"Problem-talk creates problems. Solution-talk creates solutions."

The Art of personal change coaching

What is a coach? In Europe there is a distinction between trainer and coach in sports. The trainer is supposed to be responsible for the improvement of technical skills and physical performance of athletes. The coach works with them on visions and on mental performance. He or she might have no idea technically how to run faster, to jump higher, or to lift a weight. The coach supports the athletes in generating their own resources that make them want to be a winner and reach their goals.

From business coaching to personal life coaching

With this idea of a coach in mind 'coaching' became popular within the business world. CEOs and people in leading managerial positions started to work with personal business coaches in order to facilitate change-management within their corporations and enterprises.

The success of coaching within the business environment soon opened the doors for the entry of this powerful development method into every-day-life and the personal coaching of individuals. Career-coaching, financial coaching, relationship coaching - wherever substantial change and transition issues were involved people started to use the support of a personal coach.

I personally have coaching experience in the business environment as well as in life coaching. I have coached international marketing, product and sales manager, physicians and their teams, and individuals undergoing major career or personal transitions.
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A goal-and solution-focused interactive consultancy process

Coaching is always goal-oriented. That means a professional coach wouldn't start working with you before there is a clearly defined coachable goal for the coaching-process itself. This enables both the client and the coach to evaluate the success of coaching-sessions. Coaching is solution-oriented. Instead of focusing on the past, on problems and their causes, coaching focuses on generating solutions and new possibilities.

Coaching works on the premise that the problem-cause relations are rather a construct of our mind more than a reality, and therefore can be re-constructed. In contrast to therapy - coaching doesn't work on your potential deficits but tries to reinforce your individual resources. It works with your personal strengths, not with your weaknesses.

You could compare a coach to a midwife.

A midwife supports the mother during childbirth with the help of her special techniques, but giving birth is something only the mother can do by herself.

Coaching is interactive without a hierarchy between coach and client. The relationship between coach and client is based on respect and acceptance. As opposed to a therapist, the coach is not a person "who knows better than you what you should do" but rather a facilitator for your change-process.

Coaching is limited in time.

The client decides how many sessions he or she wants to take and defines the intervals between the sessions. My personal experience is that many times single-session coaching ignites so many new ideas and possibilities that there is no need for consecutive sessions for a long period of time, if ever. A coach should try to make himself obsolete as fast as possible.

Although coaching is not therapy and no substitute for therapy - and a serious professional coach would stop a coaching process if he or she has the feeling that the client needs therapeutic help - coaching is as confidential as a therapeutic relationship. For more information see ethical standards. "

The art of personal change coaching - consultancy without advice

Coaching is a consultation process without advice by the consultant. Actually, coaches are trained to be sensitive for the situation where they tend to give advice to the client. That's a sign that they are off the track in the coaching process.

Why don't they give advice?

The answer is simple: Because of the most fascinating aspect in life-- that every person is different and unique. What works for me doesn't necessarily work for you. What motivates you eventually might not motivate me in the least. That's probably also the reason why you might have read a couple of self-help books, found them interesting and convincing, but the suggested solutions just didn't work for you personally.

But what do coaches do if they don't give advice? Coaches have a toolset of methods and techniques derived from eastern and western philosophy, systemic therapy, brief-therapy, and hypnotherapy that help you to find your own hidden, powerful resources. Methods and techniques that help you to generate your visions and individual solutions.

Coaching is based on the so-called ethical imperative created by the Austrian-American constructivist philosopher Heinz von Foerster: "Act always in a way that enlarges your possibilities." If you are stuck in one of these typical "either-or" situations you really don't have the freedom of choice.

A coaching process would help you to detect amazing new possibilities with simple steps and thereby increase your freedom. Coaching creates a safe space where you can think the impossible, imagining actions and feelings which you can take into your own reality that are tailor-made for you and your unique goals.

Philosophy of Coaching

Coaching integrates a lot of philosophical models that help to understand how we construct reality by means of personal observation, beliefs and language and uses the power of language and declaration to re-construct a problem-orientated perspective towards a more solution-focused perspective that enables change.

So coaching makes use of

• The constructivist philosophy of Heinz von Foerster and Ernst Glaserfeld,
• The philosophy of language of Ludwig Wittgenstein,
• The epistemology based on anthropological and biological findings by Humberto R. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela and Gregory Bateson,
• The philosophy of French post structuralism of Foccault or Derrida, or structuralist John R. Searle

Integrating eastern ways of thinking

But coaching also goes into the realm of eastern philosophy. In western societies we are victims of dual logic, which seems to create a reality where we have to make "either-or" decisions, a typical di-lemma.

Coaching works with traditional Sanskrit logic of the tetra- lemma (4 corners). Basically its either-or, both, none of both and sometimes even the negation of the tetralemma.

The Buddhist logicians developed the negation of the tetralemma, the so-called fifth position: "All these and even not these". The tetralemma is a powerful tool in order to experiment with completely different perspectives during a coaching process.

"In the beginning was the word..." -- The power of declaration

Coaching works on the premise that reality is constructed by language and that language and declaration is powerful in the sense of selffulling prophecies.

Maybe you remember J.F. Kennedy's famous quote on sending a man to the moon: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." By the time Kennedy made this declaration, there was no technical solution, which made it possible to achieve this goal. But by declaring it the scientists of the nation were asked to look for solutions, to work on the impossible.

You all know the end of the story: Before the decade was out the first man landed on the moon and returned safely to earth. So the declaration of a positive formulated goal and the subsequent search for solutions in order to turn a future goal into reality is one of the first steps in a coaching process.

Language also determines how we see, feel and experience reality. Whether you call something a "crisis" or a "challenge" is going to create a different attitude towards events in your life, and your ability to make choices in order to re-act.

Theory and methods

Besides the different philosophical influences there are several theories, especially communication theory based on the work of Paul Watzlawick or F. Schulz von Thun that has influenced coaches and their work. Many methods are derived from systemic therapy (Virginia Satyr, Fritz B. Simon, B. Hellinger), solution-orientated brief therapy according to Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, Ericksonian hypnotherapy or NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming).

My tutors and mentors

In my coaching session and workshops I try to integrate my background in philosophy and a lifelong experience in communication. I was happy to find inspiring, greatly skilled tutors and mentors who enriched my basic coaching education with specific skills in the field of hypnotherapy.

I studied with Stephen-Gilligan whom - beside his profound skills in hypnotherapy - I greatly admire for his unique abilities to create a deep connection with his clients during a trance session; I was fortunate to meet Charlie Badenhop, who made me understand and experience how our body follows the mind and how mind-body techniques can change much more than a bad posture.

Stephen Harper introduced me to mindful meditation and great learning experiences in nature, Fritjof Capra, who increased my understanding of the interconnectedness of all living things. And, I received great lessons from my coaching clients - who always surprised me with their incredibly creative, unforeseen solutions and increased my awareness for the fact, that my role as a coach is to facilitate the generative space to make this happen and not to give advice.

Personal Coaching

Nevertheless, I strongly believe that the successful process is more than just applying a bundle of philosophy, theory and methods.  But, it is based on a felt sense of connection between coach and client. I therefore don't do telephone or e-mail coaching unless this connection has been established in a face-to-face relationship.

I believe - besides in the power language and words - that at least 50 % of all messages in a communication process are delivered either in non-verbal communication, or a sub-text, which I wouldn't get over the phone by electronic mail.