Jan Elfline began coaching in 1993 and has been a full-time coach since 1995. She is a Certified Professional/Personal Coach (CPPC) and an NLP Master Practitioner and Trainer. In 1998 she was one of the first forty coaches worldwide to be recognized as a Master Certified Coach (MCC) by the International Coach Federation, a designation that is reserved for acknowledged leaders in the field. In addition, she is an experienced educator. She holds a Doctorate in Education; the focus of her doctoral studies was on creativity and innovation. She taught in the Art department at Illinois State University for over ten years. She loves teaching and infuses the training environment with a dynamic blend of insight and humor.

Jan is a leader in the field of coaching, and has pioneered work to bring the language and tools of NLP into the practice of coaching. She is the founder of the NLP Coaching Institute, an international training organization that helps professional coaches develop extraordinary skills by combining NLP with business and personal coaching.

She conducts seminars in coaching in businesses and at private institutes in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. In her private practice, she has coached managers and executives from American Express, IBM, Merrill Lynch, McDonalds and State Farm Insurance, among others.

Her Mother tells the story that when Jan was little, she asked repeatedly (at all the major holidays where gifts were involved) for a magic wand that really worked. She even rationalized that it was a good investment over time because it would be the last gift her parents would ever have to give her. She refused to believe that magic wands did not exist, and she continued to open packages with clothes and toys in them, a little disappointed. Eventually, she stopped asking for a magic wand.

Jan says, "Now that I am a 'grown up', I have discovered that magic wands do exist and I have acquired a most excellent one. It was not purchased in a magical store and it does not have a physical form, but it really works. Dreams come true. Material objects and life circumstances take form. Where previously there was only thought or desire, there is a transmutation, and new worlds come into being. Our impulses and thoughts and dreams turn to plans and action and a new reality is created. . . . and somehow along the way, magic is involved."

As a coach, Jan helps individuals and organizations harness the magic that grows from powerful visions. She provides structure and support as her clients turn those visions into reality.

Coaching
Coaching produces lasting change in a natural and respectful way. It takes place over a series of months. During this time, the coach and client "meet" weekly over the telephone. Calls are typically a half-hour to one-hour in length.

The client determines the agenda for the weekly meeting. Clients use their coaching time in a variety of ways. A session could be used to evaluate choices, make a decision, set a direction, invent a strategy or plan, evaluate how a current habit is working, sort through a challenge, or make a commitment.