding their client’s communication style and then modify their own communication preferences to mirror that of their clients (DISC Personality Profiling). Clients just seemed to be at ease with them.
Beyond the above, however, I recognised early on that there was a ‘special’ talent the top performers had (whether they knew what it was or not).

That special talent was coaching, not sports coaching though, rather coaching people through to owning their success.
I found that the top performers who had repeat clients, returning over and over again were the ones who could help people set specific and realistic (whatever that meant for them) goals and then go on to support them, encouraging and adapting along the way, all the way to their ultimate success.

The ones who could help their clients work through their ‘limiting beliefs’ such as “I’m a lost cause”, “I’ve left it too late” or “I’m too old”.
The ones that could help people navigate the return from injury or illness and coach them through their fears and doubts with empathy.
The ones who could appropriately challenge their clients and give them some accountability without ruining the relationship.
Coaching skills and their professional/expert delivery in my experience was the difference that made the difference when it came to the ongoing success of personal trainers.

True, some personal trainers have learned this through experience or by doing, others have a natural ‘coaching approach’ however, there is massive value in formalising your coaching skills, taking the time to train to be a professional coach and having the realisation that there’s a lot about coaching that you probably don’t know, things that could possibly be vital to your ongoing success.

With Coaching Skills you can:
• Help set powerful goals that align with your client’s core values and beliefs.
• Unlock the real motivation for success
• Become skilled at listening for limiting beliefs that can lead to ‘drop off’
• Help more people more often
• Become a master of motivation
• Build a better, more sustainable business through repeat business
• Offer life coaching in addition to personal training for an additional income stream

Personal trainers, sports ‘coaches’ team managers, P.E. teachers and alike can all gain massive benefit from acquiring and applying coaching skills once learned.
Helping people succeed in life and achieve their goals or targets without pre-judging the size of the goal, helping people overcome obstacles to success and feel better about themselves. Learning to coach will enhance the job you have, and in my experience can help you get an even better job.

If you are a personal trainer or P.E. teacher, team manager, sports coach, nutritionist or are working with people to help them achieve, you can find out more about learning coaching skills by contacting one of the Life Coaching Academy Team Members on 1300 032 151 or emailing us – info@lifecoachingacademy.edu.au

David is an Executive Coach, Facilitator of Leadership Transformation, NLP Master Trainer and mentor with 19 years of professional work experience (14 years in the UAE).

His passion lies in helping leaders raise their awareness, resulting in personal & organisational transformation. He has undertaken executive coaching, leadership development & cultural transformation initiatives, with executives, multinational corporations and government entities across the Middle East. Coming from Arabic/Greek roots while being raised and educated in North America and Europe, has allowed David to integrate well with clients and colleagues of all nationalities and has given him a solid understanding of business conduct in the Middle East and abroad.

This experience allows him to be sensitive to the cultural differences that exist, and he uses this knowledge in his approach. David’s journey into leadership development & cultural transformation began in his 12-year career as a management consultant, where he undertook Change Management training, facilitated Change Management programs & delivered soft-skills training for private sector corporations in the Middle East and Turkey.

His love for this domain set him off on a lifelong learning journey that, to date, has led him to study coaching, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), transformational leadership facilitation, emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, mentoring, cultural transformation, team effectiveness and psychometrics.

David provides coaching services with the aim of helping executives perform better in their professional & personal lives. The goal is to realize the full potential of each client, while decreasing their interferences which emerge via self-limiting beliefs and obstacles – thus increasing peak performance.

Coming from an analytical background (Engineering/MBA/Management Consulting), David is very pragmatic and excels in helping clients objectively create strategies for themselves to succeed in their professional lives.  However, his extroverted & open personality, coaching training, and intuition allows for great rapport and creates a safe place, where clients can have powerful insights in their professional & personal developmental journey.

David has worked with many corporations and government entities including Etihad Airways, HSBC Bank, the Prysmian Group, Oliver Wyman Consulting, the Dubai Government and many others. Executives embarking on a journey with David can expect to feel inspired, learn new skillsets, shift their leadership style, transform personally, be liberated and have fun; all while learning in an engaging and compassionate environment. Furthermore, due to his exposure to many public and private sector firms in the region, at a management level, executives can expect David to also understand the challenges of leadership within their organisation and the region as a whole.

WHO I AM

7 LANGUAGES. 48 COUNTRIES. 5 CONTINENTS. 3 ETHNICITIES.

David was born & raised in Montreal (Canada) from parents who immigrated there from Egypt & Greece. He has also spent a significant part of his life living in Dubai (where he currently lives), Rio de Janeiro, Koblenz (Germany) and Abu Dhabi.

