The Association for Talent Development (ATD) Julie Durmaskin Professional Education Scholarship was recently awarded to Amy Fauth for professional coaching training. We asked Amy to share more with us about how she will use the scholarship.

What is professional coaching?

The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines professional coaching as “a partnership with a client(s) in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential”. Professional coaching is not giving advice, counseling, or performance management; instead it is honoring the client as the expert of their life to develop solutions and strategies with a growth mindset. Working with a client involves a series of questions, tools, and goals discovered during the coaching relationship. Essentially, professional coaching is taking the client from where they are today to where they want to be tomorrow and beyond - through their own solutions.

How coaching is applied in corporate America and how it helped me:

Coaching in the corporate world can increase personal awareness, communication, performance, self-confidence, team building, and work relationships. Coaching is most beneficial for employees who have seen success in the past but may have lost motivation, need help with time management, or are looking to tackle mental blocks or nagging fears or thoughts to move to their next level.

Since beginning my program with iPEC I have gained a higher level of awareness; the program has helped me to take a step back during stressful times both at work and my personal life to evaluate how I can engage, react (or don’t!), and how best to move forward. And when all else fails, I have the support of my vast repository of resources, tools, and peer coaches within reach.

Through this course of training I have enhanced my vision toward abundance thinking, increased my “what’s possible” mindset, learned how to hear what may not always be said, and listen with non-judgement. Becoming a certified professional coach though iPEC has been an intense journey – much like talent development it is a never ending growth process.

Ultimately, professional coaching can inspire growth, development, and increased awareness as long as the client lets the coach take them there. You will find the most robust coaching programs are accredited through the ICF (like iPEC!), are solutions focused, and have a valid and reliable process.