Dynamic Focus

Coaching and DISC profiling: Frequently Asked Questions

Please reach us at lynn@dynamicfocus.co.uk if you cannot find an answer to your question.

What is coaching?

Imagine having the time and space to think deeply and focus solely on you and what you want? This is what coaching with me offers you.

I am a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) with whom my coaching qualification is accredited. Their definition is “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires you to maximise your personal and professional potential”.

Coaching does not provide advice.

Coaching means that the focus is on you. It is confidential, non-judgemental and question based with over 80% of the airtime being on you so you can truly focus on yourself.

We would always start from a point of ‘we do not know what we do not know’ about yourself. Coaching is a self-exploration journey of discovery.

It supports you to take action, really providing motivation and intention, so that you can move forward more quickly and more effectively than if you acted alone.

Imagine that. When was the last time you set aside quiet time to focus on you and you alone to explore with curiosity what you want next and how to get there?

How does coaching work?

I fundamentally believe YOU have all the resources and answers within you.

MY job is to help you through actively listening and:

Asking open and powerful questions
Being a thought disruptor and bringing a different perspective to your thinking patterns
Shining a light on what you are saying and where it may be holding you back
Allowing you the time, space and opportunity for deep personal thought in how you move forward in the way that is right for you
Being your accountability buddy and biggest supporter.

I do not provide the answers. That comes from you. I believe in you. The coaching process supports you to uncover this for yourself.

You will have a lot of insights, I will raise your self-awareness, and you will have ‘aha’ moments of self-discovery. You will develop your own answers that are right for you from my questions.

I am on your side with no judgement. Just support and belief in you and what you can achieve.

Everyone is different.

I help unlock your potential.

What is the difference between coaching, mentoring and therapy?

Coaching as an industry is unregulated, like therapy, and this is a reason for working with a qualified Coach. We get it. We understand coaching and the boundaries between mentoring and therapy.

This is why I am a member of the International Coaching Federation.

Many people who are not qualified label themselves as a ‘coach’ when in essence they are mentoring – providing advice and telling people from their story and experiences.

Coaching is focused on the client and does not provide advice.

Coaching is not therapy. Some people may find it therapeutic in that it brings light bulb moments, and calm from the opportunity to purely and deeply focus on themselves and move forward to where they want to be. However, it is not therapy.

I manage these boundaries with you. They are set out in my coaching agreement, which every client will have to sign up to. We will talk openly about these boundaries at the outset, and throughout if we feel that a different intervention is right for you we will mutually agree that we will conclude the coaching.

Coaching is forward looking focusing on what you want in the future. Yes, it will draw on past experiences to identify strengths and skills, to help you move forward, however it will not dwell in the past like therapy. That space is for qualified Counsellors.

Do coaches need to be qualified?

The short answer here is no. It is currently unregulated, although the various coaching organisations are looking to change this.

I have an International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited Personal Performance Life Coaching Diploma from The Coaching Academy.

I am also a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner to help channel your thoughts and actions to improve the outcomes you are looking for.

I am DISC behaviour profiling accredited to help your self-awareness of your behavioural tendencies and how to adjust these to empower your relationship skills and communication with everyone around you.

See more on the 'About Lynn' page for my professional background and qualifications.

Ethics are an important value to me. Coaching is currently unregulated, so it is important that you ask the coach if they are qualified so that your experience is in line with the ethics, standards and principles of safe and effective coaching. For further information see the ‘Ethics’ section on my website (a tab at the bottom of the page)

What sets me apart from other coaches? Why work with me, Lynn Mead?

This is always tricky to answer for anyone isn’t it?!

As a coach I have been described by clients as engaging, calm, fun, supportive, patient, motivational and inspiring.

Coming from a background where people did not believe in me or my potential, I had to develop my own sense of self-belief and confidence myself. My starting point always, with anyone I work with, is that I believe in you unequivocally. I want to see you succeed and unlock your potential.

I will be your biggest cheerleader and support, and act as your accountability buddy to help you on your journey. We very much work as a partnership.

My top 5 personal values are:

Authenticity – I do not bring an ego (and this is a repeated message I hear)
Honesty
Meaningful work
Health
Ethics.

We work in partnership and a joint commitment to take action and work together.

Testimonials from clients show the following:

"Lynn provided me with a supportive and enquiring environment, she is non-judgmental, fun and always on point with excellent questions" Ann Canavan (Also on LinkedIn recommendation)

"I feel so energised and compelled with my goal and list of actions" Marcella

"Lynn is great to work with. She starts each session by establishing trust and creating a safe space to talk through key issues and challenges I'm facing in my business. She has helped me take a step back and look at the big picture - and she's not afraid to ask tough questions, patently waiting for me to think through the answers and respond." Lisa

"I feel more grounded both as an individual and in my business as a result [of working with Lynn]….. I always leave Lynn's coaching sessions feeling listened to, supported and inspired!." Dawn

"Thank you for being such an open minded and supportive coach to me!" Olafemi (also see Femi's video testimonial on my coaching services page)

How many sessions do I need?

The number of sessions will depend on you and your needs. This is expressed as the goals you are looking to achieve.

Through experience I find that usually two-week gaps between sessions allow you to process the information and take the action(s) you agreed to take in the preceding session.

One-to-one coaching is available in packages of 2, 3, 6 or 12 months.

The duration would be based on your needs, funds available, and preferences. We discuss all of this in the follow up engagement conversation.

I also have group coaching development programmes available periodically which are more a balance of training and coaching in specific areas.

