We think it's great that coaching is becoming more and more popular. We are seeing organisations looking for professional coaches and individuals seeking out life coaches but there are some myths around. Here we have taken three common myths about coaching that we found on the web and have debunked them.
1. Coaching is only for people who have a problem
It is true that coaching can be an amazing tool for finding and working towards solutions to your problems. It is also equally as useful when it comes to making life improvements, strengthening relationships and learning more about yourself.
Some examples of what coaching is good for other than finding solutions to problems are:
You're Comfortable
Coaching will challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, grab life and squeeze all the fun and excitement you can out of it.
You're Changing
Coaching can help you see the positive in this and discover what to do next
You're Happy
Coaching will help you make the changes to make you even happier
Coaching can also be useful for increasing confidence, bringing clarity and providing time to reflect.
2. Isn't coaching the same as therapy or counselling?
Some coaching sessions can be therapeutic but coaching in itself is not therapy.
ICF defines coaching as:
"partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential."
(https://coachfederation.org/about)
It is sometimes easier to understand the difference by thinking of coaching within sport and fitness. Coaching exists in many areas and the principles are broadly the same across them all. A sports coach will work with an athlete to help them attain optimal performance. They do this by challenging them, helping them overcome their mental stumbling blocks (the inner game) and working with the athlete to set and achieve a number of outcomes towards and end goal. It is the same process for life coaching and business coaching and when thought of in this way it is easier to see that therapy and coaching are different things.
You will find some coaches who offer additional services however, such as neuro-linguistic programming or NLP. Mixing coaching with these additional skills can take coaching further and provide a more therapeutic approach where needed.
3. Coaching is the same as giving advice
I've spoken to many people about coaching who thought the advice they give to their friends is the same as what they would get from a coaching session.
Coaches almost never give advice. The reason for this is that when we give advice to another person we base this on our own experiences. This is why one parent might advise on the best way to potty train a child and another suggests a way that is totally different. A coach remains impartial to the situation and we understand that our situation is unlikely to be the same as a coachee.
Coaches will challenge your thinking, hold you to account for your actions and in a way act as a mirror for your experience to help you understand it and find the best way forward. In a coaching session the focus is always on the future. A coach's job is to provide the environment where you can think, gain clarity and to guide you in discovering what your next step is. In most coaching sessions, the coachee will realise something that they didn't realise before. It's also possible to find answers to questions, but the next step should always come from you. After all there is no one who is more of an expert on your life than yourself and it would be foolish for any coach to think they knew more about what is right for you than you do.