I’m often asked how coaching is different than mentoring, consulting, and counseling.I answer that question and shed light on how to make sure you are choosing the right person for your needs and goals.
Since the coaching profession is an unregulated field, many people call themselves coaches when in fact they are mentors, counselors, consultants or even teachers. Those are admirable roles and serve a distinct purpose.
Before you choose who you work with … decide what you really want and need. For example,
- Do you need help processing something hard from your past?
- Do you need someone to show you how to build your business?
- Do you need someone to teach you how to do a new skill?
- Do you need someone to help you prepare for marriage?
If you said yes to any of those questions, you don’t need a coach. You need a counselor, a consultant, mentor or teacher.
What is a Coach?
Coaching is set apart by the way a coach approaches a conversation with a client. Coaches do not teach but help you through a process of discovery by using active listening skills, asking powerful questions, expanding thought processes, identifying limited beliefs, designing action steps and following up.
Keith Webb, a leading expert in the field of coaching says it this way:
To most leaders, professional coaching practices are counter-intuitive. Take a look at these characteristics:
- Coaches don’t talk, they listen.
- Coaches don’t give information, they ask questions.
- Coaches don’t offer ideas, they generate ideas from clients.
- Coaches don’t share their story, they tap into the client’s experience.
- Coaches don’t present solutions, they expand the client’s thinking.
- Coaches don’t give recommendations, they empower clients to choose.