He is truly passionate about human connection, has travelled to 48 countries and has lived in 4 different countries on 4 different continents.

David spends his free time learning languages (he speaks 7 – with a goal of speaking 10), reading books on spirituality & leadership, meditating, speaking at his Toastmasters club, traveling and engaging in several forms of exercise.

How I do it David works with corporations & government entities and facilitates transformation within teams. He designs programs with clients, ensuring that context, culture, application and results are always prioritized. He has been described by participants as an energetic, approachable and a relatable communicator that is clear, calm, engaging and knowledgeable. David facilitates workshops with a good balance of theory, coaching, case studies, storytelling & activities.

WHY I DO IT

GUIDING. SUPPORTING. COMPASSION. LEARNING. GROWTH. JOURNEY.

David’s mission is to help organisations succeed by unlocking peak performance & raising awareness – both for individuals and for teams – one leader at a time. David’s journey towards working in professional & personal mastery started as a child with his parents.

From a young age, his father Samir instilled in him the ethic of hard work and personal development, while his mother Maria instilled in him the values of care, love and compassion – all elements required for growth & awareness. In his adult life, David challenged himself to live up to his full professional potential. It was only when reflecting back on his life and thinking about what he TRULY loved doing that the answer came to him. If there is one thing that David has noticed in his life, it is that he is generous with his time and never gets tired of listening to people and helping them navigate through their professional & personal challenges. Since his university days, he was always the go-to person to guide his friends & colleagues with issues that they were facing in their lives. To say that David’s ‘coaching’ career indirectly started 25 years ago would not be so far-fetched.

1-TO-1 EXECUTIVE COACHING

David delivers 1-to-1 coaching for executives & business owners alike. He is an ICF certified coach, and has coached numerous leaders in the public and private sectors in fields including professional services, banks, government, telecommunication companies, airlines, engineering services and pulp & paper.

David’s experience revolves around:

• Adapting to Change: transitioning, preparing for a more senior role
• Leadership: delegation, confidence, gravitas, projecting senior presence, stakeholder management
• Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, decision-making, interpersonal communication, self-expression, stress management
• Strategic Outlook: mindset, thinking, insights
• Communication Skills: instilling trust, reporting, presentation skills, developing rapport, conflict/confrontation, connecting with others

Before starting the coaching journey, stakeholder interviews are conducted with stakeholders and assessments may even be done with the coachee (if necessary), ensuring an objective understanding of all stakeholder views. These coaching sessions may take place in person or online.

1-TO-1 LIFE COACHING

Similar to Executive Coaching, these sessions revolve more around a client’s personal life. David’s experience includes coaching on topics including:

• Finances
• Career
• Health & Fitness
• Personal Development
• Friends & Family
• Spirituality

Before starting the coaching journey, assessments may be done with the coachee (if necessary), to gain additional understanding of the issue(s) at hand. These coaching sessions may take place in person or online.

1-TO-1 NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING (NLP) SESSIONS

David is a licensed NLP master practitioner, having studied under Dr. Richard Bandler (the founder of NLP). Apart from teaching NLP, he also offer NLP sessions that may be separate or integrated as part of the 1-to-1 coaching sessions. Topics include:

• Phobia Reduction
• Parts Integration
• Belief Changing
• Hypnotherapy

These coaching sessions may take place in person or online.

I always like to begin with a clear definition of terms. What is NLP? What is Neuro-linguistic programming?

David Snyder: NLP is the study of the structure of subjective human experience. In other words, it’s the study of how human beings create meaning in their own minds, and in their own neurologies, and how they use that to navigate the universe inside of themselves and outside.

If you were to ask Richard Bandler the founder of NLP he would say:

“NLP is the study of superior thinking” – Richard Bandler

NLP is about how human beings create their map of the world both internally and externally, how they relate to it, how it controls and dominates their way of expressing themselves, and how that language or map is expressed through their spoken language, and how it can be influenced through spoken language. Because language is the medium by which all of our internal experiences are transmitted.

When it comes to influence and persuasion I think the first thing you need with anyone is rapport. If you don’t have rapport, people won’t listen to you, you won’t influence or persuade them, and you certainly won’t lead them. How would you go about using NLP to build rapport with someone?

David Snyder: Well, first and foremost, I’d like to give you a little bit of a distinction there, because state control has to come before rapport.

