- What is coaching?
- Who can benefit from coaching?
- How does a typical session work?
- Should I have goals in mind or can the coach help me set them?
- Is a coaching session like psychotherapy?
- Why do I/we need a coach?
- What kinds of things can Wisdom at Work help me accomplish?
- What unique talents and insights does Dr. Carley and Wisdom at Work bring to the table?
- What are MasterMind Groups?
- How does Dr. Carley work within a business or organizational setting?
- How does a teleseminar work?
- How much does a telephone session cost?
- How many sessions will I need?
- How do we know when we’re “finished?”
- What types of objectives/issues can Wisdom at Work address within an organization?
1. What is coaching?
Coaching is a partnership dedicated to clients having the work they love, the lives they want and the world they want to live in. Just like Olympians who hire coaches to develop their athleticism, successful professionals hire coaches to support them in expressing their full potential. They know that if the quality of their deliberation is good, the product of that deliberation will be sound. Just like successful athletes understand the value of their partnership with their coach, more and more successful business leaders are documenting high returns on investment in coaching.
2. Who can benefit from coaching?
Wisdom at Work clients are professionals, government officials, philanthropists and organizations who are change makers and leaders in their fields. They’re effective people who know that the wisest choices produce the most sustainable results.
3. How does a typical session work?
Typically a client calls the coach at the agreed on appointment time. You’re the boss. You determine what you want to work on. Through artful questioning, unconditional advocacy, deep listening, and an unshakable commitment to the clients’ ultimate good, the coach facilitates a conversation for excellence and forward motion. Optional homework is often assigned.
4. Should I have goals in mind or can the coach help me set them?
Both. Some clients hire coaches to achieve clear, well-established goals. Other clients come with stirrings, an inkling, a vision, a sense of purpose or of stagnation, or feeling of wanderlust…Many have some combination of clear intentions and a sense of possibility they haven’t imagined yet.
A truly creative coaching process can be a messy one. People with clear goals are supported in cost- and time-effective achievement of their intentions. At the same time, the Wisdom at Work process helps develop intuition, authenticity and creativity such that goals often morph. Individuals and organizations who are determining new objectives are supported in accomplishing concrete mileposts and quantifiable outcomes.
Goals and visions, whether they be sharp or blurry, are reached one choice at a time. Wisdom at Work helps clients make their wisest choices – from the inside out.
Coaching helps individuals and organizations leverage vision and energy. The Wisdom at Work process helps clients not only determine right action, but also capitalize on the powerful creative spark that is unique in each of us but common to all of us.
5. Is a coaching session like psychotherapy?
No, coaching is absolutely not therapy. Although, like psychotherapy, coaching is a one-on-one or group session between a client and a professional who is dedicated to listening to and advocating for the client’s best interests. But, just like an athlete would hire a physical therapist for injuries and a coach for improving their game, it’s best to hire a therapist to heal your psychological wounds and a coach to achieve your full potential.
Wisdom at Work is a holistic approach concerned with people, profits and the planet. Like psychotherapy, personal “stuff” comes up in the process and resolving that “stuff” is recognized as critical to optimum effectiveness because true success requires an alignment of life and livelihood. Unlike therapy, coaching does not address pathology and the coaching goal is not to make clients “better” but to provide “wind beneath your wings” in your journey toward your ultimate professional success.
Realizing full individual or organizational potential results in meaningful and productive work, stronger leadership, balanced lifestyles, a sense of abundance, and a sense of contributing to something larger than oneself – all of which can be very therapeutic. But the bottom line is that therapy is for healing dysfunction and pain and coaching is for moving beyond the status quo.
6. Why do I/we need a coach?
Wisdom at Work clients, mostly professionals, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, philanthropists and organizations, are already successful or are highly functional and motivated. They coach for many reasons including:
- A desire to break new ground
- Because they themselves or their organization is in transition
- They recognize the value of working with a skilled professional who holds them in unconditional positive regard
- They seek advocacy in realizing their full potential
- They want to stabilize or grow what’s already working and are looking to resolve what’s not working
- They want to better align life and livelihood
- Their work is transformative in nature and they recognize the value of partnership in bringing the visionary impulse to fruition
7. What kinds of things can Wisdom at Work help me accomplish?
- Reaching your unique ultimate potential
- Organizational harmony and success
- Goals you’ve already established
- Clarity of vision
- Values-driven mission development and implementation
- Choosing wisely on day to day issues and toward long term aspirations
- Closing the gap between where you are and where you want to be
- Alignment of life and livelihood
Unlike a spouse or business partner, coaches are detached from outcomes and can provide not only an objective sounding board for ideas, but also advocacy for making intentions real. Coaches bring no agenda for you other than the dedication to you getting exactly what you want and/or to your organization being a good place to work, having a good return on investment of time and money, and being the best possible corporate citizen.
