Coaching isn’t just a trend. It’s a field which is continuously growing as it becomes widely recognised by the advantages it provides for businesses, individuals and families. In fact, normalising coaching makes a lot of sense once you unpack what can be achieved through it.
Where does Coaching come from?
Coaching formally originated in the 1980s and is generally acknowledged as having been started by Thomas Leonard. Leonard was a financial planner. He noticed that his while clients came to him for financial advice they wanted and needed more than that. Specifically, how to organise their lives for the better and plan pathways to achieve their goals. As a result of this, he wrote his first book: The Portable Coach. Later he went on to establish the first professional coaching school, Coach U. As well as various pivotal institutions such as the International Coach Federation (ICF). This institution is an international coaching regulatory authority that accredits coaching courses such as those at SACAP.
What Coaching is and isn’t
What is Coaching?
Coaching is performance driven and focused on the here-and-now. A coach’s job is to provide support so as to improve your performance and help you achieve specific goals. A coach helps you to identify goals, plan a way to reach them and leverage your skill set to achieve them. They provide external accountability, a sounding platform, support and encouragement while you set about achieving your identified goals.
While each type of coaching has a different focus, they do share the basic principles and purposes of coaching. Coaching is a reflective rather than directive process. It can be focused on business, personal or both. Thus, normalising coaching into your schedule will have advantages across all areas of your life.
Mentoring differs from Coaching
Mentoring is development driven and focused on the long run. It seeks to open horizons through commitment to learning goals. Usually, mentors assist a less experienced person within their specific field of expertise. They focus on providing motivation, guidance, emotional support and insight.
Counselling isn’t Coaching
Counsellors look to the past for answers to change someone’s current life trajectory for the better. Counselling differs from coaching in five ways. It’s focus, foundations, the way accountability is held, the relationship between participants and the certification necessary to practice it.
“Coaching, Mentoring and Counselling may overlap, however they have distinct differences.”
Why having a Coach should be Part of Your Life
The biggest reason to find and retain a good coach is because the coaching process has been proven to work. It is a very effective and efficient way of achieving goals and enhancing personal as well as corporate wellbeing. Additionally, it can assist with fostering and strengthening cohesion. Essentially, normalising coaching within our lives, will enable us to get where we ideally want to be. In a way that helps us to get from A-to-B faster than we would do by ourselves.
5 Types of Coaching and their Purposes
- Business Coaching: Focuses on performance enhancement, upskilling and assisting with adjustment to change.
- Career Coaching: Identifies opportunities that are good fits for an individual and then how to transition into a role.
- Skills Coaching: Recognises personal and career goals and development needs. As well as ways to enhance performance.
- Relationship Coaching: Identifies behavioural patterns, enhances skills such as listening and expressing feelings or views. Can assist with the setting and maintaining of boundaries as well as formulation and achievement of goals. This can be for couples or within a family setting.
- Personal Coaching: Explores life expectations, goals and desires. It helps to find ways to achieve identified aspirations by discovering and utilising an individual’s strengths.
Who should try Coaching?
Coaching can be used within a broad range of settings and by a diverse audience, for numerous purposes. It doesn’t matter what your background is. This is because a coaching journey meets you where you’re currently at and helps you get to where you want to go. You can be old or young, starting out on your career or transitioning into the next stage of your life. Coaches assist individuals and families through life coaching and executives or corporate teams as business and leadership coaches.
Literally anyone who wants to set and achieve goals or discover their purpose in life can benefit from coaching. So can someone who wishes to work on their interpersonal or career skill sets. The reasons for wanting to normalise coaching within your lifestyle, are endless. And the potential advantages to gain make it well worthwhile adding a coach into your mix.
“Everyone, no matter where they are in life or what their background is, can benefit from Coaching.”
Who should become a Coach?
If you are a people person and passionate about making a positive impact in other’s lives then consider becoming a coach. It is a great way of working within a team or having your own business. Coaching is becoming an increasingly popular way to enhance personal and professional development. As people and companies normalise coaching into their schedules, the demand for well-trained coaches will continue to grow. The South African College of Applied Psychology (SACAP) has over 15-years of experience in running a range of coaching courses. Courses are accredited by the ICF and aligned with COMENSA.
FAQ:
Why is coaching worth it?
Coaching helps you identify and then reach your goals. Coaching can assist you to achieve goals more effectively and efficiently, thereby decreasing the time taken to accomplish something.
Who is coaching for?
Coaching is for anyone who would like to achieve a personal or career goal, regardless of their background. It is a proven successful approach for individuals, families and within workplaces.
3. How does coaching differ from mentoring and counselling?
Coaching is focused on specific goals and the short run. Mentoring is development focused and longer term focused. Counselling looks to the past for answers and thereby seeks to change someone’s current life trajectory for the better.
