Discover Coaching
What is Coaching?
I define coaching as a longer-term, thought-provoking, and creative process inspiring personal development and supporting positive change.
When stepping into a coaching engagement there are 5 Principles I always follow:
1.) This is an equal partnership.
2.) You are resourceful and fully capable as you are.
3.) Sessions are always Solution and Future Focused.
4.) Change is happening in each moment.
5.) Skilled and powerful questioning is the core of coaching, rather than guidance or advice giving.
All of these things allow you the opportunity to learn tools to self-discover and self-sustain while achieving specific targeted goals.
Coaching vs. Mentorship
Coaching vs. Counseling
It is often easy to confuse what coaching is when looking at other disciplines. Here I will focus on Coaching and how it is similar to but also different from Counseling and Mentorship. Coaching, Counseling, and Mentorship are three major disciplines that people turn to when they are seeking options to make changes within themselves.
Here are the major differences between Coaching and Counseling:
1.) Time: Therapy tends to focus on the past Coaching is more of a future focused conversation.
2.) Diagnosis: Therapy can often lead to a medical diagnosis, while coaching is grounded in setting goals and developing a plan to reach those goals.
3.) Length of Engagement: Though both are a long-term relationships, Therapy can often take years to create results. Coaching's reliance on goal setting and action-step planning shows results much quicker, though we constantly re-declare goals and plans once we have reached the original desired outcome.
It is important to know whether you need therapy or coaching. If I feel like therapy is the right way to go, I will suggest that as a better option after the initial consultation. Perhaps you feel like you need both therapy and coaching. This is also something that can be really effective, with the two working alongside one another to provide the best results for you.
Here are the major differences between Coaching and Mentorship:
1.) Goal Setting: Both of these disciplines focus on goals. Typically coaching will assist in defining your goals, while Mentorship takes what you already have defined and assists from there.
2.) Structure: Coaching uses formal, structured meetings to assist in the process of attaining goals. Mentorship is typically a little less structured and your mentor is often someone who has an expertise and experience in the field you are also in. Though coaches may share experience in your field, it is not a necessity and often is not the case in a coaching engagement.
3.) Self-Guided: Mentoring often uses advice-giving, or suggestion, so that you guide yourself through the action-steps of the goals you've set. Coaches do not give advice and work alongside you, guiding you toward your desired outcomes.