FAQ

What Is Coaching?

Coaching is a unique relationship that offers support and encouragement to you - the client.

One of my favourite descriptions of coaching is:

“It’s like having your own personal navigator for the journey of your life - someone who will help you find the way and stay on course.”

Laura, Whitmore, Co-active Coaching

That’s exactly how my coaching with you works. I am here to support your dreams and goals and help you to move from where you are to where you want to be.

Coaching is essentially a structured conversation between you and me, starting with the the aim of helping you to live a fulfilling life. This is usually achieved by helping you to:

Set goals that are significant and will add significant value to your life (i.e. the things what will make you feel happy); and,

Achieve those goals.

What Coaching Isn’t

Coaching is not therapy, counseling or psychology. Coaching should also not be confused with consulting or mentoring.

Mentoring involves the passing on of knowledge, experiences and skills. A mentor has normally achieved your goal themselves while a coach may not have any experience in the given coaching area.

Consulting is often about improving the skills of the consultant rather than that of the client. Coaching is about developing your skills to attain your goal.

Therapy and counseling tends to focus on feelings related to past events and the impact these feelings have on the client’s life. Coaching is oriented towards goal setting and encouraging you to actively move forward.

Put simply coaching is not advice. Coaching puts you in control of your life.

What Does Coaching Provide?

This is different for each client. Most often I hear words like:

Accountability
Direction
Inspiration
Focus
Sounding board
Validation
Challenge
Support
Significance

The bottom line is, we’re normally after a specific result that makes a difference in your life.

What Skills Are Required?

Coaching requires specific skills in the coaching process, but does not require specialist skills in the different areas that you might bring to a coaching session. In fact, not having specialist knowledge in the area that you bring to coaching allows the coach to be a true coach - without judgement, opinion or any preconceived ideas of their own.