I have discovered that while working with my coaching clients it is critical that I use very open-ended coaching questions to gather details. The primary details I like to gather are the client’s purpose, values, vision, goals, and objectives. You see, one of my duties is to serve the client to the best of my ability for them to succeed in their endeavors. Therefore, it is critically important to assess the customer’s needs, wants, and wish lists.
When coaching a client clear, concise, and intentional questions must be asked in order to get the client to think inwardly about how they want to realize their outcome in life or their business. I am a certified John C. Maxwell Coach, Trainer, and Speaker. In addition, I am ICF certified as a Federal Internal Coach. I have been coaching executive-level leaders, business owners, politicians, and entrepreneurs, and I am confident in saying coaching is the most powerful way to get individuals to reach their full potential by taking an introspective look at themselves (subconscious). Before I go into why I make this statement and the importance of coaching and the benefits of having a coach. I will first define coaching and dispel the myths about coaching. In addition, I will clearly differentiate coaching from mentoring and consulting.
While the communication skills used by these professions are similar – such as asking questions, active listening, summarizing, etc., they are very different methods, and
it depends on what the client needs. Here are some very clear distinctions and definitions:
Coaching:
The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” The coach is the subject matter expert at coaching, not necessarily the subject matter expert of the client’s coaching topic. This
is a critical point that must be emphasized. Some individuals feel you must be an expert at the profession of the coachee and that is not the case at all. You do have to be a great coach and ask the right open-ended questions that will get the coachee to pull from their subconscious the answers they hold within themselves.
Mentoring:
A mentor is a wise and trusted guide and advisor. The mentor is the teacher that shares their experience while bringing the “mentee” up the ranks in a career or profession.
Mentoring is unlike coaching because the pure coach is not giving advice, they are having the coachee draw answers from within by asking pointed, open-ended, thought- provoking questions.
Consultant:
A consultant is an expert who is called on for professional or technical advice or opinions. They are relied on to understand the problem and present solutions.
Consulting is unlike coaching because, with pure coaching, the answers come from the client.
Why is coaching important to Entrepreneurs, CEOs, Business Leaders, Influencers, and Employees?
- Coaching should be used as a positive way to develop
- Coaching can help to improve the workforce of an
- Coaching can help to bridge the gap between education experience and work experience to get an employee acclimated with the company’s expectations.
- Businesses that focus on coaching their employees will reduce their turnover; since the employee is shown that you are valued, and you are investing in their personal and professional growth.
- Coaching can help Organizations with employee
- Coaching can help improve employees’ loyalty to the
- Coaching helps leaders achieve their organizational The company can incorporate its overall goals with coaching in order to produce a team that matches the organizational goals.
Benefits of Coaching:
- Potentially avoid expensive and time-consuming performance
- Increase employees’ awareness and skills so you can delegate more tasks to them and free up supervisors’ time to direct energy to more pressing issues.
- Enrich the workforce with employees who are thinkers ready to maximize opportunities with relentless enthusiasm.
- Workforce will be more motivated when their supervisors take time to invest in their personal and professional skill development.
- Workforce will gain confidence in knowing they were instrumental in their own development and take pride in tackling new challenges.
- Workforce will contribute new creative and innovative
- Workforce will have greater flexibility and adaptability to
- Workforce will be more apt to develop and foster more productive
Closing
I opened with the ICF definition of coaching, and I would like to close with my favorite definition of coaching. In the book, Coaching for Performance (2009), John Whitmore gave the best definition of coaching I could find (page. 11):
“Coaching is all about a journey and nothing about instruction or teaching. It is as much if not more about the way things are done as about what is done.
Coaching delivers results in large measure because of the powerful working relationship created, and the means and style of communication used. The coachee does not acquire facts and develops new skills and behaviors, not by being told or taught but by discovering from within, stimulated by coaching.”
