What is Coaching?

Howdy and welcome back! Today, I wanted to talk about something that often comes up in conversations about personal and professional growth, yet is frequently misunderstood: what coaching is and isn't. You see, the term "coach" gets thrown around a lot, and it's easy to confuse it with other valuable practices like counseling, therapy, mentoring, or consulting. But understanding the distinctions is key to truly leveraging the power of coaching.

Let's dive in.

Coaching is NOT Counseling or Therapy

This is perhaps the most crucial distinction to make. While both coaching and therapy aim to help individuals, their focus, methodologies, and training are fundamentally different.

Counselors and therapists are trained to listen and evaluate with a specific orientation, often exploring "why" to understand an individual's past. Their aim often involves addressing perceived "broken" aspects and is primarily problem-focused. In this dynamic, the therapist typically serves as the expert, engaging in a diagnostic approach to facilitate healing from emotional or psychological difficulties. Clients seeking therapy often have numerous questions, and the counselor or therapist is generally positioned as having the answers, offering a new perspective to the patient.

Coaching, on the other hand, operates from a distinct perspective. Its primary orientation is towards the future, guiding individuals from their current state to their desired future. It's about creating – whether that involves developing a future strategy or cultivating a new mental framework. Coaching is inherently solution-focused, and the relationship between coach and client is one of shared equality.

Think of it this way: if counseling/therapy is about healing a broken leg, coaching is about learning to run a marathon once the leg is healed. In coaching, you're not seen as broken; instead, you might have what's described as a "dirty lens." Clients simply need to "step outside themselves and either clean or upgrade their lens". And here's the kicker: the coach poses the insightful questions, and the client uncovers their own answers.

While therapy delves deeply into past experiences to understand and heal, coaching utilizes the past in a very specific way: to uncover passions, values, and insights gained from prior experiences. All this information from the past is then integrated to understand how it can be applied to shape the future. It's about leveraging your personal history as fuel for future creation, not as a perpetual dwelling place.

Coaching is NOT Mentoring

Another common confusion arises between coaching and mentoring. While both can be incredibly beneficial, their roles are distinct.

A mentor is someone who has achieved or attained what we aspire to. They are like a well from which a mentee draws out experiences, wisdom, learnings, and insights. The mentor shares their knowledge, offering guidance based on their own journey and accomplishments. They are the expert sharing their map.

In coaching, the dynamic is reversed. The coach is actively "drawing out all the experiences, skills, and insights out of the client". The coach isn't there to recount their own achievements or dictate your actions; they're there to help you uncover your own internal wisdom and resources. It's about you finding your own map, with the coach facilitating the exploration.

Coaching is NOT Consulting

Finally, let's clarify the difference between coaching and consulting. Both can offer solutions, but their approach and applicability differ significantly.

Consulting typically provides a specific solution, but it's important to recognize that such a solution "will NOT work for everyone". Consulting is also "mostly organizationally based, not individual". A consultant is engaged to analyze a situation and offer expert recommendations or a pre-designed solution, often for a business or a team. They are the expert delivering the "what to do."

Coaching, however, is fundamentally different. Instead of providing answers, coaching "asks questions to get answers out of the client to identify client-created solutions". The solutions generated in coaching are bespoke, tailored specifically to the individual client because they emerge from the client. This ensures greater commitment, sustainability, and personal alignment with the path forward.

So, What IS Coaching?

If coaching isn't counseling, mentoring, or consulting, then what is it?

Coaching is about becoming, transcending mere goal achievement. While goals are certainly part of the coaching journey, the deeper purpose is the transformation of the individual. It's about shifting your mindset, polishing your "lens," and unlocking your inherent potential.

It's a powerful partnership where the coach acts as a catalyst, using incisive questions to help you discover your answers, your passions, your values, and your path forward. It's about empowering you to create your own future, leveraging your past for wisdom, and understanding that all the solutions you need are already within you.

Understanding these distinctions is crucial, whether you're considering hiring a coach, becoming one, or simply trying to clarify the landscape of personal development. When you seek coaching, you're not looking for someone to fix you, tell you what to do, or share their experiences. You're looking for someone to help you unlock your own potential, clarify your vision, and forge your unique path forward.

What are your thoughts on these distinctions? Have you ever confused these roles? Share your experiences in the comments below!