COACHING BASICS: HOW to start a Coaching Ministry in your Church

Hi All,

Coaching is a powerful tool to assist in the task of making disciples in your congregation.


The final installment in the "Coaching Basics" series relates to HOW?  We've already covered the WHY you need a coaching ministry and the WHAT coaching is.  Plus, last week I gave you that inside look at one recent coaching session which I completed.  So, now...HOW do you get a robust coaching ministry started in your church?  I'm going to be sharing with you much of what we did at our church, and hopefully you will find some of it useful for yourself.

There is a great Christian coaching ministry out there called "Coachnet.org".  It is headed up by Bob Logan, who is the author of "Coaching 101".  This book is a great primer on how to do non-directive coaching.  Non-directive coaching is very effective, because the three rules of non-directive coaching are: "1. The client does the work.  2. The client does the work.  3. The client does the work."  The book focuses on the five stages of coaching, as Logan uses them, of:  Relate, Reflect, Refocus, Resource, and Review.  And the Coachnet. org website is filled with great and awesome tools to help you coach well.

So, the first thing I would say is connect with Coachnet.org, and check out the site.
Second, sign up for some training, which Logan provides.
Third, read the book "Coaching 101".

Those are all preliminary steps, and it is best to do it with a team.  We had a very strong start to coaching at our church, as we sent three staff people to get the training they needed.  The training consisted of several days in Hollywood (the unpopular side of town), followed by another couple days of training several months later in Chicago.  Because there were three of us, we were able to glean so much more from the training than just one.  That gave us a great foundation for going back to our church and getting it started.

The Coachnet.org actually has a coaching excellence performance test which you must pass in order to be credentialed by them and able to use their system and mentor others as coaches.  It consists of a series of on-line questions which review your behavior and how you handle the various aspects of coaching.  It is a surprisingly accurate survey, and we use it with all of our coaches in training before we certify them as Coaches or Coach Mentors.

In our system, we define a Coach Mentor as someone who has completed the 9-month training process and has passed the on-line assessment.  They are then in a position to train other coaches in our church.  A Coach is simply someone who has completed the process but does not desire to train other coaches.  They simply want to coach people in our church who are looking for help in various areas.

We are looking to train Coaches for four areas in our church:  Life Coach, Small Group Coach, Ministry Coach, and Money Coach.  The last one is a specialty area which also requires some training from Crown Ministries.  Currently we are doing the best at Small Group and Money Coaches.  The reason for that is because we have a more clearly articulated need, and a concrete process of training for each of them.

Once your coaches are trained, they must each take on two other people to be coached, the coachees.  Two is just about the perfect number because if you are going to do it right, it is a bit time-consuming, and any more than that gets to be unmanageable.  One of our staff initially started with three and it almost overwhelmed him.  Two is also just about right because sometimes, one of the coachees doesn't work out, and that way you still have one good coachee whom you are working with.

So, if you have read the book, gotten the training, and begun coaching then you are on your way.  Now, this part is very important:  Don't try to do too much at once.  Quality is better than quantity.  Logan has noted that many, many churches start with a whole crew of people, because they may be a large church and need a lot of coaches.  The problem with this is that you cannot maintain the quality.  It takes a lot of infrastructure and one-on-one meetings to maintain a high-level coaching ministry.  The number one mistake which churches make is to try to do too much.  As one of my homiletics professors said in seminary, "Start low, go slow, rise higher, catch fire".  What applies to preaching can apply to coaching as well!

We have been coaching for a while as a church now, and what we have discovered is that the hardest part is finding people who are willing to coach, and put in the time commitment.  A lot of people try to squeeze coaching in with everything else they are doing in the church.  That will not work.  You must find people who want to focus on being coached, and coaching two others.  If you start slow the first year, and each of them find quality people to coach the next year, and so on, in a while you will have a very strong coaching ministry.

We have also discovered that we very quickly needed some infrastructure and regular coaching meetings to keep it going.  So we are in the process now of training two men to be our coaching directors.  And we have just started to gather all of our coaches together for breakfast meetings to stay in touch with them.  Coaching is a decentralized ministry, but you need some structure to help hold it together.

