The Banyan Group - Counseling, Coaching, and Consulting for Positive Change is a Solution-Focused practice.  What this means is that whether in Counseling therapy, professional Coaching, or organizational and professional Consultation, it will always be the desired future condition that is squarely in view, never the problems of the past or the difficulty of the present.  Solution-focused coaching brings an evidence-based therapeutic modality, proven to help people manage the change they want to make, to the non-therapy world of Professional and Executive Coaching and Consulting.

Solution-Focused Coaching is a tool to help you get from where you are to where you want to be in life, career, or relationships.  Coaching is very popular in business and corporate settings around the world where an “executive coach” helps managers and other business leaders deal with change, develop new management styles, make wise decisions, become more effective in their position, cope with their hyperactive lifestyles, and deal with stress. In short, an executive coach works with people in business to help them move from where they are to a level at which they are more competent, fulfilled, and self-confident than they might otherwise have been. 

1. A Coach Stimulates Skill  -  Good coaching helps people anticipate what they could become, overcome self-defeating habits or insecurities, manage relationships, develop new competencies, and build effective ways to keep improving.  The skills you need to move to your next step, toward your “best self” are probably things you already know.  As you talk through your future ideas for progress, your coach may help you identify special skills you didn’t know you had and make plans for using those skills to move yourself forward.
2. A Coach Inspires Vision  -  “A grave is just a rut that's filled in at both ends.”  People easily get into a rut, and just keep doing what they have done in the past, without much thought for change and with little expectation that things will ever be different. Coaches work with individuals as they think beyond the present, more clearly envision the future, and plan how to get there.  In the midst of such a conversation it becomes easier to envision the best version of you in the future.  A vision for who you can really be can fuel change and inform growth you never imagined before.
3. A Coach Maximizes Transition  -  Whenever we encounter major changes in our lives — such as a new job, a promotion, a move to a new location, the death of a loved one, the launch of a new career, or retirement — we face uncertainty and the need to readjust.  Many people simply shy away from this discomfort and sacrifice the benefit they could obtain.  A coach is someone who can guide you through readjustment confidentially and with respect for your personal autonomy.  Coaching is always “client-centered”, meaning that you, not someone else, set your goals and decide the steps you will take to reach them.  Friends can often see where you should make changes but will hold back their advice for fear of offending you.  Coaches speak clearly about elements in your conversation that indicate where you want to go.  Then, with your permission, a coach will help you use the discomfort of transition to your advantage.
4. A Coach Jumpstarts Change  -  A series of conversations with an experienced coach can enable you to better assess where you currently stand, define your life goals, identify new career options, reevaluate your financial position, or simply find information so you can make wise decisions.  Coaches are not advisors, but they often can steer you to good resources that can be of great help.  Sometimes people are focused on a particular change they need to make, but what may arise through a coaching conversation are several steps that need to be addressed prior to making a change.  You may have been bumping up against change for some time and avoiding it.  A coach can help you address the change and move into it in a rational, logical way.
5. A Coach Speaks Truth  -  Good coaches know that sometimes the best way to help is by refusing to ignore harmful patterns that undermine progress. Instead, coaches nudge people to deal with attitudes and behavior that should be faced and changed.  Better than “advice from a friend” truth from a coach comes without the conditions with which friends often give advice.  You are your own person, and you must make your own decisions. 
6. A Coach Fosters Relationships  -  The paramount thing in the mind of a coach as he or she listens and seeks to help is this question: “Where is this person trying to go and how can I help them get there?”  Quite often this involves building strong relationships with others who can help along the way and repairing broken relationships as a platform for moving forward.  Consequently, the question your coach may often ask is; “who is already in your life that can help you accomplish this?”  As you and your coach identify those people in your sphere of influence who might be helpful to your process, and possibly existing relationships that may present a blockage to future progress, you'll begin to work purposefully toward your goals with others alongside you.  We rarely accomplish anything alone.