What Is Coaching and What Are Its Benefits?
Coaching is a pretty new profession and not everyone understands fully what it means and how it works.
The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential”. (https://coachfederation.org/about)
Coaching is focused on making behavioral changes in our lives – we establish our goals in behavioral terms. Those behavioral changes are always accompanied by a mindset change. Sometimes, we change our mindset before we make changes to our behaviors. Other times, by giving new actions a try we are able to make a shift in our mindset. I have seen the attitude of “just giving it a try” bring about great changes in my clients’ lives.
Talking about the benefit of having a “thinking partner”, Daniel Kahneman, the author of the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” says we resist self-exploration, especially when emotions are involved. Marcia Reynold summarizes so well Kahneman’s ideas: “We need someone outside our head to disrupt our thinking by reflecting our thoughts back to us and asking questions that prompt us to wonder why we think the way we do.” (Marcia Reynolds, Coach the Person, not the Problem, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2020, 20)
Of course, many people get to achieve their goals in life without the help of a coach. In fact, most of us are just fine doing the things we need to do every day – we manage quite well on our own, or with the support of family and friends.
There are certain times in our lives, though, when we might feel at a loss on how to make progress or find the way forward from a particularly challenging situation. We might feel stuck, or overwhelmed, or confused. By inviting a coach in our life at such a point, our stumbling block can become an opportunity, and our quandary can be transformed into a springboard for remarkable growth and significant life changes.
A coach will be a thinking partner who encourages you, supports you, helps you stay focused and keeps you accountable, helps you see more options, become aware of your blind spots, overcome your obstacles, use your resources. And because of all these, you can achieve your goals by spending less energy and in a shorter time than if you choose to do it by yourself. You get more time to enjoy your new life and the person you have become.
How is coaching different from therapy or consultancy?
Therapy goes in the depth of different aspects of a client’s life, usually addressing the past and the goal of therapy is to heal different kinds of pain or emotional trauma.
Coaching is action oriented and is focused primarily on the present and future. Coaching assumes the client is functional and fully capable of success and the goal of coaching is growth.
ICF explains the difference between coaching and psychotherapy: “Coaching focuses on visioning, success, the present and moving toward the future. Therapy emphasizes psychopathology, emotions and the past to understand the present, and it works more with developing skills for managing emotions or past issues than does coaching.” (https://coachfederation.org/blog/new-icf-resource-helps-coaches-understand-when-and-how-to-refer-clients-to-therapy)
Coaching is also not consultancy which, in general, ends up by offering recommendations or answers to clients.
In coaching, we have the conviction that every person is creative, resourceful, unique. The client is an expert in their own life. The coach doesn’t give advice – he/she is not the expert in your own life. The coach, however, might share some information or give you recommendations about books or other tools you might want to use.
Coaching is about actions that clients choose for themselves after they gain insight into their mental blocks and dysfunctional thoughts, and after they go through the shift of perspective that needs to take place.
The benefits of coaching
Here are some of the benefits you’ll enjoy from the coaching process:
clarifying your values, needs, desires, actions needed to be taken. You become more connected with yourself, with the goal of becoming who you are designed by God to be and do what you really want to do, according to God’s will.
clarifying your vision. Coaching helps us stop and clarify what we actually want - sometimes we are so caught up in life’s routine that we don’t even take the time to stop and think.
uncover your own particular paradigms and misbeliefs that keep you stuck and replace them with ones rooted in God’s reality.
focusing on the goals that will bring the most significant changes in your life. Having someone who encourages you, supports you and keeps you accountable help you stay focused, especially when it becomes difficult.
planning well, by looking at opportunities, obstacles, the internal and external resources you have.
helping you act despite fears, self-doubts, uncertainties.
improved social and emotional intelligence skills. Even though this might not be your primary goal for the coaching process, you will learn to communicate in a way that’s more open, vulnerable, concise, assertive, confident. You will also learn how to better set and achieve goals and how to grow faster.
increased self-awareness about beliefs, assumptions, vision, values, interests, passions, preferences, narratives – the way we interpret a situation in our mind.
a more fulfilled life and, I dare say, a better world – because when we make efforts to be who God designed us to be and fulfill our calling, then the world becomes a better place.
What is the Coach’s role?
The coach offers you:
a safe and non-judgmental environment so you can articulate, explore and change your own thoughts;
help to clarify your vision and to establish your goal(s);
space for brainstorming so you can explore your options and find your own solutions;
support to do the actions that can help you achieve your goals;
two ears that listen very well so (the coach) can reflect and paraphrase what you say to help you identify connections, patterns, assumptions, beliefs, needs, desires, fears, resources;
role-playing so you can improve your interpersonal skills, if this is your goal;
reflective inquiry and questions that help you shift thoughts, change paradigms, overcome limiting beliefs and have more empowering perspectives rooted in God’s Word;
encouragement by reflecting your strengths (skills, qualities, dreams, values, passions, etc.) and your progress.
And, definitely, the coach will celebrate your results together with you!
What is the Client’s role?
The client is the one who will set the goal for the coaching process and the specific goals for every session, according to his/her inspiring vision and core values.
Also, the client decides the actions he/she takes between sessions, actions that will help them reach their goal.
A client might not always come into a coaching process or to a session with a clear idea to focus on, and then the coach and the client will discover the working area together. In coaching terms, “the agenda comes from the client”.
From time to time there will be some preparation or feedback forms to fill out and send before a session in order to make the process smoother and to help coach and client better adapt to each other’s style, so they can improve results.
And definitely is the client’s role to take actions between sessions. Actually, every coaching session end with a commitment from the client to do an action they choose. The action comes naturally as a result of the client’s insights during the coaching session.
If you are wondering whether you might benefit from my encouragement and support during a coaching process, you can schedule a 30-minute free discovery call. This is a no-pressure, no-obligation call so we can both decide whether we are a good fit to work together.