So, that is where we are at.  This is certainly not the only way to do it, but it is how we are doing it, so I thought I would share that with you all.  Coaching is a powerful tool to assist in the task of making disciples in your congregation.

That's all for now,
Yours for the Kingdom of Heaven,
and the Church of Jesus Christ,

Dr. Bill

COACHING BASICS: What Coaching Is & Is Not

Hi All,

Continuing from last week, where we talked about WHY you might need a coaching ministry in your church, we'll talk about WHAT exactly coaching is and isn't. Let's start with defining what Coaching is NOT.

--Coaching is NOT Counseling.
Coaching is not about focusing on the emotional trauma or difficulties of life. It is not about a focus on the problems of the past, but the opportunities of the future. Coaching is not about the past -- it is about the future.

--Coaching is NOT Consulting.
The definition of consulting is bringing in an expert who tells you what to do. And we know what the definition of an "expert" is: An "X" is a nobody, and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure! Coaching is not about telling others what you know -- it is about asking another what they know.

--Coaching is NOT Mentoring.
This is probably the hardest one to understand. But mentoring is defined as someone who has gone on before & has greater experience, and now comes alongside someone in the same career field and shows them the way.

But that is not what coaching is about. Coaching, when done right, does not require specific knowledge about a certain career field. I have coached people who have worked for IBM, as technical consultants; I've coached people who lead businesses, or are moms, or serve as media specialists; and I've never done any of those things.

Coaching is about drawing out from someone else what they want to do & need to do. They need to know their job; I don't. My job is to help coach them to their best choices. Coaching is not about leading someone, but drawing out from them.

There are two keys to Christian coaching:
First, asking powerful questions which help people to discover their true calling, motivations, goals & actions.
Second, Christian coaching includes a spiritual, upward focus in which we help people to ask God to show them His specific will for their lives.

OK, so we have defined what coaching is NOT, and what are the two keys of Christian Coaching. So let's try to put it all together in a working definition: "Christian coaching is helping people to discover God's specific will for their lives in the day-to-day responsibilities of work and life, by asking powerful questions which help people to discover their true mission, motivations, priorities, and actions."

So, in review, last week we covered WHY you might need a coaching ministry in your church, and now this week WHAT coaching is and is not. Next week, I'll take you through a sample coaching session so that you get a feel for it. Then we will finish up with HOW to get a coaching ministry started in your church.

God's best to you and your ministry,

Dr. Bill

How to decide if your church needs a coaching ministry

Hi All,

How would you know if your church needs a coaching ministry?
Just try this test; has this ever happened to you?

Someone approaches you about a new ministry idea, and you think it sounds great. So you encourage them to get started. They find a couple of other team members, start making their plans with great excitement and zeal. They meet for a few weeks and then with great fanfare announce the start of their new ministry to the church and community at large. Their first meeting goes pretty well; not quite as great as they hoped, but OK. So they continue with the ministry and you check in with them every now and then, assuring them of your prayers. As the weeks go on, the ministry continues, but it seems from your perspective as an outsider, that some of the enthusiasm is beginning to fade a bit. Then you hear that one of the key leaders has a scheduling conflict, and cannot continue with the ministry. The ministry continues on for a while longer, but they don't seem to be having the attendance they once did. And then eventually, you hear that they are going to discontinue the ministry, because they have too many scheduling conflicts and not enough attendance. And this happens again and again with various ministries and groups in your church.

And if this experience is yours, then that is exactly why your church needs a coaching ministry!

Consider this scenario again if you had a coaching ministry:

Someone approaches you about a new ministry idea, and you think it sounds great. So you encourage them to get started. But this time, instead of just sending them on their way with a prayer and a blessing, you assign to them a Ministry Coach. Because your church has a coaching ministry, you are able to supply coaches for any new small groups, or ministry teams, that want to get started. The Ministry Coach meets with this leader, and asks some basic planning questions that helps them to lay a good foundation. What's more, the Ministry Coach continues to meet with them during the planning questions, and helps to provide loving accountability, so that they follow through on all of their plans before launch. They meet for a few weeks and then with great fanfare announce the start of their new ministry to the church and community at large. Their first meeting goes pretty well; not quite as great as they hoped, but OK. So the Ministry Coach helps them to examine their first meeting, and what went well, and why, in particular, some parts did not go as well as they had hoped. By asking powerful questions, the coach helps them to see their ministry in a new light, as it might really be to someone who attends that ministry. And the Ministry Coach not only asks powerful questions, but doesn't solve their problems for them. By forcing the ministry team leaders to find their own solutions to the various problems they face, the Ministry Coach helps them to 'own' their own ministry; to take responsibility for fixing things and making them better.

