The International Coaching Federation defines coaching "as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential."
As coaching has become more regulated by governing bodies such as ICF(Global) and COMENSA(South Africa), organisations and individuals are increasingly starting to realise the benefits and value add that coaching can have on their personal and professional lives.
False preconceived idea of a life coach
People often ask what coaching is, and unfortunately a lot of the time, they have a false preconceived idea that a life coach “is someone who is an expert on life and gets paid to tell people how to live their best life.” This idea is very untrue, and in the past has taken away from the professional credibility of what a life coach actually does.
How I explain coaching
Imagine a space where a non-judgmental and objective person gives you their full attention, while you reflectively discuss areas of your life and yourself which you wish to improve (who wouldn't want that, right?).
This person not only empathetically creates a safe space for you to share, but they also challenge the way you think about things, by asking you thought-provoking questions. These questions often lead you to “light-bulb” moments or to a place where you are able to understand yourself, others and situations better.
This increased understanding allows you to discover alternative ways of doing things both personally and professionally which you soon find out, are often interconnected. With the application of different thinking tools, your thinking is stretched and the possibilities become more clearly defined.
The Coaching Environment
It is a thought-provoking space where an individual is supported to really think about themselves and their lives differently and more objectively.
The coach’s role is to facilitate this process: to tackle any fixed assumptions which may be holding an individual back, challenge habitual thought patterns and to unlock any blind spots which may be limiting an individual’s thinking. In this way, the coach becomes your “thinking partner”.
In this fast-paced world, we seldom get the opportunity to just think and reflect about ourselves and our lives introspectively and objectively. Coaching is deliberate time that you dedicate to yourself to discover effective ways to improve yourself, your life and your relationships.
Edward de Bono, who coined the term lateral thinking as a “deliberate approach to creative thinking”, explained how one of the most limiting ways to view thinking is as ‘problem-solving’, because this implies that we should only challenge our thinking when there is a problem which needs to be solved.
This idea can be related to our understanding of coaching as a tool which can of course be used to problem solve, but also as a tool to make good things even better and more meaningful.
Coaching not only allows you the opportunity to reflect and share stories about things in your life which could be bothering you or holding you back, but it also provides a space to discuss all that excites you: your dreams, your passions and reaching your full potential.
Comments