In todays competitive market place, and the desire to reduce one's anxiety and resolve one's addictions, we are finding that people are seeking a powerful coach to help them for a wide variety of reasons to get results faster and simpler.
Many successful people these days will often have a medical practitioner, a counsellor and a coach as each one specifically looks after their different needs to achieve their goals to succeed in life. Sometimes people ask us to explain the differences between coaching and counselling, which we attempt to do here and show the overlaps.
There are many definitions of a coach and according to the Complete Guide to Coaching at Work by Zeus and Skiffington;
“Coaching is a conversation, a dialogue, whereby a coach and coachee interact in a dynamic exchange to achieve goals, enhance performance and move the coachee forward to greater success.”
I love this explanation because here at RSN our job is about moving people forward for greater success and it is about maintaining the ‘space’ and ‘relationship’ to do so.
"Coaching has probably been around before counselling and since the beginning of time as people have evolved and continues to evolve but the main actions are still in establishing great communication that helps the individual to move forward.
In history, looking back, we can see that for many centuries people have engaged in a coach to assist them to achieve a particular goal or succeed in something from trying to use one's cutlery better and walking to soccer coaching or in sports and car racing, to political candidates and artisans .
The reasons why a person engages in a powerful Life Coach is almost limitless and incredibly important to succeeding and staying on track." Sandra Hoffmann
Powerful life and executive coaching is about change and transformation and there are dynamic aspects to it that counselling and therapy does not engage in which tends to focus on emotional aspects, trauma and ptsd.
Essentially both a counselor and coach will engage in dialogue but the coach is also involved in the learning and development arenas that help one looks at areas that also include;
Interpersonal skills
Communication skills
Time management and timeliness
Relationships
Balancing work and personal issues
Dealing with conflict
Identifying gaps and obstacles – and overcoming them
Strategic planning
Increasing productivity
Change management
Pain, anxiety, and stress management
Skill acquisition
Talent management
Here it is also important to point out that there are many overlaps between Life and Executive Coaching however Executive Coaching relates more to how the individual is working, their work commitments and their management skills.
People have employed coaches for infinite reasons over the centuries including to assist with attaining all kinds of goals or to develop and enhance their performance from, athletes, business and work coaches, to painters and artisans wanting to improve their artistic endeavours.
Now as competition worldwide grows so does the need or the desire for a coach to exist and assist us with areas, from improving study habits and getting a greater test score to stopping behaviours hindering progress.
Some reports indicate that the coaching industry is growing due to many reasons including to job displacement, less human connection and more of our personal issues getting triggered, and as such the need for life coaching specifically is expanding.
As the world is expanding, new coaching models based on the principles of psychology and education have evolved to meet the needs of people and businesses and organisations worldwide. Both coaching and counselling also now exists for a wider range of people for business from;
Small business owners
Businesses
Sole operators
Corporations
Public listed companies
Companies of all shapes and sizes
Charity and not for profit entities
At RSN we thoroughly believe that coaching is a conversation and interaction and thus we provide our services in life coaching to almost everyone including people wanting to enhance their personal and interpersonal skills such as;
Parents – mother and fathers - for family or children issues
Students - for a multitude of reasons
Individuals from all backgrounds and cultures
Teams – from businesses and companies
Groups – from organsations, charities, public companies
In terms of a coaching model, executive coaching occurs on a continuum of certain coaching roles including;
Coaching for performance focused more of an executives’ effectiveness in a present or past job, enhancing their roles satisfaction and productivity
Coaching for developed focused on a new and future prospect (role/position)
Coaching to assist them on a greater personal agenda – life/ work balance
Coaching for skills to be able to executive certain tasks – e.g., Presentation, public speaking, social media, etc.
Etc...
In both Life and Executive Coaching how an individual thinks about the past, the present and the future can be extremely important in achieving outcomes and how one performs and approaches decision making in general.
Also there are similarities between coaching, therapy and counselling but differences.
Generally coaching is a process whereby there is the desire for continual development of a skill or abilities that a person is developing. Counselling often looks for causes behind the problem or performance deficit whereas coaching emphasises new competencies and new actions.
'Coaching does not usually dwell too much in the past but looks at
solution-oriented avenues. '
Counselling generally involves minimal assessment whereas coaching utilises learning and development tools, feedback behavioural diagnostic assessment tools, especially at the beginning of the process.
Traditional counselling and therapy focuses on exploring reactive problems and behaviours, whereas coaching is pro-active and look at recognising and averting problems before they arise and the desire to remain particularly positive.
Therapists or counsellors are less disclosing than coaches so the power differences are less felt or obvious in a coaching relationship and more seems to be shared.
Counsellors and therapists rarely give advice whereas coaches are free to make suggestions, advise, make requests or in some way confront the client with questions.
Although there are many distinct similarities there are also more specific guidelines in counselling and therapy then coaching.
'In its broadest sense generally, therapy is about personal progress, as with coaching but coaching focuses more on performance and both overlap as they recognise strengths and weaknesses'
Therapy also tends to deal with dysfunction, either vague or specific, whereas coaching moves a functional personal onto greater success and refers people on for clinical issues such as deep-rooted depression or severe PTSD.
Coaching albeit Life or Executive Coaching, tends to be more action based and taking action to complete or not perform certain activities, behaviours or tasks.
In today’s hectic lifestyles, it is not uncommon for someone in their lives to be dealing with PTSD with a counsellor and have a coach to help them focus on completing their studies and balancing sporting activities or family commitments.
In today's busy and complex modern living, it is also not uncommon for people to have a counsellor, a medical practitioner and a Life or Executive coach whilst in the pursuit of attaining certain goals and results to succeed in a more timely and a less anxious manner.
Importantly here, the motivation to want to enhance one’s life, stay on track and achieve greater more measurable results makes coaching a great asset in the pursuit of one’s goals and to attain one’s more desired outcomes.
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