Because life coaching and business coaching are relatively new professions, and many people haven’t had any direct experience working with a coach, the question of “how does coaching work?” is something we frequently hear.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that coaching is about giving advice.
Coaching – whether you work with a life coach or a business coach – asserts that all of the answers we seek are inside of ourselves. A good coach will not tell you what to do. The reason to work with a coach is to empower yourself to listen to your own inner voice, and to investigate the full spectrum of possible solutions to the barriers holding you or your business back. Seeking outside help can help you gain the clarity and focus necessary to succeed.
Life and business coaching are about permanent and fundamental shifts in your view of yourself and your business. Coaching is about helping an individual or organization see a way to achieve a goal, remove a roadblock to achieving a goal, or a combination of the two.
According to Einstein, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” A coach can help you shift your thinking into that new perspective. A coach’s tools are great, probing, enlightening questions. And a great coach has enough experience to ask the right, questions at the right time to help you make that shift quickly.
The International Coach Federation defines corporate or executive coaching as “a process for equipping individuals and teams with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to be creatively productive and effective in their commitment to themselves, their organizations, and their work.” We proudly support this definition.
