Coaching is a new skill in today’s modern society that has gained significant popularity among organizations and individuals. Before anything else, consider the following two questions:
- When large and small businesses face multiple challenges in management or internal crisis resolution, who do they turn to for help?
- When you are pursuing a specific goal or facing a significant change in your life and encounter a challenge, who do you seek out?
Professional coaching involves helping you think more creatively about your challenges, finding solutions from within yourself, and acting accordingly. According to PWC statistics, coaching is currently considered the second-fastest-growing industry globally, which is why many people annually embark on learning it in different countries.
Coaching is a skill that helps you autonomously find creative thoughts and ideas to solve your challenges, maximizing your potential in all dimensions. It is precisely what you need: “A personalized solution tailored to your financial situation, your mindset, your market, etc., not a general one.” The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “Engaging with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
So, coaching simply means: assisting clients in increasing awareness and taking forward action.
- What does a coach do?
A coach is a curious questioner, a careful listener, a truth reflector, a supportive and non-judgmental encourager who holds clients accountable for their lives.
A coach believes that clients are inherently whole and creative individuals who can find solutions to their challenges themselves. Through the coaching process, a coach can assist clients in moving from where they are now to their ideal point, and along this journey, overcome internal and external challenges and obstacles.
- A coach helps clients explore their ideas in a safe and non-judgmental environment.
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- A coach helps clients find the answers to their questions within themselves.
- A coach helps clients get to know themselves and their beliefs better, become aware of their values, and see the truth of the world around them more accurately.
- A coach informs clients about the blind spots they have.
- A coach challenges clients’ beliefs to think more expansively beyond their own mental framework.
- As a result of working with the coach, the client plans to achieve their goal and commits to taking necessary actions.
- The coach accompanies the client on their journey towards achieving their goals. When their actions succeed, the coach encourages them, and when they do not, the coach curiously and non-judgmentally stands by their side to help them make the best decision.
- The coach helps the client identify obstacles along the way and brainstorm solutions to overcome them.
In summary, the coach helps the client go from point A to point B, increasing their awareness and taking action towards their goal along the way.
- Coaching is not counseling!
In counseling, the counselor must have skills and expertise in the area where the clients face challenges, as they need to provide solutions accordingly. However, in coaching, the coach specializes in coaching skills, and the clients are considered experts in their own field of interest. In coaching, the coach does not tell the clients what to do or not to do; instead, the coach professionally collaborates and supports the clients in finding problem-solving solutions, so that they gain new insights and operationalize their goals. However, in counseling, solutions are provided, and usually, clients themselves have to operationalize the goals. In coaching, there is equal collaboration and participation, but in counseling, the power lies with the counselor.
- Coaching is not mentoring!
In mentoring, the mentor has expertise and experience in a specific field and shares these experiences with the mentees. However, in coaching, the coach believes that the clients can make the best decisions for themselves. In the mentoring process, there is a top-down approach, but in coaching, the coach moves alongside the clients, fostering mutual participation. Generally, mentoring focuses on emulating a successful individual’s path who has been in your position before, but in coaching, clients find their own desired path.
- Coaching is not therapy!
In therapy, the focus is on problems, and conversations often revolve around past experiences. In coaching, however, the coach focuses on goals and often on the point where the client currently stands, where they want to go, and how to get there. Therapy often deals with resolving psychological disorders, but coaching does not intervene in this area. In therapy, there is often a movement from dysfunction to neutrality, but in coaching, the movement is from neutrality to positivity.
- Coaching is not teaching!
- In teaching, the goal is to transfer knowledge, but in coaching, assistance is provided to clients to achieve their goals.
- In teaching, the instructor often presents topics, but in coaching, the coach often listens well and asks questions.
- The teaching process is usually collective, and in coaching, it is usually individual.
- In teaching, the instructor has their teaching plan and follows it, but in coaching, the choice is with the clients, and the goal and session actions are determined by them.
- In teaching, the instructor teaches the materials, but in coaching, clients find their own answers.
- Coaching is not a friendly conversation!
In a friendly conversation, personal opinions are often given, and sometimes judgments are made, but in coaching, there is a safe and non-judgmental space. The session is client-centered, and the coach acts as an active listener. In a friendly conversation, there is no obligation or concern to solve a problem, but in coaching, support is provided until the goal is achieved.
Each of the above-mentioned approaches (counseling, mentoring, therapy, teaching, etc.) has its own place and value, and it is not meant that coaching is superior to the others or should replace them. For example, sometimes a person needs legal counseling and therefore consults a lawyer, or for instance, someone needs to learn software to use in their work and turns to an instructor in that field. Each of these methods has its own application and value, and coaching is not necessarily useful everywhere.