"What's happening in your personal life?"

Whenever I ask this question to executives, early on in a coaching programme, a lot of them respond by acting baffled, confused and even disconcerted. 

I can see them think and ask themselves... "Why is he asking me questions about life outside of work?" Sometimes, I have even got the "I thought you were going to ask questions about my job?" as a response in return. 

From my experience as an executive coach working with organisations it is surprising how many individuals still do not see the importance of integrating work and personal objectives in a coaching journey. Of course, sometimes there is no synergy between the two and the sessions then naturally focus on specific work challenges, however I believe this is rare. In addition, and more importantly, coaching that only examines just one perspective of an individual's current experience is limited and more often results in transactional, rather than transformational goals.

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