What is DISC and why does it form part of my coaching packages?

I love DISC. Without question everyone who I have worked with using DISC has found it to be so insightful, accurate and true to their self.

Understand yourself and others better.

Have you ever wondered why there are some people you automatically get along with and ‘click’ with and some people you just find difficult to get on with?

Everyone is different.

DISC is one of the most highly validated instruments of its kind. It was originated in the 1920s and developed over time into the modern assessment and report tool. DISC focuses on observable behaviours and behavioural tendencies enabling you to learn something about your own natural tendencies and those of everyone you meet.

Having clarity on your own natural preferences this enables you to understand how to adjust your approach to enhance your feeling of connection and supercharge your relationship building skills with those around you.

This is powerful in leadership, team harmony, personal relationships, sales, working with suppliers, customers, project management - the list goes on.

A quote from Maya Angelou “When you know better you do better”

What is a ‘complimentary discovery conversation’ that you offer?

A complimentary 30-minute coaching conversation to meet me, learn more about coaching and DISC profiling, understand your situation, and how coaching could be of benefit to help you. What brought you to consider coaching in the first place? What are you looking for? This session allows us to explore together how coaching could help and if it is the right support for you.

It is your opportunity to see if I am the right coach for you.

Suitable for you if you are looking to:

Step up in a leadership role with confidence and assurance
Step out to transition into a different role or career, including an active retirement. I specialise in athlete transition, military transition and public sector professional transition. I advocate early transition planning to set you up for success.
Build better resilience and boundaries within your current demanding role
Supercharge your communications and relationship building skills -enhance your self-awareness and understanding of your natural behavioural tendencies with DISC profiling. Use this knowledge and understanding to empower how you engage with everyone around you by dialling up and down your communications approach to get the best from everyone around you.

What happens when I decide I want to proceed with coaching?

Here is an outline of the process. It is straightforward and I will guide you through it. It is designed to set you up for success:

1. Complimentary coaching discovery conversation

An initial conversation following your interest in coaching with me. It is designed to explore what brings you to the call, where you are and where you want to be. It discusses coaching – what it is and is not, the process and outcomes. It is not a coaching experience – it is an exploratory conversation.

It gives us both an opportunity to determine if I am the right coach for you. Are we a good ‘fit’ for coaching together – do we get along and want to work together?

I will answer any questions you have.

Following this I will send you an email clarifying our conversation and with any appropriate tools to help you from our conversation.

We can have follow up emails or WhatsApp messages (your preference) to further clarify any questions you may have.

2. Engagement and follow up conversation(s)

We will have a follow up engagement conversation where we discuss your specific needs, outcomes, length of coaching and the cost of the coaching package so that we can agree how to move forward. It sets up the coaching process for you.

3. Sign and return the Coaching Agreement

I will send out a formal coaching agreement, based on what we have agreed, for you to sign and return. This contains the parameters of the coaching.

4. Complete coaching onboarding questionnaire

This is a thought-provoking personal questionnaire to enable you to start the process of considering your current situation more deeply. It captures your specific goals and what you want to achieve.

5. Book initial 'set up for success' coaching intake session

I will book a date in the diary for your ‘Coaching set up for success’ intake session. This will be 1.5 hours long. We establish a baseline for where you are and clarify the outcomes you are looking for. We work through an exercise together to set up the future coaching sessions.

How will we measure the success of the coaching?

What does a successful outcome look like for you?

6. Complete your short online DISC profile assessment

I will send you out an email with a link to complete the 7-minute online assessment. It is based on your work environment and will establish your natural behavioural preferences. We will discuss the full report in a 2-hour coaching and feedback session.

It is important it is a gut reaction to the questions and that it is undertaken in 7 minutes to not distort the results.

We will relate the feedback session to up to two specific communications areas of challenge you are experiencing in the workplace. We will look at and explore strengths and areas for development with up to three actions agreed to supercharge how you communicate with everyone around you.

7. Book all your coaching sessions into the forward diary

This helps us know where we are and establish a regular commitment in the diary. Sessions would normally be 1-1.5 hours in duration. The DISC profile feedback is a 2-hour coaching session. If we need to move or amend them as we go that is absolutely fine – nothing is finite and personal and work commitments can change over time.

8. That's it - we are ready to start your first session together!

Can you help me with my CV, cover letter and interview nerves and interview practice?

Yes, as a Leadership and Career Coach, I can help you with all of these.

CV and cover letters

I can support you to create an effective CV and cover letter that showcases your strengths and achievements. I will not write this for you as I believe you are the best author of your story. It is an art learning how to craft selling yourself on your CV and setting out your achievements so doing this yourself hones your skills. I can also provide feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Interview practice

I can also do interview practice. Some organisations use specific questions they have supplied to a candidate, others use random questions. We can discuss this and run through practice session(s) together. Practice helps you improve. A session would be 1.5 hours to allow for set up, 45 minutes to one-hour of interview and debrief afterwards.

Managing the interview nerves!

I can also discuss strategies to help you manage any anxiety or concerns about interviews - mindset and confidence are key. It is natural to feel some of this so having tools in your toolbox to help you is valuable.

Can you help with LinkedIn?

I use LinkedIn regularly myself and believe it is a really essential tool as a business social platform. It is key tool to helping you research, build connections and network in your job and as you change careers.

I would prefer to refer you to a LinkedIn specialist who is current with all of the ongoing developments and alghorythm changes on the platform.

Supercharge your career transition with Lynn Mead

Coaching and DISC profiling: Frequently Asked Questions

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