Why you should always have an answer to this question
Have you been asked this question before and found yourself going into a very long winding, twisting explanation of what it is that you do?
. . . To someone who's face looks as perplexed as yours' the last time you tried to understand quantum physics...
Why a good coaching definition is important
<<>>If you're a coach, you want to be able to explain to clients what they're getting into, how it works and what they need to get started.
Similarly, if you're a client, and you're spending a lot of money on getting coached, you want to know that you're getting what you signed up for.
Coaching isn't for everyone, as a coach it's important to be able to establish a coaching relationship based on trust; how you communicate with your clients about what you do is the basis of the work you'll do together.
Ok, so what is coaching?
There's an ocean full of definitions for coaching out there, no one really has an "official version" for it.
Most definitions likely describe the process of coaching in some way and since each coach has his or her own unique way of doing things, you really need to be able to describe your own process.
- What do you do when you coach someone?
- How do you coach someone?
- What will your client have to do when working with you?
That's the definition you should give your clients.
Where should you start?
Look at other definitions people have come up with, try to understand their meanings, maybe it's something you can adapt to your coaching definition.
I've added some definitions below, read them to spark ideas
Perhaps it seems odd to define coaching by what it's not. But, since coaching is frequently confused with other fields of practice, such as therapy or mentoring, it's important that you look at coaching from a different perspective.
Although coaching draws insights from other fields of knowledge - psychology, business, consulting, management theory among many others, it's distinctly different.
Coaching is not therapy: therapy focuses mainly on psychological problems or issues that a person might have. While coaching may use some psychology principles within its process, coaches are not certified to treat known psychological problems nor offer therapeutic solutions (unless of course you're a licensed therapist and you're adding coaching to your therapy).
Coaching is not consulting in the strict sense: consultants are usually experts in a given field, being hired to solve a specific problem or issue. Coaching generally has a more broad approach, and frequently a coach doesn't need to be an expert in the client's area of expertise; although for certain fields, such as business, you may want to be well versed in the area that you're offering your services on.
Coaching is not mentoring: a mentor, like a consultant, has a specific set of experiences that he or she will bestow on the person being mentored, somewhat like a teacher-student relationship. It's a formal relationship with someone who is an expert in his or her field.
What is a coaching model?
Think of a model as a strategy or framework that you follow to help your clients achieve their coaching goals.
There are many coaching models that coaches use, each approach has different tools,advantages and disadvantages to produce results.
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