As the weeks go on, it seems from your perspective as an outsider that the enthusiasm is actually growing. The leaders are excited and actually seem to be getting a deeper sense of satisfaction from their ministry. Yes, they encountered problems, but with each one their Ministry Coach helps them to find the cause of the problem, and brainstorm possible solutions, and set deadlines for accomplishing those solutions. The ministry goes from strength to strength, and you as a pastor couldn't be happier.

So, because you have a functioning coaching ministry in your church, your small groups and ministry teams are achieving success and people are growing spiritually, and your church is growing.

So, how do you decide if your church needs a coaching ministry?
If your experience is more like the first story, than the second, then you need a coaching ministry in your church.

That's all for now. We'll talk about coaching some more in my next few posts.

Yours for the kingdom of heaven,

Dr. Bill

Leadership Development: Part 3, Delegate

Leadership Development is a four-part process which includes: Recruit, Train, Delegate, & Supervise.

It is critical for churches to practice leadership development because the future of their church depends upon the capacity to add quality, spirit-filled leaders to positions of influence throughout the church.

This week we are talking about the Delegate portion of the leadership development process.

So far we have looked at the first two parts of the leadership development process, which were to Recruit & to Train. Once you have discovered someone who has leadership gifts, and have begun the process of training them, the point comes where they must actually be empowered to do the job; and that is called Delegation.

Delegation is not as easy at it looks. If your goal is to actually develop leaders, and not just lighten your work load, then delegation actually takes some planning and follow-through to do it well. You want the process of raising up leaders in your church to be successful, and you want those up-and-coming leaders to enjoy the experience of leadership development.

There are some common mistakes that many leaders make when they are attempting to delegate a ministry responsibility to someone. If the goal is to develop leaders, then here are Four Mistakes to Avoid When Delegating:

Mistake #1 - Dump & Delete
D & D means that once you hand off a ministry responsibility to someone, you pretty much wash your hands of it, and forget it. You don't want to be bothered by the responsibility anymore, and so you "dump" it onto someone, and then you "delete" it from your brain. As far as you are concerned it is gone for good.

This happens when a leader is short-sighted about what s/he is actually trying to do. If you are just trying to lighten your work load, then Dump and Delete does the trick. But if your goal is to help another Christian brother or sister in your church, to grow and develop as a leader, then D&D is totally unacceptable.

You will need to follow-up and check-in with this person to see how they are progressing. You will want to coach them through any problems and help them to feel successful.

Mistake #2 - Micro-Managing
This is the opposite of the Dump & Delete problem. Micro-managing occurs when the pastor or leader just cannot really let a responsibility go. They don't trust anyone else to do the job quite as good as they do. Their favorite phrase is 'if you want something done well, you have to do it yourself.' Micro-managers are constantly stepping in and tinkering with somebody else's ministry in an effort to 'help them out'.

The problem with micro-managing if you are truly interested in leadership development, is that your up-and-coming leader never has a chance to really learn how to lead by themselves. This robs them of self-confidence and undermines the leadership development process in their lives.

The solution is a willingness to trust people. Pray like crazy to God, and then trust the person as they serve. Check in, and keep an eye on things, but resist the urge to guide every detail. There are many ways to get the job done. Let your new leader discover their own.

Mistake #3 - Reverse Delegation
Reverse delegation occurs when your new leader encounters a problem that they don't feel they can handle alone. So they come back to you as their trainer and describe the problem to you and then ask for help from you. If you at that point say something like, "Here let me help you with that", then they have just handed their job back to you. You gave it to them when you initially delegated the responsibility, and now that they have a problem, they have, in essence, come back to you and handed it back to you and said, 'Here, fix it." That is reverse delegation.

