Coaches are regularly invited to coach their clients in areas in which they have no expertise. This can serve to highlight the differences between coaching and other interventions, such as training. For whereas training offers input based on the expertise of the trainer, in coaching the expertise of the coach lies in asking questions, in making observations and in making other interventions which help the client to find his or her own answers.

This was true in a session last month with John Dellarmi who recently started his own business after many years working inside a corporation and wanted to attract new clients to his new business. I am not a marketing expert and wouldn’t dream of positioning myself as such, though I do have my own insights based on my experience of setting up Learning for Life (Consulting). So, it was not my intention to share my own ideas. Rather, my aim was to be curious – to work with John as his coach.

So, when it came to preparing invitations for two new coaching groups which both have an interest in marketing (the New Coaches group and the NVC Marketing Group) John seemed to be a good person to turn to for a testimonial. What did he have to say?

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