8. What unique talents and insights does Dr. Carley and Wisdom at Work bring to the table?
Dr. Carley has 30 years of experience consulting with thousands of individuals and with philanthropists and organizations. She co-leads ongoing seminars on Visioning and Values at the United Nations. Dr. Carley holds a doctorate in the Reinvention of Work; she’s a Coach U grad; member Association of Career Professionals; Empire Who’s Who of International Executives and Professionals; Professor of Applied Ethics; and international work and play background enables unique depth and breadth of service. She’s highly intuitive – yet oriented toward practicality – and it’s that rare combination of wisdom and productivity that puts Wisdom at Work at the top of industry standards.
9. What are MasterMind Groups?
Dr. Carley leads small, powerful group sessions to facilitate growth and transformation among successful, dynamic professionals. Groups are limited to five participants who come together to harness and leverage diverse expertise, skills and insights. With Dr. Carley’s inspiring, deeply authentic approach to accessing the best in each of us,
MasterMind Groups are a must for anyone who has the mind and heart to move
beyond the status quo. Mastermind groups started because Wisdom at Work clients tend to be very successful people who gain from leveraging one another’s experience.
10. How does Dr. Carley work within a business or organizational setting?
Custom packages may include organizational troubleshooting, one-on-one coaching with CEO and top staff, and ombudsmen duties between staff and management; also classes and workshops on ethics, communication, roadblocks to reaching full potential, values, vision and more.
11. How does a teleseminar work?
A teleseminar is usually delivered live or “live on tape” via the telephone or internet. It sometimes works in conjunction with a PowerPoint presentation sent in advance by e-mail. Attendees situate themselves in an environment conducive to putting their full attention and participation on the call. Teleclass etiquette includes introducing yourself before speaking and making sure not to bring background noise to the call. Surprisingly, interruptions aren’t that frequent and when they do happen, the seminar facilitator makes sure that all voices are heard. (Due to the depth and breadth of Wisdom at Work material, multi-tasking is highly discouraged.)
12. How much does a telephone session cost?
Hourly fees are $250/hr with discounts for purchasing 5 and 10 sessions. Our monthly Executive Plans are most cost effective and include some great benefits like Coaching on Call services. MasterMind groups, primarily for entrepreneurs, are an economical yet powerful way to take your business to the next level – at $950 for 6 group sessions and 2 individual sessions, the MasterMind process is an intensive way to step out of the overwhelm of working so hard in your business so that you can focus on your business.
Credit card payments can be made by phone or online.
13. How many sessions will I need?
The Wisdom at Work philosophy is that clients are the experts on how much time they need and want. Coaching is a process and so it requires at least three sessions to allow for “soak” time and process time. Many clients continue to renew at the 5 or 10 session rates to take advantage of discounts. They book their sessions as they desire – weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or on an as-needed basis. It usually works best to book weekly or bi-weekly sessions in the beginning to establish momentum and then to schedule at a pace that feels like it would support you best. There is no time limit for completing a series, i.e. there is no expiration date on pre-paid individual sessions.
14. How do we know when we’re “finished?”
A very important question! Wisdom at Work fees are designed to make that very clear. When the sessions you’ve bought are coming to an end, we have the chance to complete with one another or to partner further. The choice is yours. There’s no question about it, you know best about when it’s right for you to be coaching and when it isn’t.
15. What types of objectives/issues can Wisdom at Work address within an organization?
- What’s not working
- Optimizing and capitalizing on what is working
- What it will take to make things work best
- Internal and external transitions
- Identifying and implementing changes that need to be made
- Personal/professional effectiveness and satisfaction
- Developing leadership
- Creating vision and the wherewithal to implement it
- Reinvigorating mission
- Accessing creativity
- Ethics
- Corporate citizenship
- Helping owners and personnel to balance personal and professional lives
- Developing a sense of spiritedness – creating an organizational culture of excellence,
passion and commitment
