What is Executive Coaching?
What is Life Coaching?
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What is coaching? What is Life Coaching and how is it different from Executive Coaching?
These are great, really common questions; it’s not always obvious. I’m a trained, qualified and accredited coach with years and hundreds of hours of experience; I’ll do my best to answer them here for you.
What is coaching?
It is essentially a safe, confidential, non-judgmental space for you to think, talk, hear yourself, figure stuff out, find answers to questions and solutions to problems and concerns. It’s grounded in personal growth and development.
Having studied coaching in obtaining my Masters in Coaching, reading hundreds of articles and coaching text books, it became clear that there are as many definitions of coaching as there are coaches. I quite like Jonathan Passmore’s:
“A collaborative solution-focused, result-oriented, and systematic process in which the coach facilitates the enhancement of performance, life experience, self-directed learning, and personal growth of individuals”. (1)
It’s a bit of a mouthful though and I much prefer the simplicity of my own definition; “Helping others to help themselves”. It’s not advice, consultancy, mentoring or therapy, although they are closely related.
What is Life Coaching?
Life Coaching is coaching that’s all about you and how you are in your life. It’s a broad remit and includes all aspects of life: Work & career, finance, connection, love & relationships, spirituality, purpose, contribution, health & wellbeing. What does life coaching do? Grant and his colleagues suggest:
“Life coaching helps individuals identify personal strengths, create meaningful life plans, and find balance across life domains, such as career, relationships, and health”. (2)
It’s about personal growth and development. In reality what people bring to my coaching room is incredibly varied and it generally crosses all aspects of life. Finding balance is a common phrase people bring.
Perhaps you’re working too hard and it’s become too much of your focus? Or you want to start your own business but feel the j.o.b. is too busy to find the space? Or some personal relationships have become very challenging and it’s leaving you with questions you can’t answer? Or everything is just tickety-boo but you don’t feel fulfilled? It’s so deeply personal…. Life is tricky, complicated and hard; life coaching can really help to untangle problems and find a way forward.
What is Executive Coaching?
Being in an Exec’ or senior position can be stressful and at times lonely; the buck often stops with you, and there is often less confidential non-judgemental collegial support available. Executive Coaching conversations are not generally about skills and performance; this is generally down pat. They are often about finding that extra gear, opening up perspective, improving relationships and becoming an even better leader of people and business.
“Executive coaching combines professional expertise and developmental insights to support leaders in navigating challenges, making strategic decisions, and achieving peak performance”.
Ennis & Otto’s definition (3) makes it easy to understand. It’s coaching centred in the organisation and how you show up as a leader in the organisation. It’s about personal and organisational growth; both personal and organisational goals and objectives are considered simultaneously.
As an Executive Coach I’m usually commissioned by the organisation to work with an individual(s) over a period of time. You can find out more about the Executive Coaching process in this article here.
What’s the differences between Executive Coaching and Life Coaching?
In practice I find that both are simply all about YOU the human sitting with me. I don’t believe it’s possible to separate component parts of your life and deal with them in isolation; every part of you runs through all parts of your life; you take yourself wherever you go! As your coach, I coach you and not the issue you bring.
Very broadly and generally the literature suggests, life coaching focuses on personal transformation and fulfilment across all life areas, while executive coaching emphasises professional leadership growth and organisational impact. The emphasis, focus and desired outputs are usually from a different ‘place’.
Most clients talk about their work, career, professional relationships in life coaching and most talk about life, relationships, philosophy and values in executive coaching. In practice it’s often the setting, who’s commissioning paying and desired outcomes that determine the difference. I work in both spaces and there is some overlap.
Clients usually come to me privately for Life Coaching; that is, they are usually instigating and paying for the coaching themselves or they have a budget from their organisation that covers coaching. I don’t go into or deal with the organisation.
The organisation (often HR or L&D) or a CEO will normally commission me to coach in them or someone in their organisation for Executive Coaching. This work can but not always include an organisational induction, 360 degree feedback, shadowing and much more. See the FAQ’s below for more information.
What is coaching with me, Gill Caleary?
I have been a coach for many years. I also have 20 years experience in the corporate world from middle to senior leadership, millions of pounds of budgets and projects and I have lived a life. All of this makes me, me and all of this informs my coaching practice, philosophy and values. Coaching with me is:
Practical & Real Time
Grounded in the present and focussing on the future, creating momentum, and achieving what’s important to you. It’s your agenda, at your pace, for you, in your world.
Safe, Brave, Confidential &
Non-judgemental
An uninterrupted and discreet space to talk candidly. I’m an independent confidante and advocate that tells you the truth.
