Last week I sent out my announcement – invitation to join – the New Coaches Coaching Group. I’m delighted to extend this invitation to readers of my blog.
The New Coaches Group is a group for 6 – 8 professional coaches who are committed to building the coaching practices they dream of and eager to get things moving.
I’m looking for the 6 – 8 new coaches for whom this is a longed-for and exciting source of support right now.
Please help me by signing up for this group and/or by sharing this invitation with those new coaches you know for whom this might be the right thing at the right time – right now.
The New Coaches Group: Making the Transition from Dream to Dream Life
Starting a new coaching business is exciting and magical. Building a coaching practice offers the possibility of doing work that sets you alight, with people you’re passionate to support whilst also helping your clients to move forward in ways they barely thought possible.
It’s also a time of uncertainty – an act of faith. It’s a time when you invest a great deal – from your emotional energy to your money and other resources – in the hope of a future that has yet to come. Some days you feel connected with the passion and excitement that led you to start this journey. Some days you wonder if it’s ever going to happen. These are the days when you seem to have only your gremlins for company. You may have the support of your coaching colleagues, but what use is that when you’re all trying to put on a brave face in the face of your deepest fears? What use is that when you’re all wondering what to do next, or struggling to find the energy to do it?
More than at any other time, the period when you’re building your coaching practice is a time when you need powerful and effective support. At the same time, you feel nervous about making the financial investment that will give you the support you need.
Joining the New Coaches Group is a powerful and affordable way to kick-start your coaching business. It brings together the supportive energy of your colleagues with a powerful coaching process led by a coach who has been where you are now – and come through.
Although my first experience of working with Dorothy was not coaching related, it was later as an executive coach that her skills and values shone through. She has (in my experience) a unique level of insight and empathy which allows her interact in a most effective way. Like all good coaching, it’s not always comfortable, but it is always immensely valuable and pragmatically useful from the moment the session ends.
Derrick Murray
Director of Operations Munich Re
UK Life Branch
The New Coaches Group: About you
Whilst you may not be new to coaching, you’re new to building your own coaching practice. Perhaps you have just completed your training and are eager to get started. Perhaps you are an experienced in-house coach embarking on setting up your own business or perhaps you are a year or two in and struggling to get things moving. Any which way, you feel excited when you think about joining up to seven other coaches who, like you, are committed to building the coaching practices they dream of and eager to get things moving. What’s more, you feel excited to have the coaching and support of an experienced and confident coach who has trodden – is treading – her own path and grown in confidence, learning and wisdom along the way.
What issues are alive for you right now? Perhaps you are wondering what to make of all the messages you are hearing about marketing your business and you want to find your own path. Perhaps you feel terrified as you wonder how to recruit your coaching clients – and enough of them to pay the bills. Perhaps you are coaching already and wondering, “Am I doing it right?” Perhaps you notice how much your clients are getting from your work together and yet you feel so drained at the end of your sessions that you’re wondering whether you can live your life this way – and how to do things differently. You know that finding your own answers to these and other questions that are alive for you is the foundation for your success.
You are ready to bring everything that you are – your strengths, your fears, your dreams, your inner resources. You’re ready to share yourself fully and honestly with other members of the group and to seek the help and support you need to move forward. It’s not that you need to be rescued – you know that you have what it takes! Still, you’re doing something that is new and stretching for you and you’re ready and eager to seek help.
You’re also ready to bring everything you are to support your colleagues in ways that empower them to make progress. And you’re also ready to learn more about what it takes to support them effectively – in ways which work for them whilst leaving you energised and fulfilled.
Above all, you’re a learner. You know that your coaching is not just a matter of knowledge or even of coaching skill. You want to be a role model to your clients and you’re already on your own deep learning journey.
The real pleasure of knowing Dorothy as a colleague and as a coach is her powerful and infectious enthusiasm for inspiring others to develop. She achieves this by truly engaging you with her curiosity, her integrity, her commitment and her ability to enable you to believe you can be all you set out to be. I would never hesitate to recommend Dorothy and believe her passion for continuing development of coaches will enhance the profession significantly.
Lindsey Waddell
Coach and Organisation Development Consultant
Affordable Help, Just When You Need It
When you join the New Coaches Group you make a one-year commitment to a group of 6 – 8 coaches who, like you, are committed to create the coaching practice they dream of.
Your annual fee of £2,075 plus VAT (payable in six easy instalments – see below) gives you access to a comprehensive package of coaching and other support:
· From September 2009 to July 2010 the group meets for 90 minutes, twice a month by conference call, with a break in December and August – a total of 21 group coaching calls;
· An additional six one-hour conference calls provide an optional input to support you in areas that matter most to you – a curriculum that you specify supported by experts in areas of your choosing;
· Prior to joining the group, a one-hour one-to-one coaching session will help you to get clear on your goals for your coaching practice and on those areas in which you most need help from the group;
· What’s more, your fees for joining this group include an additional 3 hours of one-to-one coaching. These are available to you just when you need them.
