Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein.

 

I have significant experience in coaching people in technical environments: people who do technical work (engineers, architects) or those who manage them (group leaders, project leaders). I have found that often this group can improve remarkably with just a few simple steps. Coaching can help people to act more effectively, improve their collaborative skills and increase their job satisfaction.

 

I work as personal coach and as career coach. In personal coaching, the focus is on your behaviour: how to strengthen behaviour that suits you and is effective. In career coaching, the focus is on your career: are you doing the work you want to do, is it time for a change and how to take the necessary steps. But in both cases, your question is the starting point.

 

If you compare coaching with a training course, you see that a coaching program is more cost-effective. And it delivers better results due to the extensive attention on the individual being coached, the focus on the specific question and the depth of enquiry and dialogue possible.

 

I also have experience with coaching non-Dutch speaking persons (in English). Apart from the language, there is as well a clear impact of the different culture. Coaching these people is challenging but can be very rewarding as in most cases they have a clear drive to learn.

 

There can be taboos related to coaching. For example, that you are receiving coaching because you are underperforming, and if the coaching doesn’t help then the only solution is dismissal. This is neither true nor helpful. Coaching helps people to handle situations they encounter in their daily life with greater insight, understanding and effectiveness while reducing stress. Good coaching puts people in touch with their own talents and qualities and gives them the power to take responsibility for their own development.

 

Someone I coached put it this way: "I think a coaching program could be very useful for almost everyone (more useful than most courses), since everyone has a question he or she is struggling with."