How is Coaching different?
By John Fielder
When an explorer sets off on an exhilarating journey, they may well take a guide. When they finish the journey and celebrate their achievement, they know that they are responsible and they achieved their dream. But they also know they probably wouldn’t have done it without the help of the guide. The guide did not make the journey for them, but they were there at every stage to encourage, motivate, help with the navigation and remind the explorer why they took the journey in the first place!
The difference between coaching – and other fields such as counselling, therapy or consulting is quite simple. The coach does not have the answers. The coach does not provide subject specific technical knowledge or expertise. A coach operates from the presupposition that the client has all the resources.
Coaching is about assuming that people already have what they need – they just need to be coached to access it. Like a sports coach, your role is partly to hold your client accountable to their personal best.
The client is the expert. The coach is an expert in not knowing. This is a skill in itself.
Executive Coaching and Life Coaching
Most of those who seek you out for coaching will be looking for Executive Coaching or Life Coaching.
Executive Coaching clients will normally be high achievers who can’t go any further unless they expand their skills. Often those who seek Executive Coaching are outstanding in one or more areas of life, but feel they are lacking elsewhere. Perhaps they are highly successful at work but they feel they need to ‘get a life’ once they leave the office. Or they may be performing well at work, but recent promotion has meant there is one area (such as people skills) where they need to improve their performance. Executive Coaching is also for people who have achieved results and simply want assistance to go further.
A Coach who is excellent at Executive Coaching is able to:
1. Achieve results for clients and where applicable, their team.
2. Assist managers with team building.
3. Help individuals gain clarity in their thinking.
4. Challenge and help individuals to change limiting beliefs.
5. Help managers to become a support rather than a threat, as well as assisting them in bringing out the talent and potential of their teams.
Life Coaching is about living your life in keeping with what’s important to you. It enables you to first take stock and get clear, second regain control and third achieve balance in your life. It addresses all manor of issues; Where am I now? Where am I going? What do I want? How do I resolve this particular issue? How do I sort out my confusing and stressful life? Which career path should I pursue?
A Coach who is excellent at Life Coaching is able to:
1. Help clients stay on track with their own self-selected solutions and plans.
2. Develop deep rapport and trust with their clients.
3. Ask thought-provoking questions to help clients clarify their outcomes and what they need to do to achieve them.
4. Help others make steady progress towards goals by providing ongoing structure and accountability.
5. Know that the real skill of Life Coaching – indeed all coaching - is not knowing the solutions but eliciting the solutions from the real expert – your client.
© John Fielder
John Fielder is an experienced and accredited Master Coach (MECI), certified NLP Coach, NLP Trainer, NLP Master and Master TimeLine Therapy practitioner.
He is also a Chartered HR professional (MCIPD) with proven expertise in coaching, training, transition management, assessment centres and career development.
You can contact him at 01344 303370 or johnfielder@btopenworld.com
This article was posted by John Fielder