State control is the ability to enter or exit or link together within yourself, any sequence of psychoemotional states at will on demand. Now, the reason for that is that if you learn the rapport techniques that NLP has to teach you, but you do not have control of your state, you are going to be at the mercy of whatever rapport that you get. So if you’ve ever gotten rapport with somebody who’s in a bad mood or feeling sick, did you suddenly feel all energetic and sprightly?

Nope!

So one of the things that we need to understand is that as human beings our spoken language is tertiary to everything else.

If you are not in the right state, it does not matter how much NLP you know, you will not be able to get rapport.

How to get rapport with people

To get rapport with people, many times you must match the psychoemotional state that they’re in, and NLP will give you mechanical techniques for doing that:

• Matching their breathing patterns
• Matching their blink rate
• Using the verbs they use
• Using the tonalities they use
• Using the postures they use

Anytime you can take your physiology and make it match or reflect the person you’re seeking to get rapport with you’ll get it.

Rapport is actually something that can’t not happen as long as you have proximity to the other person. It’s just that the techniques of NLP will allow you to accelerate the process and get into the frequency of the other person faster.

Classical NLP is going to teach you to take on as many of the characteristics of the person that you’re seeking to influence as possible, to mimic them, for lack of a better word, and then every now and then just make a different movement or change something and see if they follow you. They call that pacing and leading. Pacing means to become like something in this context.

We have to look at pacing from two places.

1. To become as much like someone or something as possible. That is the key to rapport.
2. To talk about things that are true in their experience

How to get rapport with someone in a negative state

If you want to build rapport with someone, but let’s say they’re in a negative state, but for some reason you just want that rapport, maybe they’re a hiring manager for a job, or a hot girl you like who’s just in a bad mood. You don’t necessarily want to take on that person’s negative state, but you do want to have rapport and to influence them and maybe lead them. How do you then go about having rapport? Do you need to buy into their worldview or not?

David Snyder: Well it helps at least for a moment to match their state, because human beings have an interesting phenomena called mirror neurons and they have this desire for connection. They have a desire for alliance.

You’ve heard the saying “Misery loves company

How to change someone’s state

If you walk up to someone you have two choices for how to get them out of the state they’re in:

You can either interrupt it completely, and depending on the context and the environment that may be the most useful thing to do, however most people don’t have the kahunas to interrupt another person’s state. But if you have good state control, you can go in and match their state, match their physiology, and then change your state and they will follow you because the fastest way to change anybody state is to change your own.

But sometimes if you come in at too high an energy level, the difference between your frequency and their frequency will make you bounce off each other.

But if your energy level is just a little bit higher than theirs and you come in just a little bit faster than their state, then you can bring it down and raise their energy up.

Some states are too deep to interrupt, but generally speaking if you match their state, match their physiology, connect with them, and echo their words back to them, it will cause them to cleave to you.

The moment someone senses a connection with you, that you’re on the same wavelength, that you’re like them, that is something they don’t want to give up because they’ve been validated, and they’ve gotten the okay signal that things are right with them, that you approve of them in some unconscious, unspoken way, and they will follow you to keep it.

“The most important words that any human being can hear at any given moment are the words that just came out of their mouth” – David Snyder

Framing

Let’s talk about framing, and let’s first define it. What is a frame?

David Snyder: A frame is a point of view or a perspective that determines the meaning of a behavior or an interaction or a situation.

I was rereading a very old book on attraction the other day, The Mystery Method, it’s a really good read on overall social dynamics. You can take everything he’s put in that book and apply it to any form of interaction.

In the book someone says:

“He got off”

Well, that’s a very ambiguous statement until we wrap a context around it.

What does “He got off” mean?

He was arrested?

He was sitting on something and he got off?

He had an orgasm?

It’s the context that determines the meaning.

And the interesting thing about contexts is that they’re infinitely malleable. You can change the context, and the person that can control the context controls the meanings of the interaction, and the behaviors generated from those meanings.

I teach my students that the person who holds the frame longest and strongest wins. So if I can adopt a point of view and hold it through state control, I can cause another person to give up their view of reality and buy into mine in spite of themselves.

“He who controls the frame, controls the game”

How to know what frame to adopt

How do you go about identifying what frame to take on? How do you know whether to take on the frame of a subordinate or an equal or a leader?

David Snyder: What’s my outcome? The first thing I need to do is figure out my outcome.

Then I ask myself:

“Who does this person need to be to take the actions I want them to take?”

“What states do they have to have for them to want to take those actions?”

Because it’s almost always going to come down to what’s in it for them, right?

So who I need to be in any given interaction is predicated on my ability to acquire information about the subject.

“The most powerful way to get someone to do something they just told you they don’t want to do, is to have them generate their own reasons for doing it” – David Snyder