What Coaching Is

Coaching can broadly be defined as an ongoing professional relationship that takes clients (individuals or teams) through a development process that enables them to build their capabilities to achieve personal, professional, and organizational goals.

The overall goal of a coaching relationship is to help people produce extraordinary results in their lives, careers, businesses, or organizations. Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life.

The coaching relationship is one where the client(s) always remain(s) in charge of the area of life that they are working on. The coach is not there to provide solutions to the client but rather to provide them with guidance and walk them through a journey of self-discovery and self-accountability.

What Coaching Is Not

1. Coaching is NOT Training

While training and coaching both promote learning, they do so in different ways:

Training Coaching
Is about teaching specific skills or knowledge. Is about facilitating someone else’s thinking and helping them learn by working on life/work issues.
Usually takes place as a smaller intervention of a few days. It is a long ongoing process and can be integrated into day-to-day workplace/life conversations.
Is more typically carried out in groups. Is usually a one-to-one process and is tailored to the individual’s needs.
2. Coaching is NOT Mentoring

There are some similarities between coaching and mentoring, but there are significant differences such as:

Mentoring Coaching
Is usually done by a more senior person who shares experience and advises a junior person working in the same field Seniority and experience in a specific field is not the intended value of a coaching relationship.

The coach does not typically give advice or necessarily pass on experience.
A mentor usually guides and / or provides resources to help the mentee build the skills they need. A coach usually facilitates the coachee’s thinking and practical learning using questions to trigger self-reflection, allow them to challenge their own current beliefs, and identify actions to support the achievement of desired results.
3. Coaching is NOT Therapy

There are some similarities between coaching and therapy, but their tone and purpose are very different:

Therapy Coaching
Typically deals with personal experiences/issues and are past driven. Addresses future planning and further performance improvements.
Typically includes treatment for mental health. Does not incorporate any kind of treatment.