Early bird registration
I’m eager to get this group started, with a group of 6 – 8 committed coaches. If this is exciting for you, I’d like to offer a 10% discount for you, provided you register by 31st July and pay your first instalment by 14th August. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
How can I afford to offer this value for money?
Working as a group offers the opportunity to provide the same quality support at a fraction of the cost-to-participants of one-to-one coaching. At the same time, group coaching offers an experience one-to-one coaching just can’t provide.
What’s more, your one-to-one coaching hours are available to you at the same cost as your group coaching hours – a significant discount on my standard coaching fees for private clients. In effect, I am offering you a rare “deal”: in exchange for this extraordinary discount, you agree to become an advocate for my business, letting people know about the services and the quality of service that I provide.
And there’s more! As long as you are a member of the New Coaches Group, you are eligible for a discount on additional one-to-one coaching. This will be available to you at £100.00 plus VAT per hour – that’s one third off my standard fees for private clients and small business owners.
These fees are a fraction of the fees I charge my executive and personal clients and reflect my commitment to offer support to a group I passionately want to support – new coaches.
Dorothy is an experienced and well respected coach who truly inspires people. Her powerful intuition skills, when coupled with her caring and thoughtful nature, make you feel very supported.
Antoinette Hennessy
Coaching Colleague
The New Coaches Group: How It Works
Here’s how it works:
· Once you know this is the group for you, you make a one-year commitment to the group with the option to continue to work together if this is what the group wants. As soon as you sign up, we’ll schedule your one-to-one preparatory coaching session at a time to suit you.
· As your group coach, I schedule and facilitate each meeting. I provide a format for our work together. You’ll also have the input and support of 6 or 7 amazing coaches who, like you, are committed to making the journey that will lead them towards their dreams.
· Our group calls take place by conference call at a number and with a pin code that is unique to our group. You commit to dial in on time for our calls, each time. You can do this from anywhere in the world.
· Beginning in September, we meet for two 90-minute group calls per month. In December we have just one call and in August we have no calls – a total of twenty-one 90-minute calls.
· Your first group call will lay the foundations for our work together, helping you and other group members to connect with each other and agreeing key ways of working together.
· On the call we check in, noticing how we are, where we’re making progress and where we need help. We’ll also take time to notice what’s working and to share hints and tips. This is a powerful way to share best practice and to build momentum towards our goals. We’ll also choose an area or areas of focus for each call – an area(s) in which group members want to make progress. We’ll explore this area before setting up clear and uncompromising intentions for our time between calls. All of these intentions will reflect the overarching goals of helping you to build the coaching practice –and the life – you dream of. Finally, we’ll take time to check out, noticing what you are taking away from the call.
· As your group coach, I’ll be providing coaching throughout each call and to every member of the group. This isn’t about “taking it in turns” – it’s about working together in ways which engage us all, all the time.
· In group coaching, as in one-to-one coaching, much of the magic happens between calls. Between calls, and during December, you’ll be putting your intentions into action and noticing what works – and what doesn’t. Prior to each call, you’ll check in with yourself and get ready to check in with the group. In August, the group will take a break – and maybe you will, too.
· Six times a year I’ll be offering an additional, optional 60-minute call. Each call offers an opportunity to focus on an area of interest to you with the help of an expert in the field. Typical areas include setting up your business, marketing your offering, ICF accreditation, coaching supervision. I’ve scheduled the dates. You’ll specify the areas you want to explore.
· Your non-refundable deposit of £350.00 plus VAT secures your place in the group. I will send you an invoice for your five additional instalments of £345.00 plus VAT in September and November 2009 and January, March and May 2010.
· Over the year, you will stretch and grow into the learning and actions that will propel you forward, helping you both to accelerate your progress and to stay the course. You’ll benefit from a growing momentum and awareness of progress – your own, and that of the group.
· I hope you’ll be able to come to all of our group coaching calls, but if circumstances cause you to miss a call, please let me know in advance and I will record the call so you can listen to it later.
I’d been prevaricating over a number of things and was getting down in the dumps about it. Dorothy was able to constructively get me to question some of my beliefs which were (unbeknown to me) getting in the way of a number of marketing steps that I needed to take. With Dorothy’s questions and coaching I was able to realise that success can be measured in a number of different ways and can be different shades of grey. Feeling energised by our coaching conversation, the next day I put together my own blog, celebrated my success and felt good about what I was trying to do. I would still be prevaricating today (two weeks later) if it wasn’t for Dorothy and really do make sure that I celebrate all my successes, big or small. The $64 million dollar question: would I recommend Dorothy? Absolutely.
John Dellarmi
Independent trainer and coach
The New Coaches Group: What It’s Not
· This isn’t a training programme with a curriculum. It’s a coaching group. This means I won’t be teaching you. Rather, I’ll be helping you to tap into your own inner resources and to find your own answers – and next steps.