Rather, what you should do when they encounter their first tough problem, is to practice some of your coaching skills (which I have written about quite a bit in this blog). You would respond by asking them to brainstorm some possible solutions to solve this problem. Then after they list a number of potential steps which could be taken, you ask them which one of those they want to try first. After they have selected one, you encourage them, bless them and pray for them, and then let them solve their problem. It is, after all, theirs to solve and not yours since you have delegated the ministry to them.

That is, if you did truly delegate the ministry to them. Which brings us to our fourth and final delegation mistake:

Mistake #4 - Responsibility without Authority
This occurs when someone is given the task and job to accomplish a ministry, but no true authority to make it happen. For example, they are not given financial control of the project; they must come back to someone else anytime they want to spend any money on the project or ministry. Or any significant decisions must be run through some other committee which is not even directly involved in the ministry they are trying to run.

This situation occurs very often in paid staff situations in which a staff member is hired to do a job, but then must report to a committee of volunteers for approval for most ministry actions of significance. Although the staff member is involved in the ministry every day of the week, s/he must get approval for key actions from a group of people who only attend a committee meeting once a month, and then never give a thought to the ministry in-between time.

So, in the process of training up leaders, there are four parts involved: Recruit, Train, Delegate and Supervise. Delegation is an art that requires sensitivity to the needs of the person who is getting trained. It is one part of a big goal to ask God to help raise up more leaders in your church who can serve the church, and God, well.

Next week we will look at the final part of the leadership development process, which is supervision.

Yours for the Kingdom of Heaven,

Dr. Bill

Leadership Development: Part 2, Train

Leadership Development is a four-part process which includes: Recruit, Train, Delegate, & Supervise.

It is critical for churches to practice leadership development because the future of their church depends upon the capacity to add quality, spirit-filled leaders to positions of influence throughout the church.

This week we are talking about the Train portion of the leadership development process.

Many people will automatically equate this with a lot of intellectual content. While that is a necessary part of leadership training, it is not the most important part. Adults, however, learn best by doing. So the focus for adult leadership training, rather than having a classroom, teaching sort of feel to it, needs to be more focused around "Apprentice Systems".

So what are the elements of successful Apprentice Systems:

1. Coaching -- this involves not 'telling' but 'asking'; Where do they feel the need to grow? What do they want to do to learn the leadership skills necessary?, etc. Coaching involves asking powerful questions to help others grow and develop. You can check out other blogs on coaching on this site by entering "coaching" in the search dialogue box in the upper left. I've written quite a few blogs on coaching.

2. ShowHow Training -- this involves the training method explained in 2 Timothy 2:2: "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." That is, Paul who was writing this verse to Timothy said, "I taught you; now you teach others, who can teach others." This is called ShowHow training. It goes like this:
Step 1 -- I do it & you watch;
Step 2 -- You do it & I watch;
Step 3 -- You do it & someone else watches

3. Ministry Descriptions for everything
Pastors tend to underestimate the amount of uncertainty and nervousness which the average layperson feels when encountering a new ministry job. For most people, who have not served much in the ministry before (and if you are training leaders, you will be having an increasing number of just those sort of people), they need some specific guidance on what is expected for certain key ministry jobs. That is why you need Ministry Descriptions for everything. HighPowerResources.com has a great template for writing Ministry Descriptions. It's in the Coaching Resources section here.

4. Internal Farm Systems
A ministry culture needs to be developed which has the expectation of "each one teach one"; that each ministry is training leaders for their own ministry. A number of ministries do it this way: they form a leadership team of three people: Chair, Vice-chair, and Past-chair. After the Chair of the ministry has served for a year, they move to the Past-Chair role, so that they are still available to help the Vice-Chair, who has now moved up to the Chair role. Then a new person is added to the Vice-Chair role, and they have a year to watch before they are expected to lead (Show-How Training). And even when they become Chair, they know that the former Chair is always there in case they need help. It's a good systems and results in real strength and longevity for ministry leaders.

