Coaching has been defined in many ways. The essence of coaching is:

▷ To help a person change in the way they wish and helping them go in the direction they want to go.

▷ Coaching supports a person at every level in becoming who they want to be.

▷ Coaching builds awareness, empowers choice and leads to change.

"Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. Coaching helps them to learn rather than teaching them." (John Whitmore, in Coaching for Performance.)

“Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.” (International Coaching Federation)

In a nutshell, your coach will:

❍ Help you explore an issue, work out what you want, and how you’ll achieve it.

❍ Be focused on listening and asking questions and won't be offering you suggestions or tell you what you should do.

❍ Be asking about your current goals and needs, not leading you to any solution.

❍ Focus on your agenda and will provide ongoing support for the way you approach things.

What's the difference between coaching and mentoring?

COACHING

🔹Deals mostly with a person’s present and seeks to guide them into a more desirable future.

🔹Co-creative equal partnership (the Coach helps the client discover their own answers).

🔹The Coach stands with you and helps you identify the challenges, then works with you to turn challenges into victories and holds you accountable to reach your desired goals.

MENTORING

🔹Deals mostly with succession training and seeks to help someone do what you do professionally.

🔹The Mentor usually has the answer to your questions. It can either be a more experienced person, or they can be younger as well. The Mentor is the expert in a field you are trying to get better at.

🔹The Mentor allows you to observe their behavior, expertise, answers questions, provides guidance and wisdom for the stated purpose of the mentoring.

(Source: P. Williams, Border Line: Understanding the Relationship Between Therapy and Coaching, at Choice, Volume 5, Number 3.)

Read more about how the International Coaching Community defines coaching in the article below. It also explains the difference to mentoring, counselling, therapy and training.