Coaching is a series of intentional conversations that lead to new awareness, fresh insight and empowered change.
In coaching, the client brings the agenda, not the coach. Our coaching sessions will focus on where you want to get clarity, raise self-awareness and see growth movement. I will take your agenda as the lead for our session.
The coaching space is about support and challenge.
Support enables you to be real and honest in a confidential, non-judgemental space. I will encourage and respect you and go at your pace.
Challenge enables you to gain new awareness about yourself and the situation, to courageously look at where change is needed and step into what you need to do. I will reflect back observations and challenge you from time to time.
So, is Coaching like Mentoring?
Coaches believe that their clients are more resourceful than they might realise and carry much more awareness and knowledge about their context than might be apparent at first glance.
So coaching is all about equipping you to lead yourself or your team with greater self-awareness, situation awareness and clarity. A coach intentionally journeys alongside you to facilitate your learning but doesn’t lead the way for you.
In short, it’s more about you than me.
This means that although I may introduce resources to add a different perspective on your situation, I won’t give you advice or tell you what to do. If you’re in a season where you need this particular input, you might consider looking for a mentor as well as a coach.
So, is Coaching like Counselling?
While counselling often starts with our brokenness, emotional hurt and trauma and seeks to bring us to healing, coaching starts with our desired change or growth and brings us to action, fulfilment and movement.
When we go through change or make decisions, both our cognitive and instinct (emotion) brain centres are activated; sometimes the forward movement we want can only come when we figure out what’s holding us back in the emotional space. So the emotional, spiritual, mental and physical components of our being are all a part of the growth journey within coaching, but not the start or end point.
Some clients choose to embark on a counselling engagement before or during coaching to help them find peace with the past and step more freely into the future.
Let’s Get Started
Got more questions? Check out my services and prices here.
Ready to get started? Drop me a line and let’s book in a FREE Explore Coaching Conversation.
Photo thanks to Jon Tyson, Jamie Street and Luke Porter on Unsplash