OUR SERVICES
Coaching
Coaching
Putting It in Context
For a long time in Germany, anyone among their colleagues who “needed coaching” was seen as a loser – someone who apparently had a problem and just couldn’t handle it alone. Fortunately – increasingly thanks to international influence – this image has changed, and it is becoming ever clearer that the people who actively use coaching as a tool for their own development are the real winners. Today, we find it almost entirely normal in practice for employers to offer coaching as an option, especially to managers – knowing that it is an open and rewarding process for both the individual and the company, while maintaining absolute confidentiality for everyone involved.
Situational Coaching
Current events or challenges are often the reason for, and the starting point of, one-on-one coaching: when things have started moving – or just won’t move; when they have gone off balance or simply gone wrong. And sometimes all it takes is a short, intensive session of reflection and orientation to be able to move forward – or to decide on the next steps.
Here are some examples of leadership situations in which our coaching sessions have provided support: Leadership transition – You are about to take on, or have just taken on, a new management role. Shaping your “first 100 days” actively and successfully, consciously designing and reflecting on your leadership work, and finding your place in the leadership team.
Escalations – When things have really blown up, emotions have run high, and a fresh start to the conversation seems almost impossible. Finding ways out of seemingly hopeless situations.
Termination meetings – You have to make, stand behind, and communicate decisions. Allowing for grief and giving it room. Going into a fair conversation well prepared. Role-plays, sharing experiences, and building strength through dialogue.
Projects – Translating responsibility and expectations into a sound project approach. Selecting key people and taking support needs into account. Stakeholder management and steering.
Career stalls – You’re stuck, the feedback in your potential review was puzzling, others are overtaking you, and you’re unsure how to handle the situation. Taking stock, analyzing your environment, changing perspective, sharpening your profile, getting moving again.
Decision meetings – Preparing well for the important presentation or the key meeting. Balancing subject-matter, personal, and corporate interests. Bringing about decisions. Dress rehearsal.
Media appearances – Professional preparation with experienced media and on-camera experts. Showing your message, your company, and yourself in the best light. Talking through fears, developing tactics, and rehearsing them.
Deadlocks – When nothing moves forward anymore, entrenched positions block each other, and familiar solutions no longer work. Gaining a bird’s-eye view, understanding connections, breaking the deadlock.
Near-burnout – When you have lost your sense of healthy balance, no longer listen to your body, and miss the warning signs. Catching your breath, reflecting, reorienting, and starting afresh.
How We See Ourselves as Coaches
We see ourselves as trusted companions on your journey. Alongside personality, attitude, training, and professionalism, our quality rests above all on extensive experience – and on our openness and curiosity toward every new person we coach. With us, you will find the courage to take on your own development, to go in search of yourself, to discover both the familiar and the hidden sides of yourself, and to turn ideas and possibilities for your future into concrete plans. To borrow from J. K. Rowling: with us, you look into the Mirror of Erised (read it backwards: “desire”), which, as we know, shows “not your face but your heart’s desire” – and you find ways to use these insights to make decisions about yourself and your development, and to act on them. “Coaching with all the senses” – professional guidance through learning and change – is our approach in both individual and team coaching.
How Does Coaching Work?
Whether you are a company seeking a coaching process for one person or a group of people in your organization – or you have set out on your own initiative as a coachee – we work with you to explore what you want to achieve through coaching and how we can best support you. From this, we develop an individual proposal for you, recommending the most effective approach. Drawing on extensive practical experience across the wide spectrum of coaching formats and closely related fields such as supervision, mediation, and on-the-job coaching, we help set the right focus. It is very important to us to be able to offer you coaches with different personalities, so that after a no-obligation introductory meeting you can weigh your options and decide whom you would like to work with.
The individual coaching sessions and their detailed design are developed jointly by coach and coachee and agreed on again at the start of each session. The coaching ends when you decide that the coaching goals have been achieved and no further sessions are needed. Experience shows that during the usually longer phase that follows – putting things into practice – occasional mini-coaching sessions by phone or in person come about. For us, this is a good sign that our coachees keep learning and keep growing.
During the coaching process, we use targeted questions and challenges to spark irritation, reflection, and a re-examination of what you have in mind. To use the metaphor of a traveler: we will not lead you away from your path, but we will point out side roads, one-way streets, rocky stretches, and rest stops. We will encourage you to look at familiar places from new angles and to open your eyes to what has remained hidden so far. You are the hiker on your journey of change; we are the signposts, mile markers, and traffic reports that help you find your destination.