What Coaching Isn't

I think it is important to make some distinctions between what coaching is and what it isn’t. These brief comparisons will help clients needing therapy, consulting, mentoring or another service discern which type of professional is best suited to meet their needs. My hope is that clients who are considering hiring a coach will have some basis for comparison about what they can expect and ask for from their coach. Coaching isn’t therapy. Generally, therapy goes back to the roots to work through unresolved issues of the past. Coaching assumes that the past is perfect, whether it is or not, and focuses on putting your energy to work in the present and moving forward. Therapy is appropriate for clients who need to resolve their past in order to move forward. Coaching isn’t consulting. Consulting typically begins with a particular problem that a client wants to solve. A consultant, the expert, does tests and evaluations and delivers a report with potential solutions to the problem. Coaching assumes that the client has all the information they need to problem-solve. Coaching questions the true problem to ensure that the client won’t find answering another question more meaningful and profound. Once the client has selected the question they want to answer or the problem they want to solve, the coach and the client work together to devise strategies to create a win. After the client has articulated exactly what the win looks like, the coach and client work on creating the win together. Coaching isn’t mentoring. Mentoring is about providing advice and guidance based upon past experience and “having walked in the clients shoes.” The coaching partnership is focused on the client and helping them discover their own truth. Because the mentor is assumed to have greater knowledge, in the mentoring relationship there tends to be a hierarchy between the client and the coach. In coaching, the client is the expert on their life and the coach brings questions, ideas and thoughts for the client and coach to ponder together. Hence the relationship is flat.Therapy, consulting, mentoring and coaching all offer tremendous benefits to the client looking for change. Understanding where you are and what your objectives are will help you best determine which type of professional is best suited and most qualified to work with you. Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile

What is Coaching?

There are many different types of coaches. If you’re familiar with competitive sports you know there are coaches for tennis, baseball, basketball, football, etc. There are also life and business coaches; and there are even many specialties within the life and business coaching frameworks. Life and business coaches are similar to sports coaches in that they work with their clients (players) to create a vision of the win. That is to say, a coach’s goal is to partner with an individual to understand who they are at their core, and what their values are. A coach is also looking for what a client wants to accomplish. A client may desire to accomplish a broad range of things which might include: creating more fulfilling relationships, job transition, organization, weight loss, financial stability, and on and on. Most clients want some combination of many of these goals. Together the coach and client create a path to achieve these goals. The coach and client strategize on the most effective and efficient way to create a win. One thing a great coach is always looking out for is false goals. A goal that isn’t connected to who a client truly is and is instead a “should” or “have to.” Coaching is a synergistic partnership that enables an individual to reach their highest intent and potential in the most efficient and effective path while staying connected to their truth and integrity. It is a mutual agreement to create a “safe space” to explore one’s beliefs, values and vision for their life. Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Profile Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile