How Integrative Performance Coaching Works
The Focus of Coaching
Coaching is different from other helping professions in that it focuses predominantly on the present. Integrative Performance Coaching (IPC) is not therapy, although it often can be therapeutic. For instance, IPC doesn’t usually delve into people’s pasts. Instead, it looks practically at what they’re doing now in their life, and how well it’s taking them where they want to go.
In essence, IPC focuses on the growth and change that lie within a person’s immediate grasp. It also tends to emphasize the positive, rather than the negative or critical. This brand of coaching is not about troubleshooting, problem solving, offering advice, or floating suggestions. Rather, it’s about helping clients appreciate their strengths and put them to the fullest possible use to realize their goals and dreams.
Peak Performance Coaching Perspective
IPC isn’t about the coach’s bright ideas or solutions. On the contrary, it’s about tapping each client’s innate wisdom and virtue and using it to take them to THEIR higher ground. This undertaking depends less on the coach providing the right answers than it does on them providing the right questions, ones that help a client define, design, and enact their best possible ways forward. Effective coaching also steers clear of pat agendas, processes, patterns, and models. Only the client can determine the performance coaching approach that best serves them—and a good coach helps them find it.
Integrative Performance Coaching Process
Typically we begin by assessing the big picture, the eagle’s-eye view of a client’s life. It provides a holistic way of understanding where, how, and who they are in contrast to where, how, and who they want to be. My job as a performance coach is to always bear the client’s highest aspirations in mind, and help them use each session to realize these aims. Each time we meet is another step toward the client’s ideal future. But only they can decide what that step is and how, when, where, and why to take it. Although we may co-create an agenda, the client is always the one who signs off on it.
Typical Performance Coaching Timeframes
Most IPC sessions last for one hour; however, 45-minute, and 30-minute sessions are also feasible. I also have clients with whom I meet for 90 or 120 minutes every other week. The best frequency and duration are whatever works best for each person. The span of the coaching engagement also varies widely. I’ve seen people change their lives in 30 minutes. Then again, some people find value in ongoing coaching as a steady support system in their life. Ultimately, the coaching engagement ends when the client feels they’ve accomplished their objectives.
Ways of Meeting for Coaching
I often meet with clients online using web video apps such as Zoom or Google Meet. For those who prefer it, we can also meet via a phone call or a voice app. I meet in-person with some clients in the greater LA area, either at their homes, workplaces, or a neutral site. And I maintain an office/studio for meeting people in person in the Pasadena-Glendale-Burbank-La Canada area. Any combination of the above works great as well.
IPC Coaching Fee & Scale
My standard coaching fee is $150 for an hour-long session. I also offer 30-minute sessions for $80 and 45-minute sessions for $115. This fee schedule is modest for professional coaching, as some coaches charge $250-to-$500 per hour and higher. Even so, I realize my rate can be a challenge for people on a fixed or limited income, or who may have fallen upon hard times. For this reason, I work on a sliding scale and have never turned a client away for financial reasons. To me, a person’s motivation and commitment matter more than the money. So if they’re truly ready for growth and change, I’m sure we can agree on an affordable rate.
Request a Complimentary 30-Minute Coaching Session
I provide a free coaching “chemistry” session for first-time clients who want to see if my coaching approach is right for them. Just fill out and submit the form below, and I’ll contact you to set up an online appointment (Zoom).