Coaching is a new profession. Coaches:
- Assist people to identify goals and reach those goals faster with more ease.
- Provide clients with the tools, support and structure to accomplish more.
- Ask client to do more than they would have done on their own.
- Hold clients accountable to themselves.
Return to the top Where did the coaching field first get started and who started it?
In the past, many people did a form of coaching, but did not call themselves coaches. The field as we know it started in the early 1980’s. Here’s an account by Thomas Leonard, one of the first coaches and Founder of Coach U.
"I began coaching in the early 80’s before I even knew what coaching was and long before we had developed the advanced tools that most coaches take for granted today. I had been working as an accountant and certified financial planner for ten years. One day, I found myself with six of my ‘yuppier’ clients, discussing how many kids they wanted, what kind of cars to buy, where to go on vacations, when to retire, etc. I found that they had no one to talk with about these types of things. They were reasonably well-adjusted emotionally, they had happy families and they were successful in their business and careers, so there weren’t any ‘needs’ or crises to handle. We had a great time ‘creating their future’ together, and they entrusted me with some long hoped for dreams that they’d either given up on or figured they’d do ‘later.’
They let me help them identify what they really wanted in life and when they wanted it. Then we got to work on helping them realize their wants in this lifetime! Because I was a financial planner, I figured I must have been doing "life planning". Over time, I adopted the word coach, which has become the word of choice among the professionals who do this type of work.
What I have discovered is that coaching happens most easily when clients use a coach to help them set goals, grow, get a great life, make changes, and make more money. This, rather than the coach trying to ‘help’ the client. We’re adults here; no parenting or therapy allowed in the coaching relationship. And, most clients really enjoy and appreciate the inter-developmental nature of the relationship. You’re ‘growing’ the client and the client is coaching you on how to coach them even better! In fact, we say that our organization (Coach U) can teach you the 20% - absolutely-essential skills and technology of coaching, but that your client will teach you the other 80%, if you’ll just ask them to. (And, yes, they’ll still write you a check.) Doesn’t it make sense that we, as consumers, can and should direct the professionals in our lives to help us our way? The coaching profession has advanced along this line of thinking, and that’s one of the things that happen during a typical coaching session."
How is coaching different from consulting?
Coaching is similar to consulting. Consulting often involves dispensing advice, telling people what they should do. Coaching is different in that it focuses on assisting an entity to discover a solution on its own. Another distinction is consulting provides temporary or intermittent solutions. Coaching is consistent; an ongoing relationship where the coach stays with the client to help implement new skills, changes and goals.
How is coaching different from therapy?
Coaching is not therapy! Therapy focuses on emotional history. Therapy deals with issues that create dysfunction and either prevent or hinder an individual from moving forward with their life. Coaching is about maximizing your potential in the present. Coaching provides support and strategy to make action based on the awareness the client holds.
How is coaching different from athletic coaching?
Coaching includes several principles from sports coaching, like teamwork, going for the goal, being your best. Unlike sports coaching, most professional coaching is not competition or win/lose based. Coaches focus on strengthening their clients’ skills, not on helping them beat the other team. Coaches look for win/win solutions.
How is coaching different from a supportive friend?
A supportive friend is wonderful to have, yet does not hold the objectivity and distance that a coach does. A coach is a professional who is trusted to work with you on the most important aspects of your life and/or business.
What happens when you hire a coach?
- You take yourself more seriously.
- You take more effective and focused actions immediately.
- You stop putting up with what is dragging you down.
- You create momentum so that it’s easier to get results.
- You set better goals that are more exactly what YOU want.
What is the focus of coaching?
Coaches focus where their clients need them the most. Part of their discussion may include:
- Where is the client now in relation to where he/she wants to be?
- What are the client’s goals? What are the client’s values?
- What are the client’s strengths? What is the client tolerating in his/her life?
Coaching works for several reasons.
- Synergy between the coach and client creates momentum
- Better defined goals support a client to move toward those goals faster and effortlessly.
- The clients develop new skills and those skills translate into more success and a balanced life.
How long must I commit if I start working with a coach?
Most coaches ask for a 3-6 month commitment, but usually let you stop immediately if coaching is not working for you.
Some clients hire a coach to help them accomplish a specific goal or project. After completion the client may decide to continue on and accomplish more in his/her life.
What does it cost to hire a coach?
Most coaches working with individuals charge about $200 to $250 per month for 3 one half hour calls per month. Executives coaches charge more and some clients work with a coach for an hour or two a week. It all works out to about $100 to $150/ hour. Obviously corporate is more, often running $1000 to $10,000/mo.
A personal coach challenges you and takes time to find out what winning in life means to you. A coach is your partner in living the life you know you can accomplish, personally and professionally. A coach is someone to hold you accountable for your life, to make sure you really do live up to your potential.
No matter where you are in life, there is always some desire to grow…more success, more money, closer relationships, a deeper feeling of the meaning of life, etc. We can all struggle at times with how to get what we are looking for.
Most people believe that “hard work and doing it on your own” are the keys to finding the life, success, money or happiness that they seek. They believe that a price must be paid to attain what they want, and often that price is poor health, not having enough time to enjoy life, strained family relationships or lessened productivity. The saddest part is that, even though this effort may result in more often something, it is often not the something you had in mind, and you end up back where started, or worse, further from your real intentions.
Athletes and performers know about this trap. They know they need someone else, a trained someone else to help them set goals, discover real needs, and work effectively toward ultimate goals of excellence. So they are willing to hire a coach or a teacher. No serious athlete or musician would expect to progress very far without one.
If you have more questions, please feel free to contact me.