Effective & Empowering
Experience yourself as other do. Seeing yourself as you are and simultaneously finding a different perspective; this creates authentic change.
Supporting, Challenging & Reflective
Think out loud, hear yourself, be heard and develop a deep curiosity about it all. Constructive challenge provides the legroom to reflect and explore who you are, how and who you want to be.
Genuine & Relevant
I’m detached from your hurly-burly, I’m here to help you help yourself; understand feedback, shape change, find sustainable and authentic solutions and answers that work for you in your world.
Transformational
This is next level, if you’re up for it? Develop deeper perspective and self-awareness, build resilience and self-acceptance. Fulfilment, success and well-being are available to us all.
What is Coaching FAQ’s:
How is coaching different from therapy or mentoring?
Therapy often explores past issues and emotional healing more deeply than coaching and can have specific emphasis on more clinical concerns. Coaching is centred in the here and now and how you are feeling in life now, your goals, hopes, dreams and aspirations.
Mentoring involves guidance, overt advice and often allyship/sponsorship from someone more experienced, whereas coaching empowers you to find your own solutions in a way that’s meaningful to you.
Who can benefit from coaching?
If you are looking to develop self awareness, achieve personal growth, develop yourself, improve professional performance, enhance leadership skills, improve business performance or navigate life transitions, you’ll benefit from coaching. Check out my article below on, “Is Coaching For Me?” for more info.
What topics can life coaching address?
Life coaching covers all aspects of the life: work & career, finance, connection, love & relationships, spirituality, purpose, contribution, health & wellbeing. Each of these have differing importance to each one of us and are very nuanced. Life coaching can help you explore all these areas.
Do I need a specific goal to start life coaching?
No. Sometimes the goal is simply finding the goal. Often as a coach I help you clarify your values, identify goals, and explore your priorities if you’re unsure where to start. People come with questions like: What’s next for me? Who am I really? Why can’t I get out of this rut? Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? They also come to talk about a dip in confidence and self belief, procrastination, imposter syndrome. And many come to back from time to to time to just maintain and rebalance. You can bring any questions you might have on this to a Chemistry Session.
Can life coaching help with stress or burnout?
Yes, life coaching can help you explore strategies for managing stress, creating boundaries, and achieving a balanced lifestyle. It can also help in recovering from burnout and preventing it in the future.
Who typically hires an Executive Coach?
Organisations (usually HR or L&D) or leaders themselves may hire an executive coach to support career development, leadership transitions, performance improvement and organisational change. You can find more information on executive coaching in this short article.
Virtual coaching or face to face coaching, which is better?
Both work really well. It can depend on what suits you. I coach quite a few executives with busy home lives so working virtually means they can fit everything in. I also work more and more face to face as many people prefer this and they like the reflective space that the journey to meet up gives them; it becomes part of their coaching experience.
How is progress measured in executive coaching?
Progress is often tracked through goal achievement, behavioral changes, and feedback from stakeholders (e.g., 360-degree assessments). This isn’t always the case though. Often the objectives of the coaching commission is set out clearly with you (my coachee) and the client (your line manager or organisational sponsor) before we start to align coaching outcomes with organisational objectives.
How much does coaching cost?
There is no standard price out there for coaching. Every coach prices differently and every coach has a different standard of qualifications, accreditation and experience. It’s important that you do know what any coach you talk to charges; I show all my prices on my website on the PRICING page and you know what you get. Coaching is an investment and part of choosing a coach is considering the investment and making sure it’s right for you.
How do I know if coaching is for me?
Only you will know the answer to this. I’ve provided some in depth thoughts and questions to ask yourself as you work this out in “Is Coaching Right For Me?” here.
How do I choose a coach?
You can be discerning, give yourself the gift of discernment. I’ve created a comprehensive guide in, “How do I Choose a Coach?” here.
Life is complicated. Being a human is hard. Leadership is tough.
We live in a socially complex world that is increasingly uncertain and ambiguous. Whilst we are only a click away from an expanse of information, this information doesn’t always answer our questions or the pressing challenges we face in the context we face them.
We have complicated personal and existential questions with no straightforward answers available on google. You and I create a space to explore the questions, answers, and solutions. A space to authentically explore what, why, how…
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Resources
Passmore, J. (2016). The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Coaching and Mentoring. Wiley Blackwell.
Stober, D. R., & Grant, A. M. (2006). Evidence-Based Coaching Handbook: Putting Best Practices to Work for Your Clients. Wiley.
Ennis, S., & Otto, A. (2020). Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership Development. Routledge.
Read more: Is Coaching Right For Me? & How do I Choose a Coach?
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What is coaching? What is Life Coaching? What is Executive Coaching? What’s the difference between Life Coaching and Executive Coaching?