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Article 2 - What makes coaching distinctive..?
Welcome back!! Or - thanks for joining us for the first time. In my first coaching article, I outlined a definition of coaching; an on-going partnership that helps people produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. I also summarised some of the ways it is being used.
The intention is to write a series of articles covering many of the key issues in coaching. My hope is that some of the articles will be stimulated by questions and issues that are happening in your business right now. So, please, e-mail us with your views, concerns and current issues.
We are still at the positioning stage. So, my objective in this article is to communicate clearly what makes coaching distinctive. I will be attempting to answer the following questions:
- How is coaching different to counselling, consulting, therapy or mentoring?
- What presuppositions does the coach work with?
- What are the roots of coaching?
- What are the benefits of coaching?
So, how is coaching different to counselling, consulting, therapy or mentoring?
Like counselling, coaching is client centred. Like consulting, it is outcome orientated. Like mentoring, it can concentrate on improving performance. The major difference between outstanding training, counselling, therapy, consulting and mentoring is quite simple. The coach does not have the answers. The coach does not provide content expertise.
What presuppositions does the coach work with?
A coach operates from the presupposition that the client has all the resources (one of the NLP presuppositions), including the ability to discover and utilise resources. So if the coach does not provide expertise and is not there to provide helpful hints or recommendations, what is the relationship about? The coaching relationship is about awareness and responsibility. The coach moves the client towards an increased awareness of their choices. The coach encourages the client to develop more behavioural flexibility, to venture into new territory at his or her own pace. The client takes the action, which will lead to growth. Credit goes to the client not the coach because it is the client who has taken responsibility. So, according to the International Coaching Federation (ICF) ' through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance and enhance their quality of life.'
So, here are some important descriptions of the coaching process. A top ten, if you like:
- Coaching focuses on the goals the client chooses
- Coaching is tailored to the individual needs of the client
- Coaching is interactive
- Coaches, for the most part, elicit solutions and strategies from clients
- Coaches provide a fresh perspective
- Coaches help clients build on their natural strengths
- Coaches believe that the client is creative and resourceful
- Coaches believe that the client is responsible for doing the work to achieve the results he or she wants
- Coaches look at how all the parts of a person's life work together
- The power of coaching comes from the strength of the bond between coach and client
What are the roots of coaching?
The roots of this modern approach to coaching can be traced back to the Inner Game books by Tim Gallwey staring with The Inner Game of Tennis in 1974. He suggested a paradigm shift in sports coaching. He noticed that his prescriptive methods did not work as well as when he coached with open questions, instead of catching errors and offering suggestions. When a player relaxed, concentrated on a picture and feeling of the result, he self-improved, unselfconsciously. Gallwey describes: 'the game that takes place in the mind of the player, and it is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. In short, it is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence in performance'.
As the principles of the Inner Game were applied to professional development, the value of individual coaching became apparent. Sports coaches took the skills into the business environment. John Whitmore wrote one of the first books devoted to the practice of coaching. Describing the value of coaching as 'helping them to learn rather than teaching them'. He uses the metaphor of an acorn ' which contains within it all the potential to be a magnificent oak tree. We need nourishment, encouragement and light to reach towards, but the oaktreeness is already within'.
Finally, the benefits. What can coaching achieve?
Firstly, coaching is a powerful relationship for people making important changes in their lives. People come to coaching for many reasons, but the bottom line is change. They no longer want things to stay the same. So effective business and life coaching can increase and improve:
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