A Personal Journey

In various books and magazines, you may encounter different opinions what coaching is and yet, in the end, you would still be left asking yourself the question: what is coaching? Important statements from some of my clients below show what coaching is and how it was experienced by these "hi-potentials". I think that practical experience is more credible than confusing theoretical claims.

Thomas Baierlein | Munich | Germany: "Work on self-management under expert guidance. Recognition of the "mental functioning" of our brain, the reward systems, the stimulus systems, the recognition of how intrinsic motivation arises and what are the indispensable prerequisites for this, such as competence, recognizable meaningfulness of doing, connection with other people and autonomy."

Disclaimer: This is a true translation from original text in German. Errors if any are not intentional.


Thomas Baierlein Consulting

- Management Strategy Implementation -

81479 Munich | Germany

Luis Vicente Justo | Valladolid | Spain: “To recapitulate, during my coaching sessions, I found out how Mr. Kohli and I solved my Rubik's Cube. I always knew that there was a possibility that all levels of my leadership function were properly aligned and well-balanced with my personal plan. It is obvious to me that it is much better for an expert to guide you than to find out through trial and error.

If you've ever solved a magic cube, you know what I'm talking about. Every cube, like every person, has a different initial situation, so the way to the solution is clear for each case. Coaching means going this route, enjoying the ride and learning to choose the best direction in each intersection.”

Disclaimer: This is a true translation from original text in Spanish. Errors if any are not intentional.


Original text: “Recapitulando lo acontecido durante mis sesiones de Coaching me he dado cuenta de como Mr Kohli y yo hemos ido resolviendo mi personal cubo de Rubik . Siempre supe que existia la manera de que todos los planos de mi funcion ejecutiva estuvieran adecuadamente orientados y todo ello bien balanceado con mi plano personal pero, ¿Como llegar ello?. Para mi ha resultado evidente que es mucho mejor que un experto te guie que tener que averiguarlo mediante prueba y error.”

Si alguna vez has resuelto un cubo de Rubik sabes de lo que hablo. Cada cubo, igual que cada persona, tiene una situacion inicial distinta por lo que el camino a la solucion es unico para cada caso. Coatching, es andar ese camino, disfrutar del paseo, y aprender a elegir la mejor direccion en cada cruze.”

Lars Ehlers | A client in Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Germany: "From my point of view coaching is help for self-help. One learns to become aware of the already existing knowledge and abilities and is thus able to further develop these skills and ultimately reach the next level on the path of professional as well as personal development."

Dr. C. Smith | International Banker | London: "Coaching is not a set of instructions nor is it an intrusive method. It is simple conversation in an environment that feels safe and confidential where I could easily open up and review my own beliefs and convictions without fear of being judged or assessed. My coach did not dig in to my past or look for mistakes that may have been made in my childhood. Coaching has enabled me to question my own thoughts at my own pace and this process has made my, ostensible, invincible "problems" vincible.

Axel Speckmann | A client in Braunschweig, Germany: "Coaching enables one to reach an insight through reflection of situations and a realization of how to improve one's actions. Coaching is not a "cooking recipe" according to some method "If situation so-and-so, then act so-and-so". A coach, rather leads one to think as objectively as possible, to reflect about situations and to look at them from different perspectives. Through that a realization emerges about how to deal with issues at hand. This does not result in to learned action. As a result, one is not insecure about how to react to divergent situations or slight changes just because the learned script does not say what to do. One develops a method relying on intrinsic actions, which leads to an adaptive, flexible response depending on the situation."

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