What is Coaching?
Coaching is a partnership between coach and client, utilizing a thought-provoking and creative process to inspire and motivate clients to maximize their personal and professional potential.
Coaches:
- seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client and believe that the client is naturally creative, resourceful, and has the answers.
- listen beyond what is said, observe, encourage self-discovery, and customize their approach to meet the individual needs of the client.
- help clients make adjustments, remove roadblocks and supports the skills, resources, and creativity the client already has.
- help clients see the big picture.
- support client accountability.
Most importantly, the coaching relationship is 100% in support of YOU, the client.
How does coaching differ from therapy?
Coaching can be distinguished from therapy in a number of ways.
Coaching is a profession that supports personal and professional growth and development based on the clients personally initiated desire for change and specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is future focused and supports clients to move forward from their current situation. The primary focus of coaching is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one's work or personal life. The emphasis is on self discovery, action, accountability, and follow-through.
Therapy, on the other hand, deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or a relationship between two or more individuals. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past which hamper an individual's emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with present life and work circumstances in more emotionally healthy ways. Therapy outcomes often include improved emotional/feeling states.
What are the benefits of coaching?
There are many wonderful benefits associated with professional coaching. Individuals who engage in a coaching relationship can expect to experience:
- fresh perspectives on personal challenges and opportunities,
- enhanced thinking and decision making skills,
- enhanced interpersonal effectiveness, and
- increased confidence in carrying out their chosen work and life roles.
Consistent with a commitment to enhancing personal effectiveness, clients can also expect to see appreciable results in the areas of productivity, personal satisfaction with life and work, and the achievement of personally relevant goals.
