What is Coaching ?

I get asked again and again "What is coaching? What do you do?"

This is an extremely important question!

• First, there is a big difference between consulting, coaching and therapy! Consulting analyzes the problem and provides potential solutions. Therapy heals, often delving in to the past to search for why certain behaviors or emotions occur. Coaching deals in the present and the future and is for mentally healthy adults (some coaches specialize in teenagers… but that is not my case), who want to develop themselves and achieve "better", results in some area
  of their life.
  
• Secondly, the area of development is dependent on what the area the coachee wants to develop! Normally,the type of development fits into one of the following areas (table is taken from Coach U's "The personal and corporate coach training handbook"). I will develop this topic further in a future blog article, looking at the actual areas people want to work on and what they really end up working on!
  

Mind J		Ability to think Improving good judgmentJ Reducing reaction time to events Finding new ways to make decisions J Expanding ways of thinking J Increasing capacity to learn quickly
Heart		Ability to feel Distinguish between feelings and emotional reaction Increase ability to give and receive love Expand ability to relate and connect to others J
Spirit		Ability to enjoy Providing expanded perspective J Increasing capacity for inner peace J Becoming more aware of self, others, life in general J
Business J		Ability to succeed in business Add more value to customers, J Enjoy work more J Improving creativity and innovation Work / personal balanceJ
EnvironmentJ		Awareness and control of surroundings Awareness of surroundings, impact and ability to controlJ Improve available resources and network J Upgrading home and office environment J Improving health and wellness J

• Thirdly, the coach believes the coachee has all the answers within themselves and therefore the coaching job, is to help the coachee find those answers, explore the consequences, develop a clear plan of action and support them through that plan of action. I like to think of a coach as a mirror who helps the coachee (the person being coached) find their own solutions to their problems. For me, NOT providing solutions for clients and instead helping them find their own solutions is what I find most rewarding and beneficial in coaching. We coaches do this through the use of questions in a structured approach to problem solving and action planning/execution. Again, more on how coaching works in a later blog article!
  

  
  

Let me know if you have any questions about this! FYI - The Smiley faces indicate my preference for coaching development areas based on experience and the yellow highlighted areas indicate the most consistent feedback I get from clients.