Coaching is a collaborative approach aimed at supporting and inspiring personal and professional growth by providing guidance and motivation to help you thrive in various aspects of life. The job of a coach involves supporting you to explore your beliefs, ambitions, drives, and challenges, to help you overcome obstacles on the path towards meaningful goals and personal growth.
Coaching can help you discover your own solutions and a way forward by uncovering limiting beliefs and patterns that may be holding you back. By asking insightful questions and using practical strategies and methods, the coach assists you in achieving clarity and bringing about positive change in your life.
The International Coaching Federation states: We all have goals we want to reach, challenges we’re striving to overcome, and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with a coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfillment.
What can coaching help with?
- Professional development: Offering guidance if you are navigating career transitions, seeking leadership development or addressing workplace challenges.
- Goal Setting and achievement: Assisting you in setting and reaching specific goals, whether in personal or professional spheres.
- Skill enhancement: Helps you to enhance skills like communication, time management, or work-life balance, contributing to your overall personal and professional growth.
- Balancing parenting responsibilities: Coaches can support you to think about how you can balance the demands of being a parent with your working life to help you be your best for both roles.
Coaches will use a variety of techniques to motivate you, provide clarity, and help you develop a deeper sense of self-awareness and learn practical, actionable ways to address your personal and professional challenges.
Myth 1: Coaching is only for executives or high-level professionals
Fact: Coaching is beneficial for anyone seeking personal or professional growth, regardless of their role or level within an organization.
Myth 2: Coaching is just for fixing problems
Fact: While coaching can address challenges, it's also about unlocking potential, setting goals, and maximizing performance to help you thrive.
Myth 4: Coaches tell you what to do
Fact: Coaches empower you to discover your solutions and strategies, guiding and supporting you along the way.
Myth 5: Coaching is a quick fix
Fact: Sustainable change takes time and commitment; coaching provides ongoing support and accountability for lasting results.
Myth 6: Coaching is like therapy
Fact: While there may be some similarities such as setting goals and taking action for future growth, therapy typically delves into deeper emotional problems and understanding past experiences.
Myth 7: You need to have It all figured out before hiring a coach
Fact: Coaches help you clarify your goals and navigate uncertainties, supporting you wherever you are on your journey.
Coaching and mental health
There's a misconception that coaching isn't right for people dealing with mental health needs, but that's not necessarily true. Coaching and therapy serve different purposes.
- Coaches usually aren't trained in mental health, so they're great for helping with goals, performance, and resilience.
- Therapy, on the other hand, is better for understanding yourself psychologically and mentally. It can help with emotions and making changes in your life.
But depending on your goals, you can still benefit from coaching even if you have mental health challenges. Coaching might not directly address your specific needs, but it can still improve your life overall and indirectly support your mental health.
| Therapy | Coaching | |
| A chance to work through some mental health and emotional challenges. It could also be preventative approach to mental health. | Focus | achieving specific goals, enhancing performance, and unlocking potential. |
| Typically involves exploring emotions, (in some cases) past experiences, and patterns to understand and address underlying problems. | Benefits | A forward-looking approach, setting goals and developing strategies to achieve them. |
| Sessions are scheduled regularly, often lasting 50-60 minutes. Each organisation would have an agreement with how many sessions you will able to have |
Typical time commitment | Sessions may last between 50-60 minutes. Each organisation would have an agreement with how many sessions you will able to have |
| Therapy addresses a wide range of mental health needs, including depression, anxiety, trauma, and relationship difficulties. | How can it support mental health? | By providing guidance on setting and achieving goals related to improving wellbeing and developing healthy habits. |
| A wide range including goal setting, action plan, focus on the relationship between you and therapist and assessment tools. You will also learn strategies, have space to talk about what matters to you or focus on the body and how to manage feelings. | Scope of Interventions | Coaching utilizes various tools and techniques, such as goal-setting exercises, action plans, accountability structures, and assessment tools tailored to the your needs and goals. |