What is Coaching?
What is Coaching?
What is coaching?
What is Life Coaching?
What is Executive Coaching?
What’s the difference between Life Coaching & 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?
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. 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.
What is Life Coaching?
Life Coaching is coaching that’s all about you and how you are in your life. It 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 business but feel the j.o.b. is too busy to find the space, or some personal relationship shave 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?
“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.
Being in an Exec’ or senior position can be stressful and at times lonely; the buck often stops here and there is often less confidential non-judgemental collegial support available. 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. 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 here.
Summarise the differences and similarities of Executive Coaching and Life Coaching:
Very broad 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.
However in practice I find that both 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 and as your coach, I coach you and not the issue you bring.
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.
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.
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, advice and often allyship/sponsorship from someone more experienced, whereas coaching empowers the client to find their own solutions.
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? Is this what I want to do of the rest of my life? and so many more…
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 burn out 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 here.
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 here, 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.
If you want to know a bit more and tippy-toe into some of these spaces, that curiosity is a great start to a Chemistry Session – bring your ‘stuff’ and all your questions and make an informed choice. It’s just a wee chat. Only you will know for sure if coaching is right for you but telling me what you want and don’t will help us work out if coaching is for you – then you can decide if coaching with me is for you.
Choosing a Coach…
Is Coaching right for me?