5. Ministry Placement Interviews
We use a system at Crossroads with a team we call the "Ministry Way Team". (It ties in to our metaphor for discipleship: Main Street, Community Circle, Ministry Way.) The team serves up spiritual gift inventories, both individually and in our SHAPE class to help people discover their calling. Then a spiritual gifts interviewer meets with them and helps them to discover the best place to use their gifts in ministry. They are armed with Ministry Descriptions, listing the spiritual gifts needed (See sample here), and open positions and contact information. It works.

Training is the second part of the four-part Leadership Development process of Recruit, Train, Delegate, and Supervise.

Next week we will cover Delegate.

Yours for the Kingdom of Heaven,

Dr. Bill

Coaching Success Stories

HI All,

Just wanted to share with you three stories from our church in the past year which demonstrate the power and value of Christian coaching, and it's incredible potential to change lives.

First up is Karen, who was receiving some life coaching. She was asked during one coaching session, "What would you do if God granted you the freedom to do anything for Him?" (Great coaching question. For more coaching resources go to: http://www.highpowerresources.com/Coaching/Resources.htm) Karen thought for a long time; an uncomfortably long time of silence, and then a bright smile came across her face. She had remembered a dream she had as a young woman to raise foster children. She had given it up when she had kids of her own. The coach asked, "What's stopping you?" (Another great coaching question.) Answer: "Nothing." And she is pursuing her dream now.

Second story is a ministry coaching success story about Jim. Initially he was helping with a ministry in the church, and was treating it more as a 'favor' for the staff person who had asked him. Then that staff person began to learn coaching skills. The top three rules of coaching are "1. The client does the work. 2. The client does the work. 3. The client does the work." The staff person began to discover Jim's motivations for ministry through coaching questions that get to the heart. Then, instead of the staff person coming up with his own action plans for the ministry and asking Jim to do it, this staff/coach now asked Jim what he wanted to do, and more importantly, how he wanted to do it. Jim began to develop ownership for the ministry. And as he did this, his involvement, commitment and zeal went way up. Jim began recruiting his own team to help him with the ministry. And now it has taken off with a solid team of its own. The staff person no longer needs to oversee every detail of the ministry. He is now there just to encourage and cheer on the team. That is the power of ministry coaching to help people own and grow their own ministries.

Third story is about Angela, who was both being coached as a single mom, and learning to coach others. Angela was a single mom who had been addicted to, and sold meth amphetamines. She accepted Christ and the Holy Spirit began to work in her heart and life. She started being coached and it is helping her to get 'unstuck' in the tricky parts of life, even though it is a little tough right now. A coach is helping her to make the right choices and then stick to them through regular accountability. Plus Angela is learning how to be a coach others. She is helping a young woman to make good choices in her marriage. This second woman is getting hope and encouragement from a Christian coach, who just a few years ago, would have tried to sell her drugs instead of giving her coaching help. That is the power of Holy Spirit empowered coaching to change lives for the better!

For Christ & His Kingdom,

Dr. Bill

Church Health Resources

Hi All,

There's a lot of great help out there for pastors who want to make their churches strong and healthy.

Recently I was reading "Winning on Purpose" by Kaiser, and he had a section entitled, "Training and Coaching for the Team". He provided a list of the following sites for congregational ministry help:

Accountable Leadership (Kaiser) www.accountableleadership.org
ChurchSmart Resources (NCD) www.churchsmart.com
CoachNet (Logan) www.coachnet.org
Easum, Bandy & Associates www.easumbandy.com
GHC Network (Church Multiplication) www.ghnetwork.org
Gospel Communications www.gospelcom.net
Griffith Coaching Network www.griffithcoaching.com
Leadership Network www.leadnet.org
NexStep Coaching (Hoyt) www.nexstepcoaching.org
PastorPreneur (Jackson) www.pastorpreneur.com
Purpose-Driven Church (Warren) www.pastors.com
Willow Creek Association (Hybels) www.willowcreek.com

And, of course, my favorite, www.HighPowerResources.com, where you can find the Software, Sermons, Seminars, and Coaching to empower you for church success.

These are all great helps in building a great church.

