The product of coaching is the component most widely publicized—the results that emerge from the pro- cess, whether an exercise plan, a de-cluttered home, or the launch of a new business. Whether process or product, the focus is always on supporting the client to design a life consistent with his or her deepest self and highest vision— and then to implement that design.


What Coaching Isn’t Coaching is different from psychotherapy, which frequently focuses on the past and on what isn’t working that needs fixing. In contrast, coaching focuses on what is work- ing and how to create more of it. According to the ICF, “Coaching concentrates on where clients are now and what they are willing to do to get where they want to be in the future.” Coaches recognize that delving deeply into the past is sometimes a necessary step in a person’s personal-growth journey. Persistent obstacles to moving forward, such as chronic depression or deep-seated self-esteem issues, are best addressed in therapy. It’s not the appropriate role of a professional coach to analyze and prescribe, nor to tread into the realm of serious emotional disturbance. Coaching is also different from consulting. It’s not the job of a professionally trained coach to offer prescriptions or advice. A coach is a partner and co-collaborator—not an expert. The client is the expert on his or her life, and sessions are designed to tap into that expertise in service of the client’s focus for each session. A coach contributes observations, thought-provoking questions, and a variety


of tools to support the client in moving forward and not be stopped by old patterns. A coach’s input, while valuable, is never meant to trump the client’s self-knowledge or inner sense of the best path to follow. One of the pillars of pro- fessional coaching is a deep belief that the client has the answers within. From the ICF Code of Ethics: “The coach’s responsibility is to . . . encourage self-discovery and elicit client-generated solutions and strategies.”


How Coaching Developed Dr. Patrick Williams, Ed.D. and Master Certified Coach, who is considered by many to be the “ambassador of coaching,” has written extensively on the origins of coach- ing. He describes the field as “a derivative of the best thinking in self-improvement since the turn of the twentieth century” and states that it evolved from three main threads: • The helping professions, including psychotherapy and counseling,


• Business consulting and organizational development, • Trainings in personal development such as those offered by Covey, Landmark, and Tony Robbins. At some point in its evolution, psychotherapy adopted a medical model, “conceiving of clients as ‘patients’ with ‘illnesses’ that required diagnosis and treatment.” Accord- ing to Williams, “Of course, serious mental illnesses do ex- ist, and clinical psychology or psychotherapy is appropri- ate treatment for them. However, in the past, many people were treated and labeled for what were more accurately challenges in living and bumps along the road of self-actu- alization.” For those people, coaching may be a better fit.


January 2011


11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48