The Formal Definition

The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as A THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND CREATIVE PROCESS where the coach “partners” with the client to inspire the client to maximize his/her personal and professional potential.

Professional coaching focuses on helping the client set appropriate goals that are aligned with the client’s values and dreams for the future. When the coaching goals are agreed, the coach then supports the client to move towards these goals, and to manage the necessary personal and practical changes along the way.

Coaching is very much focused on changing mindset and behavior. A coach will help the client develop or work on bettering “life skills” and set life goals that enable the client to flourish and thrive.

Let’s break it down a bit

Here are some helpful ways of describing what coaching is, that I really like:

 

“Coaching is an effective technology for helping people quickly reframe, shift perspective and redefine themselves and their situations. Coaches act as thinking partners for people who are stuck inside their stories and perceptions. Coaches do not act as experts or analysts even when they have relevant experience and education. Coaches are essentially thinking partners focused on helping clients use their creativity and resources to see beyond their blocks and solve their own problems” 

Quote by Marcia Reynolds in “Coach the Person Not the Problem”:

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them”

Quote by Sir John Whitmore

 

The Coaching Philosophy

The reason, that we as coaches call ourselves “thinking partners” to our clients, is that in coaching we believe that OUR CLIENTS ARE NATURALLY RESOURCEFUL, CREATIVE AND WHOLE. This philosophy means that we see our clients as the experts of their own lives, and we do not view our clients as “broken” or sick.

This perception of the client in coaching is very different to the perception of the patient that you see in a medical practice or in therapy.

In these medical professions the focus is on diagnosing mental illness and there is an overall “pathologizing perspective”, which we don’t have in coaching.

In coaching we meet our clients where they are, and we support our clients to become more aware of their negative thought patterns that are holding them back and keeping them stuck. This empowers our clients to take back control of what is happening in their lives, and to make the necessary changes they want to see happen.

 

If you are unsure of whether to seek coaching or therapy, please click the below link to read more about the differences between the two modalities.

Coaching Versus Therapy

If you want to read more about the ethical rules that apply to professional and accredited ICF coaches, please have a look at the link below.

The International Coach Federation

The International Coach Federation has a website called Experience Coaching, where you can read articles and watch videos about the coaching process, if  you want to know more.

Experience Coaching