Remember, we are all working for King Jesus to build up His Church for which He died.
We didn't die; He did.
So it matters to Him how you lead HIS Church.

God's best to you,

Dr. Bill

Simple Church Synchronicity & Coaching

HI All,

Last week I discussed the problem of how you line up the Simple Church concept of "Focus" (eliminating ministries which are not aimed at your goal), especially in the matter of how you handle announcements. Now I would like to offer a long-term solution to the problem. I say 'long-term' because it takes a long time to turn the ship around if your church has been around for more than seven years. You need to go slow and easy. While it may be difficult to make changes to existing ministries, you have a lot of control over the start of new ministries. And the way you do this is through new ministry coaching.

What is your plan for the start of new ministries? Do you have a guide or a help, or some form of instruction for people who want to start something new? If not, then your church will continue as a free-for-all, with anybody starting anything they want. This will violate all four principles of Simple Church: Clarity, Movement, Alignment & Focus.

Here's two steps you can take to make sure that new ministries, at least, will be in harmony with your Simple Church strategy:

First, create a written guide for new ministries. Whenever anybody wants to start a new ministry, require that they read through and answer the questions in the new ministry guide first. Your new ministry guide needs to teach the principles of Simple Church, and ask the right questions so that your people learn the implications of their ministry before they begin it. Too many people give no consideration or thought to how a new ministry will impact the already existing ministries in the church. For example, they will use space in the building, they will cost money from the budget, they will take time up in the church calendar. And they will ask for notice either through bulletin announcements or up-front announcements. All of these actions impact the other ministries in the church. People need to understand this. So make sure that they learn about all of these implications by completing the "New Ministry Guide" which will teach them Simple Church concepts. Take a look at this New Ministry Guide from HighPowerResources.com.

Second, establish 'new ministry coaches', who walk people through the process of starting a ministry in harmony with your church's philosophy of ministry. These coaches can not only help them start the ministry, but they can be there to help them through the problem solving and other issues which arise. Then at your monthly leadership community meetings of all your ministry team leaders, the coaches can meet with their teams and check in on progress and needs. That way you have a ministry lifestyle system which will help your ministry start well, and also excel.

God's best to you for growth and health in your ministry,

Dr. Bill

QUALITY COACHING WANTED!

Hi All,

Hey it is tough to develop a high-quality coaching experience on the church-wide level. It takes a lot of advance planning, excellent coordination between ministries, and a system to monitor and continuously develop existing coaches, as well as find new ones. We are making great progress in our church, but it is taking a lot of work.

Here is what we have done & are doing:
1. We received a year's worth of training in coaching from Bob Logan's coaching organization through Coachnet. This included a 3-day seminar in Hollywood, focusing on basic coaching skills, followed by a 3-day seminar in Chicago, focusing on making a movement in our organization, and developing excellence.

2. We spent one year developing our coaching curriculum. We took the things which we learned in Logan's two seminars, and then, under the supervision of one of Logan's Coachnet mentors, we developed an 8-week coaching seminar for our church.

3. Then the three of us each selected two coachees, whom we would train to be coach mentors. We signed them up on Coachnet too. We had them sign up for a two year commitment!

4. We took these trainees through our coach training small group for eight weeks.

5. Meanwhile, they each began finding two coachees, whom they would each work with for six months. These coachees were there to help our Coach Mentors have someone to practice on with their newly developing coaching skills. These Mentors in training, then signed each of their trainees up with Coachnet. (It was free for them as part of the training.)

6. We three pastors who began this process, after having received our own certification as Coach Mentors, continue to meet with each of our Mentors in training, once a month. They in turn, continue meeting with each of their two coachees once a month.

7. We three who are the current coach mentors, meet regularly to monitor the progress of our Mentors in training.

8. We are developing the final half-day seminar, called "Coaching for Excellence" (using Logan's teachings from his seminars). This we will administer this May, as an important part of the Mentors in Training experience.

9. Then each of the Mentors in Training will have to be qualified by the Coachnet organization through use of an on-line evaluation tool, which is completed by their two coachees each.

