What Exactly is Coaching?
Coaching is a growing profession and there are many coaching programs and coaching certifications around the world. However, despite the growing nature of the profession, We often get the questions: “What exactly is coaching?” “What are the different types of coaching?” and “Why would I need coaching? How can I benefit from it?” Here we answer those questions for you:
What is coaching?
A coach is someone who supports you to achieve your goals. That sounds broad, but imagine a running coach; a running coach understands your strengths, weaknesses, gives you feedback, and challenges you to push yourself with the ultimate goal to help you achieve your goal as a runner. Similarly, that’s what a coach - whether it is an executive/leadership coach, life coach or career coach - does as well.
How is coaching different from therapy?
Because of the nature of coaching, which involves a lot of deep self-examination and self-exploration, people often ask about the difference between coaching and therapy. While therapy often examines the underlying context (e.g. childhood experiences, family dynamics) that impact who you are, coaching focuses more on how to change your perspective, actions and behavior in order to address the problems you face and advance towards achieving your goal. One of the analogies we like to use is “If you are afraid to ride the bike, a therapist will help you understand where that fear is coming from. A Coach will run alongside you as you start riding the bike for the first time.” As mentioned above, the coach does this by reminding you of your strengths, giving you tips on how to overcome your weaknesses and cheering you on to achieve your goal. Make sense?
What are the different types of coaches? (Executive, Career and Life Coaches)
Executive Coaching
“I am an executive in my company and I want to do a better job at leading my business to achieve our goals.”
“I just stepped into a new big role and I feel overwhelmed about how to perform”
“My team is not working as a unified team but rather as a group of individual contributors”
“I’m struggling to figure out how to work with my new boss.”
- Do any of these sound familiar? If so, executive or leadership coaching might be right for you. Executive/leadership coaches help you focus on how to expand your capabilities to achieve your goals in your role in the workplace/career. They can be especially helpful when you have just taken on a new role or you are preparing to step into a new role with more responsibility and/or new expectations. Executive coaches help you see your blind spots or the behaviors that are getting in the way of your success. They can guide you to shift your mindset and look at problems from a new perspective to see new ways to address them. Not to mention, they can help you reduce your stress level--how great would that be?
Career Coaching
“I am ready to do something different with my career.”
“I want to take my skills and experience to the next level and explore new opportunities.”
- If this resonates with you, a career coach might be able to help you. A career coach is someone who can help uncover your goals, priorities and values as it relates to your career and stand alongside you as you explore what is next in your career. Career coaches, however, are different from job placement advisors or counselors. While job advisors may provide more tactical support (e.g., how to apply to jobs), career coaches support the activities related to a career transition at a higher level (e.g., conducting assessments, clarifying your strengths, preparing you for interviews). Note that career coaches are often equipped to serve as executive coaches and visa versa.
Life Coaching
“I feel stuck in a lot of aspects of my life. My health, my relationships and my career seem off alignment.”
“I constantly feel stressed with all of the different needs and priorities in my life. I feel like I am neglecting myself and my needs.”
- If you feel like your entire life needs a bit of a refresh, reflection and remobilization, a life coach might be a great resource to you. That said, most times executive, leadership and career coaches invite clients to explore their clients’ full lives. It’s difficult to discuss one aspect of life absence of other important elements of your life so if you come across an executive coach or career coach you are interested in working with, you can always ask if they’d be open to help you address non-work related matters in coaching as well.
Tips for when you are looking for a coach
- What type of coaching training have they received?
- Are they certified by the ICF (International Coaching Federation)?
- What are their qualifications outside of coaching (e.g., certification in personality assessments, degrees in areas that might be relevant to you)
- Chemistry! You must feel comfortable and open with your coach in order for a coaching relationship to work and flourish. Always have a “chemistry call” before engaging a coach to make sure there is a fit.
- What is your coaches’ focus? As you see above, there are different types of coaches. While coaches are often trained and equipped to support your many different needs, they also tend to have some specialties. Try to understand what their unique value proposition is to see if they are a fit for you!