· This isn’t one-to-one coaching, or therapy, or supervision. Whilst the focus may, at times, be on you, this will be in the context – always – of the larger group. So, whilst we will be covering those areas where you most need help, you may have needs for dedicated one-to-one support that this group won’t meet.
· This isn’t a marketing group. It’s not that we won’t touch on how to attract your clients – we will. Still, this is not the sole focus of the group. We will cover focus on those areas – whatever they are – in which you most need help.
You are a beacon in a very bright and amazing forum – and you can quote me on that! I learn so much from all your contributions to the TJ online forum. There’s always useful content, and more than that, the way in which you communicate with, encourage and challenge a wide range of people is an exemplar for us all. You are very generous with your insights (which are often profound) and seemingly-gentle questions, which can often inspire all kinds of revelations and learning. And you are respectful and ethical; that is very clear in how you deal with others. You are blazing a trail with what you are doing and deserve to succeed – I think this is the right idea at the right time with the right coach leading the charge.
Dawn Sillett
Trainer and coach
Colleague on the Training Journal Daily Digest
Introducing Dorothy Nesbit, Your Group Coach
With a background in training and consulting and a lifelong focus on leadership and personal effectiveness I am both new to coaching and a seasoned coach. Throughout my career I have been involved in coaching leaders. Recognising this led me to the decision, in 2003, to name coaching as a part of my practice and to begin the journey towards establishing a coaching practice and towards professional accreditation.
My current coaching portfolio includes both executive and personal clients and I like to work with clients in a deep and lasting coaching relationship. I have been working with my own coach, Lynne Fairchild, since 2005. My choice to offer coaching groups reflects my love of working with groups and my commitment to offer coaching as widely as I can.
As a coach, I enjoy providing a balance of challenge and support which is uniquely tailored to each client and I am open to coaching in a wide variety of areas. My coaching is rooted in my understanding of what works and how. This, in turn, is rooted in my studies and experience of leadership competencies and emotional intelligence, of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and of nonviolent (or compassionate) communication (NVC). My coaching is also rooted in my own life experience and in my deep and continuing learning journey.
You can get to know me ahead of time by looking at my website (at http://www.learningforlifeconsulting.co.uk/) and my blog (at http://dorothynesbit.blogspot.com/). I also attach two coaching CVs.
I’d thoroughly recommend Dorothy as an authentic, experienced and elegant coach. My experience of being part of any initiative she has organised has been highly positive. I’m sure the New Coaches Group will be a great opportunity and catalyst for new coaches.
Allison Mitchell
Key Note Speaker and author of Time Management for Manic Mums and
Co-Author of Making It: Women Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Secrets of Success
Your Coaching Schedule: Start The Week The Way You Mean To Go On!
Our calls will take place on Mondays at 9.15am. Make yourself a cuppa, make yourself comfortable and get ready to start the week the way you mean to go on!
Our group coaching calls will take place on September 7th & 21st, October 5th & 19th, November 2nd, 16th & 30th 2009, and January 11th & 25th, February 8th & 22nd, March 8th & 22nd, April 12th & 26th, May 10th & 24th, June 7th & 21st and July 5th & 19th 2010.
Our expert input calls will take place on October 12th and December 7th, 2009 and January 18th, March 15th, May 17th and July 12th 2010.
How To Register: Steps 1, 2 and 3…
1. Check in with yourself! As soon as you know this group’s for you, please send me an e-mail at dorothy@learningforlifeconsulting.co.uk to reserve your place in the group.
2. I’ll let you know if there’s still a place available and send you your first invoice. Paying your deposit will reserve your place in the group.
3. As soon as I receive your deposit, our work begins! We’ll schedule your one-to-one “getting started” call and I’ll send you brief preparatory papers. I’ll send you details of your conference call number and pin about one week before our first group call.
4. It’s possible that you’d like to join this group – but not on a Monday at 9.15am. If so, please let me know. If enough people come forward I’ll be glad to look at setting up a second New Coaches Group.
Next Steps
Please think about whether this group is for you – and let me know.
And if you know of others who might be interested – others, even, with whom you’d like to work (and play!) in this group, please forward this e-mail to them.
Dorothy and I were colleagues at the Hay Group and now both work independently as executive coaches. I have known Dorothy for fifteen years. Dorothy is a highly intelligent lady who brings rigour and breadth to any work in which she is involved. She has in depth expertise in the areas of emotional intelligence and behavioural competence and this underpins any work in which she is involved. As a colleague and leader she is generous in sharing all her experience and talents and has a genuine intent to develop others to serve both themselves and the organisations in which they work. She always keeps a keen eye on her own development.
Sandra Morson
Executive Coach
Thank you for your support for this New Coaches Group.
Warm regards – as ever
Dorothy