What is Coaching?

Coaching is in the helping professions. It is based upon a variety of different disciplines that have been merged together to assist individuals in maximizing their potential.

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Coaching – A coach is a process-walker, not a field expert, who encourages and drives individuals toward actionable steps through listening, questioning, discerning.  Unlike consulting, coaches do not offer a ‘fix’ - though they often walk individuals toward finding their own resolution to problems.  Coaching works best when individual does not want or need the disciplines below – or when they are seeking to meet those needs in a separate venue. 

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Coaching is strength – based, and assumes that each person is capable of reaching their own potential and achieving a deeper, more fulfilling life outcome.  Coaching is values-based and examines how individuals can more deeply live out their core values.

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Comparing Disciplines:

Therapy – seeks resolution of issue(s), addressing problem(s), healing, draws on the past

Consulting – often in conflict, a resolve or solution is presented by the consultant, a “fix”

Mentoring – support of a learner, shared similarities between mentor and individual, teaches or assists in field-specific success

Pastoral Care – Compassion, support, no set expectation, the job of being present, especially in grief

Spiritual Direction – expert in discerning spiritual life; has overlap with coaching, but is much narrower in focus