Coach training isn't just for aspiring coaches, (but we have launched plenty into private practice.)

Do you have:

• conversations with friends that you wish would actually help them feel more confident?
• direct reports you wish were growing more?
• children you want to help mature to make healthy Godly decisions?
• aging parents who need respect, but also need to weigh transitional decisions?
• adult children you care about but don't want to interfere?

The Coaching Culture comes alongside your relational connections and gives you tools to be more effectual in helping people discern what God has for them.

What would it be worth to you to be able to help people help themselves?

What if there were overarching principles that could help people engage with owning their own situations and next steps?

Learning the skills of active listening and how to ask empowering questions can take your everyday conversations to a next level. Coaching culture helps you help others help themselves get unstuck...

So let's say you did it!

You achieved your goal!

You lost the weight or developed the new habit. You removed the lie and embraced the truth. You navigated a difficult conversation or built a bridge to a better relationship. 

Whatever you did it took work!

Whatever you did it was worth the effort!

But now what? If your goal was not a project you were completing, you are susceptible to falling right back into your old ways. After all, you have spent more of your life doing whatever you did before than you have doing it the new way. 

Just because you did it once, or even a few times, does not make it your new normal - yet.

(And even if the goal you achieved was completing a project of sorts, some of the following principles will still apply.)

What will it take to maintain your gain?l

At Bridges Coaching, we like to use two methods - Intentional Evaluation and Feedback. You can decide which would best suit your situation.

Intentional Evaluation is something you can do on...

Storytime:

I had been working on the dating book for years and was on the home stretch when I realized that if I wanted to complete it well, I would need to hire a graphic designer for the cover. When you invest that much time you want to have the end product be something you love. So, I contacted my friend Heather Shertzer and she accepted the challenge. 

She made a cover I am proud of and as a bonus, she redid the cover for Eric's recent book as well. She understood just what it would take to upload them for publishing and how to handle all the necessary parameters for both books. (Be watching for a new cover for Traction soon as well!) Without Heather, I would have spent hours trying to figure out what was needed and probably had a design I was just okay with if I did it myself. 

She is a professional and she was/is a godsend!

So then I go to publish the book. What a milestone! What an exciting event! I order myself a copy and find a few things I want to change. The...

Helping people help people is what Bridges Coaching is all about! If you are in the business of helping it can be easy to take responsibility for other people’s forward movement, but even God offers free will. That is why coach training is so valuable!

Here is a pathway of simple questions that can benefit both you and the people you work with. Let’s take a conversational trip on the Bridges Coaching ROAD:

Recognition-Ownership-Action-Dedication.

R = Recognition

Sometimes the “Ah ha” moment a person is looking for can be as simple as figuring out what they are really trying to figure out. God is always moving us toward alignment with His purposes in our lives and our world. People may ramble in conversation and helping them move forward may be as simple as asking some directed questions:

What is it that you really want to focus on?

Friends of this question could be: What is the core issue?  or What is the question you need answered?

In any event, this is...

“Agency” is the new buzzword we keep hearing in podcasts and even recently published books, but what does it really mean?

Here are some thoughts on agency, where it comes from, and what makes it so very valuable in our personal lives!

Ever hear of the series “Orange is the new black”? I don’t think I ever watched it once, but I found the title interesting. Basically, it meant that the criminals who once wore black every day were now wearing orange every day in prison. So, for them, orange became their new normal.

When I first started learning, and then blogging, about coaching the word “Ownership” was a regular topic and tag.

Agency is the new Ownership. 

Agency means we have choices.

• We can advocate for ourselves in certain situations.
• We can choose our perspective.
• We can remove ourselves from harmful places.
• We can work toward our preferred future.
• We can grow spiritual and process our thoughts and feelings in healthy ways.

Agency...

Most of you know I work full time for a church I love - Worship Center in Lancaster, PA. 

Eric and I were not looking for a move when God surprised us with this chapter of our life about 5 years ago. (He's like that isn't He - full of surprises.) One of the questions we had to answer when we decided God was leading us here was what to do with Bridges Coaching. I/we had developed a number of trainings and workshops and didn't feel it was right to just dissolve Bridges. 

God led me to make spaces for others to step into the active ministry roles I stepped out of when we moved. Sarah now is the primary course host for Coach Training and April works with the Destiny branch. Michelle champions the exclusive course of Next Level Coach training. Others facilitate peer pairs as needed. I love it when His plan is a win-win! 

Last year, Alex and Delia Dienner launched a German version of Coaching Culture! Amazing! What's next? (Spanish??)

My role is to continue...

Well...

“How will you know?”

It’s probably my favorite coaching question out there.

"How will you know (what ___)," "how will you know (when ___)," "how will you know (how ___)."

When prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask that powerful question, it unlocks a potential path forward for the person sitting across from you. 

Instead of listening to advice or guidance from a "coach," the "how will you know" question puts the ball completely in their corner. 

So, how will you know when it’s time to sign up for coaching certification?

Or how will you know when it’s time to ask someone you lead if they’re ready to sign up for coaching certification?

There are only five days left to register for our upcoming coaching cohort and there's no better time than the present to ask yourself "How will I know if it's time?"

If you want to grow as a person, empower an achieving direct report, or make a faith-filled disciple, you should walk with them as they...

...In fact, you should probably think it through before you consider it.

It’s not easy changing a personal paradigm, and almost everyone needs to make major adjustments.

It’s costly, not just monetarily, but it will take time and effort. It’s intense.

To be honest, it’s humbling.

It’s one thing to affirm the concept in theory and another to put its values into regular practice.

BUT IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Coaching changed my life AND it has changed the people around me.

Here are some ways I have seen it actually accomplish end goals that would never have happened if I had not taken coach training.

• Interactions with family are different now.
  * Marriage: One of the best surprises in my coach training was how it affected my marriage. I didn’t see that coming as I simply intended to use coaching in ministry, but what a wonderful asset it is to be able to love my husband more by listening well, believing in him, and hearing how the Holy Spirit is...

“So, what do you do?”

A simple question asked of the woman sitting beside me at a wedding rehearsal over five years ago.

A simple question that launched me into the next thing God was calling me to in my coaching journey.

I am the bride’s childhood best friend. She, the groom’s sister-in-law. Now we journey together in this world of coaching… believing in the serendipity, or “God-incidence,” of that day… embracing the joy of walking alongside others as they seek change, growth, and transformation.

God continues to unfold my coaching journey one step at a time.

That moment five years ago introduced me to Cindy Scott and led me to Bridges Coaching. I began with the Destiny by Design course, and simply kept saying, “yes” to each next thing… Coaching Training, Accelerated Coach Training, being a peer pair facilitating coach, the NXL Advanced Coach Training, and various coaching opportunities along the way.

Learning...

We believe that questions are powerful. 

And we want to give you the opportunity to ask us some questions.

Unsure if you want to sign-up?

Curious if it works?

Feeling "led" to jump in? 

We're excited to announce our first online open house specifically designed to answer your questions.

If you have questions or want to learn a little bit more about what Bridges Coaching has to offer, join us at our ZOOM Open House!

Be sure to mark your calendars for January 16, 10:00 a.m. EST!

The link to join us is right here.

You'll have the opportunity to meet the Coaching Culture cohort course host, facilitators, and potential peer partners! You can also hear from alumni, ask questions about the course and where Bridges is going and we will even throw in some thoughts about our other offering Destiny by Design!

So, if you're thinking about investing in making engaged disciples, Bridges Coach Training could make all the difference.

 P.S. -...