"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."
Single-Session Coaching
Although Coaching is not therapy and no substitute for a therapy, many coaching techniques are derived from either brief therapy, systemic therapy, hypnotherapy and so on. So I got very excited when I read Moshe Talmon's Book 'Single Session Therapy - Maximizing the Effect of the First ( and Often Only) Therapeutic Encounter "- Jossey Bass (1990). I knew that I wanted to translate his learnings and experience with this form of really " ultra brief therapy" into my coaching practice.
Moshe Talmon did telephone research on clients who dropped out of therapy after a single session. The therapist's assumption for these drop-outs were an insufficient rapport between therapist and patients, that the patient had not liked what the therapists said or offered, or that patients were just not "ready" for therapy.
A single session made a huge difference for 78 % of patients
Talmon's research presented a completely different picture: Out of 200 patients who quit therapy after a single session 78 % said that they got what they wanted out of a single session and felt better or much better about the problem that had led them to seek therapy. I was fascinated that Talmon had observed in therapy what I was experiencing with a lot my coaching clients. A single-session many times helped them to get a new perspective on a specific situation, to take first steps towards action, or reconsider to try something new instead of repeating an old way of doing things that didn't work for them.
I thought I was a lousy coach until clients fedback their satisfaction
In the beginning of my coaching career I tended to be rather disappointed when a client didn't sign up for a subsequent coaching date. I had the same assumptions like the therapists. Maybe I wasn't able to connect with the client, maybe the client didn't really like my approach, maybe I was too straightforward, maybe he wasn't really interested in doing real change ... So it took me some time and the positive feedback from clients to realize that this single session had just given them enough input to work on. And I realized that I am not a lousy coach, but rather successful in fulfilling one of the basic coaching requirements: to make ourself obsolete as soon as possible.
Single-Session coaching: Preparation - Session - Follow-up
I therefore decided to offer basically single-session coaching, a 3 step procedure that is usually a process of three to four weeks.
Step 1 Presession-Preparation
After the client and I fixed a date for the personal coaching session, by email or phone, I will send him a preparation questionnaire and ask the client to bring the filled out questionnaire to the coaching session. Many clients realize that first changes already starts to develop between the presession period and the personal coaching session.
Step 2 The Personal Coaching Session
Usually there is a time span of 1 week to 10 days between the presession preparation and the actual personal coaching session. The personal coaching session lasts approximately 90 minutes and is going to further explore your quest, your resources and generate solutions and develop a plan for the implementation of action steps. At the end of the session we will agree on a time to do the follow-up telephone interview, which should be no earlier than 2 weeks after the session.
Step 3 The Follow-up Interview
The follow-up interview - basically a 15 minute telephone call - gives client and coach the chance to evaluate the coaching success, reinforce new habits, patterns and perspectives and to generate solutions for unforeseen problems that might have occured during the change process of the client.
As stated in the beginning, coaching is not therapy. But the same ethical standards and codes comparable to a therapeutic relationship are applied concerning the client's confidence.
Please go to the contact form if you have more questions concerning Single-Session- Caoching or if you want to make an appointment.
Costs including the whole 3 step process:
850 Pesos / 80 US-$ for individuals
250 US-$ for corporations