Then, and only then, we will have our first batch of Coach Mentors successfully trained!
And all of this is under the watchful eye of Logan's organization, Coachnet.
We are extremely lucky and grateful as a church to have them experimenting with the delivery of quality coaching through the local church, so we are being careful to do it right.

Look at how the number grow, and you will begin to see why it is difficult to keep the coaching quality up nice and high:
First, we started with 3 pastors, who all received Coaching Certification.
Second, each pastor found 2 coach mentors, who are in process of being certified.
Third, each Mentor in training, found 2 trainees to practice on.
So, we moved from 3 to 9 to 15 people going through coaching in just a matter of months.
Next year, when we have a total of 6 Coach Mentors, it is going to really start to get tricky to maintain quality.

And Maintaining Quality is the key goal here.
It is relatively easy to get a lot of people into coaching; many churches have tried it. But many have also failed as they let the movement grow faster than their ability to maintain quality. So we are being slow and methodical, and so far are pleased with the results. But we can see that we need to maintain constant communication and set standards continuously in order to continue with an excellent coaching process.

Just thought I would share our progress so far, in case your church is thinking about developing a coaching program.

In Christ, for the Kingdom of Heaven,

Dr. Bill

SMART Goals & Coaching

Hi all,

I've found that helping people to develop SMART goals is a useful way of enhancing the coaching experience. Most people want to do well in life, and have some vague ideas of where they want to go or what they want to accomplish. But for many people, they can be greatly helped if they will apply the hard work of developing SMART goals. This will focus their efforts toward success, and give them a greater likelihood of reaching it.

What's a SMART goal?
SMART is an acronym for five-parts to a great goal. Here they are:

S - Specific
A goal needs to be very specific, and not general. “I will lose weight”
is better than “I will improve my looks.”

M – Measurable
A goal needs to have clear & quantifiable results so that you can
know if you achieved the goal or not. “I will lose 20 lbs.” Is better than “I will
lose weight.”

A - Achievable
A goal needs to be achievable, as psychologists tell us that wins
reinforce future wins. The goal needs to be small enough to be achievable,
but large enough to be meaningful. “I will lose 10 lbs” might be a better
way to start than “I will lose 20 lbs.”.

R – Relevant
A goal needs to be relevant, or meaningful, to you in your life
situation. This answers the question of “Why?” “I will lose 10 lbs, so I can
lower my risk of heart disease” is a more powerful goal than simply “I will
lose 10 lbs”, because it warns of possible consequences in not achieving
the goal, making it very relevant.

T – Time-specific
A goal needs to be time-specific in that a deadline for achievement
needs to be set. “I will lose 10 lbs. by June 1st, so I can lower my risk of
heart disease, (and look good in a swim suit)” is a SMART goal.


Powerful coaching involves asking powerful questions. Using SMART goals as a guide for your discussion will result in some great coaching sessions.

For the Kingdom of Heaven,

Dr. Bill

What is Good Coaching?

The elements of a good coaching relationship include the following four:

1st - Good coaching is always change-oriented.
That is, good coaching is not counseling; it is not focused on the past. Although it may discuss past behavior or results, the goal is to make appropriate changes for the future so that success can be enjoyed.

2nd - Good coaching focuses upon solving problems, not fixing the person.
That is the focus is problem, not person. Even if the the person being coached is concerned about particular habits which s/he may have which are inhibiting their success, the goal is still on solving a problem. Coaching is objective, not subjective. That is, even if the person being coached wants to be changed, the focus is upon the problem, or habit, that needs to be changed; not the person that needs to be 'fixed'.

3rd - Good coaching always communicates respect.
The coach keeps all sessions confidential. The coach respects the other person's judgements, opinions, and action steps selected. The coach is not there to second-guess the client, but to support, encourage, and offer feedback when asked.

4th - Good coaching is focused on outward, observable performance, not internal feelings.
This is another reason why coaching is not counseling. While feelings are the main issue to deal with in counseling, they are only secondary to coaching in so far as they inhibit performance of specific success behaviors.

If a coach wants to help a client achieve a high-level of success this necessarily requires a focus on specific, observable behaviors which can be recorded, commented upon, and changed.

For positive change is the name of the game in coaching.

God bless,

Dr. Bill