Coaching is a professional collaboration between a coach and a client where the goal is to achieve a desired result based on the client's needs, goals and agenda. The coach assists the client through listening, asking questions, bringing focus and observations to the exchange in order to identify and develop the strategies which will move the client to reach his or her goal.
Whether face-to-face, e-mail or in personal meetings on the phone, the tools coaches utilize are sourced from such diverse fields as leadership development, management training, organizational development and the fundamentals of personal growth. Mutual trust and accountability as well as the depth of the coach's professional and life experience give the process its power and effectiveness.
Counseling and therapy are about healing something and typically focus on past issues and/or current emotional problems. Coaching focuses on perfecting the present in order to create desired future outcomes and is very action-oriented. It may be that they have had unsatisfactory success in moving some of their goals forward and are now ready to take action. Like good therapists, good coaches bring skills, integrity and truthfulness to the process of supporting the client's progress towards his/her own objectives. Coaching clients who surface therapy issues are referred to therapists/counselors.
Coaching is a form of consulting with many differences. One major difference is that the coach is not the expert (as most consultants must be). In coaching, the client is seen as the expert in his or her own life. Instead of studying a problem and making recommendations (as most consultants do), the coach facilitates the present wisdom that the client has and assists them in creating action strategies to meet their goals. The coach then supports the client in their new actions. Many consultants do not partner with their clients for long-term implementation.
Life coaching is solely about the goals, values and priorities of the person being coached. Clients work on challenges like relationships, finances, health issues and other topics involving life balance.
In business/corporate coaching, the emphasis is on performance enhancement, leadership effectiveness and professional development that must be aligned with the goals, values and priorities of the organization as well as the individual. In working with small business, a coach might also work with a client on profitability and sustainability issues. In all coaching, clients are encouraged to address life as well as work issues.
Coaching is not the same as other organizational interventions, nor is it a replacement. Coaching adds another dimension to any of the above interventions by working directly with the human equation. It supports new systems and the process of deep, sustainable personal change.
Anyone who wants to:
- Achieve ambitious goals faster and build creative momentum
- Balance work and personal priorities to enjoy a fuller, integrated life
- Manage career, job or life transitions more successfully
Anyone can benefit from coaching. The "when" relates to when the client is ready to take action and accept the responsibility to grow.
There are many different ways to become a coach. The
International Coach Federation (ICF)--the professional organization of coaching--certifies several different coach training programs that accommodate a wide variety of learning styles, time constraints and budgets. An ICF certified training program must meet the highest standards and is sure to focus on being a coach as well as doing coaching, a distinction very important to the field of coaching.
Your additional training in other fields typically adds to your ability to specialize in the marketplace, and coaching can begin as soon as you are in a coach training program. While many of these programs offer their own accreditation, ICF also offers a process for becoming an ICF accredited coach--the highest designation and generally the next step after graduating from a training program.
For a full list of ICF accredited coaching schools, look for
Training Organizations at the International Coach Federation website.
