What is coaching?
The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
Coaching is about “bringing more depth and focus to particular challenges.” A coach is like a thinking partner for support and guidance when dealing with complex people issues.
Coaching is not a makeover and is not intended as a way for making over night changes in one’s character or personality.
Coaching is more about defining the goal than finding a solution.
The idea behind working with a coach is to bring clarity to the issue and develop a plan of action for tackling it.
How Coaching works:
“Discovery session” is the first session that coach and the client have together. This is when they both get to know each other and say what they expect from one another.
Then they work through identifying what is important in client’s life and what client really wants to get out of coaching.
The following sessions are maximum one hour and each time coach works on a specific topic with client.
Coach uses all the techniques, special questioning methods, visualizations and even games so the client gets to see the big picture and recognizes what the goal is.
The planning stage is next, when they work on each and every step to achieve what client desires.
Each time client is getting some kind of “homework” from the coach to work on and on the next session they discuss the learning from the homework.
Coaching is a fairly long journey. To get long lasting results, each client stays with a coach at least 6 months. Some clients get discouraged after a few sessions as they are looking for a quick fix.
The fact is that each client develops lots of awareness during the first few sessions and they believe they have all their answers. What happens is that after a short period they go back to their old habits and the change they were looking for does not happen.
The role of coach is to constantly work with them and keep them on track with the goals and dreams.
That is why those who come to coaching should really be committed to change and be patient and this slow process little by little improves their lives the way they want.
The difference between Coaching and Therapy
Coaching differs from therapy in that the focus is more on the present and future than the past, more on goals and behaviors than emotions and emotional patterns, and there is a more equal balance of power between the coach and client than between the typical therapist and client.