Coaching as a word and profession have been misused and mislabeled through years of marketing shenanigans online. It is so many things to so many people that it is hard for most of us to understand what it truly is. Fortunately, we have the International Coaching Federation (ICF) to help us out.
As a certified coach that graduated from an ICF accredited program, I make coaching very simple: It is about creating a helping relationship that encourages growth and change through awareness building in the client. Confused? There are a lot of nuances in that small sentence. To put it simply I do two things:
Building awareness: A lot of time that you spend with a coach is used to gain clarity in your thinking. What exactly is your issue? What exactly are your options? What exactly are your resources? Clarity will help you set better goals, stay more focused on your path and achieve results faster.
Encouraging growth: Whenever the client is satisfied with the level of awareness he has about his issue only then we dive into solutions.
Let's dive a little deeper into what coaching is, and isn't:
It is not therapy: As a coach, I am not a licensed therapist. I do not deal with mental health-related issues like depression, addictions, anxiety or others.
It is goal-oriented: Coaching works best when it is used as a tool to achieve goals and solve specific problems.
It is not guaranteed results: As a coach, my responsibility is to make you follow a process of change and help you bring clarity on the steps you need to take to work on your goals. It is your responsibility to take action, put in the work and create the results for yourself.
It is about awareness: I am a firm
believer that you have what it takes inside of you to solve any challenge you face. The issue we often have is accessing that wisdom. Coaching helps you learn about yourself so you can discover better tools to work with.
It is not about telling you what to do: Coaching is not about me giving you advice about what to do. I am sure you get plenty of that already and how does it usually work out for you? As already mentioned it is about giving you the tools and build the awareness to do it yourself.
Caveat: I understand, however, that what makes you choose me as a coach might be my specific to my knowledge, expertise or personal journey. As such, at times I reserve the right to step in and help you with ideas if I feel like it will serve your interests.
It is not easy: As a coach, I am positive and friendly, but I am not easy going. I will challenge you when I sense like you are holding back or can do better. This work will be almost miraculous at times and very hard at others. Be prepared for both.
It is about building a relationship: In the end, coaching is about you and me forming a relationship where I can learn from you, you can learn from me and most importantly we can both learn from ourselves. The end goal is not to make you dependent on coaching. It is to teach you the self-awareness skills you need to go through this process on your own in the future.
That about covers it.