So what is a coach anyway?

What is a coach? What do you think it is? The International Coach Federation " defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential." (for more on ICF see http://www.coachfederation.org/). What does that actually mean? Coaching is a relatively new profession. It is not well regulated which is why the ICF set itself up back in 1995 to create a standard for coaching. Coaching derives from and draws on a whole host of other professions and fields including sports coach, counseling, consulting, therapy, mentoring, cognitive behavioural therapy, and neuro linguistic programming. Although it uses parts of all of the above in greater or lesser degrees depending on the coaching niche and on the coach themselves, it is also distinct from each of them. Whereas counseling and therapy focus predominantly on the past and particularly on solving problems for people who may be in real need of help, coaching looks mainly to the future and is practised on normal, healthy people. Consulting is often employed by corporates to help solve problems in the workplace, coaching can do the same thing but the way the problem is solved is fundamentally different. Consulting provides the answer, coaching helps the client find the answer themselves. In coaching, the client is the expert in the issue at hand, not the coach. Mentoring is offered by more experienced people to those of lesser experience, the partnership is unequal, and advice is given usually from the perspective of the giver. The coach/client relationship is one of equals and the advice given if requested is purely based on the client's perspective. A coach's aim is to help a client reach their potential in a personal or professional capacity. How does a coach do that? The coach will listen intently to what the client says (and doesn't say), will ask powerful questions based on what has been said, and heard, and will lead the client into a deeper think about certain situations. Often the coach will help to shift the perspective of the client so that they can view situations in different ways. Advice can be given, experiences shared if it is likely to be helpful, but each session is wholly focused on the client. Coaches may dig in to people's values and underlying beliefs in order to understand the client and lead them in the best direction. Coaches will help the clients create goals, and provide a framework for measuring, and celebrating those goals. The methods are relatively simple, and like all things simple can be extremely effective. The bottom line is that through conversation, a coach will help you work on any issue or area within your life that is either troubling you or is not wholly satisfying to you and assist you to come up with an actionable solution. Coaching is for normal people, it is for people in all walks of life, at any level of academic achievement. Even the most successful people can benefit. Done well coaching is extremely empowering.