Who is a coach, what is the meaning of a coach and why is he needed?

At all times, there have been so-called mentors in society. This role could be played by a priest, shaman, elder or other wise person with leadership qualities, organizational talent and experience. The mentor did not solve problems for the person who approached him, but helped create clarity and encourage action.

In the modern world, such a mentor is called a coach, and coaching, as a process, is a valuable and convenient way to help in any life situation. You will learn more about coaching in this article. But first, let's see if you already understand this interesting topic:

Now let’s continue the article (we suggest you read it, even if you did excellent on the test).

What is coaching in simple words - 5 important facts

Let's immediately decide what the answer to the question of what coaching is in simple words should be. The correct answer is not just a consultation. When I chose coaching for myself, I thought so too, and thought that I knew what it was really like.

But in practice everything turned out a little more complicated than I expected. Or rather, it’s not even more difficult, but completely different. Now I know exactly what coaching is, how it differs from consultation, mentoring, consulting and training.

Therefore, here we will understand all the modern tools that serve the same purpose, but we will provide more facts specifically for coaching. So you will have no more questions on this topic. And I will try to do everything in as human a language as possible. Because…

Perhaps you have already chosen a coaching school yourself and are deciding for yourself to be or not to be? Then this article will help you decide whether this activity is for you or not. Well, at the end of the article, as usual, secret secrets.

• What is coaching and what does the word coach mean?
• Coaching is not what it seems
• Fact #1: Coaching is not about teaching other people.
• Fact #2: The position of a coach is not the position of a mentor.
• Fact #3: Coaching is not consulting.
• Fact #4: Coaching Really Works
• Fact #5: The main problem of all coaches
• What to do if you decide to become a coach?

As a preamble, we will give some standard definitions and terms so that you can get more benefit from your reading.

How to choose a coach

You have probably already realized that a competent coach, and you don’t need anyone else, never gives recommendations on what to do in this or any other situation. On the contrary, he will ask you such a “bunch” of questions until you find a solution yourself. While this may not always be a lot, sometimes two or three questions are enough.

The most important thing when choosing a coach is his personal qualities and abilities, not certificates.

It can be:

• openness to new people;
• communication skills;
• charisma;
• patience;
• the ability to listen and hear the interlocutor;
• savvy;
• readiness to learn and master new knowledge.

Does a coach have to be a successful person?

– ideally, yes, but everyone’s concept of success is different.

Unfortunately, even if a coach has certificates and the necessary skills, it is not a fact that he will help you. You may simply not be suitable for each other. Therefore, there is only a practical way.

As a rule, most coaches provide introductory sessions for free or at a fairly low price.

When you decide in which area you need a coach, sign up and have a session with him. During the session you will understand whether a coach is right for you or not.

Unfortunately, there is no other way.

And one more feature: in order for a coach to help you, three conditions must be met:

1. Your desire should be, if you get weak the coach will help, but the desire must be primary;
2. Respect for the coach - if you do not respect and acknowledge the authority of the coach, nothing will work. You know, some coaches call themselves by their middle name just to be respected more.
3. Trust should be limitless; if you have even a drop of mistrust, then time and money are wasted. Ask questions, clarify, but trust must be 103%.

What is coaching and what does the word coach mean?

In general, coaching is a process in which people or a group of people are helped to act more effectively to achieve their goals. At the same time, people should use exactly those skills and abilities that they do best and most productively.

In practice, coaching is a certain period of time during which all these skills and abilities are revealed in a person. As a rule, professional coaches are those people who conduct coaching and call such periods of time coaching sessions.

The main thing that I already know at this stage of my training at a coaching school is that coaching is not the process of achieving the results needed for a person or a team. This is precisely the identification of a person’s inner potential.

Yourselfbranding

By the way, while I was writing these lines, I remembered that tomorrow I have another training module. You will read below about exactly how the learning process works in a good version.

One more important detail. The coaching methodology is aimed at achieving results, not solving problems. Often people come to coaching sessions with their own problems, and not with a clearly formulated goal. And the task of a good coach is to identify the goal and the results that the other person strives for. By the way, those people who come with a specific request are called coaches (emphasis on the last syllable).

But in the Russian-speaking space, it is not customary to call “coached” people that way, because it is more like the plural of coach). Therefore, let's agree that I will call such people clients.

So, the most important thing that a coach needs to achieve during a session is to keep responsibility on the client.

But what does the word coach itself mean? It comes from the English word couch and means nothing more than a cart, van or carriage in which a person moves from point A to point B. And if you think about it, in reality a coach is a kind of platform that moves a person in time and space, but This platform is operated by the person himself.

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Coaching is not what it seems

When I myself tried to find the difference between coaching and other types of services in business consulting in the simplest words, I was faced with the idea that the coaches themselves do not know the difference between coaching and training. After reading articles by such “specialists,” I chose coaching for my first certification.

But it turned out to be completely different from what I expected. At first I thought about backing out, and only the habit of bringing everything to the end, even if not the best result was visible on the horizon, saved me from such a decision.

And all because many “gurus” think that coaching is when a coach works with a client one on one, and training is when there are many clients, and the coach works with a group of people at once. This is an extremely incorrect interpretation and confusion of concepts. In a good way, it would be worth writing a separate material in order to understand what training is. But today we’re only talking about coaching.

So, friends. Coaching can be either individual or group. And if you have chosen a coach to solve your problems, then just ask him what is the difference between training and group coaching. If you receive a clear answer, which I will describe below, then congratulations: you have chosen a good specialist.

Now for some more misconceptions. There is an opinion that coaching can be divided into 2 subtypes: freestyle and process.

Freestyle, free style, is a type of coaching in which the client purchases several hours of sessions from the coach in advance for a variety of tasks, and an action plan for solving these problems is created during the work.

Therefore, process-based is when the client has a vision of his future and his goals, and the coach, based on the data received, builds a step-by-step plan for realizing such prospects using algorithms and processes.

If you want to find yourself a good specialist or become one, then both of these statements should become taboo for you. No specialist who respects himself and his client will work in a free style, since there are certain rules for conducting a session. Also, no coach will arrange any further actions for the client.

Because coaching is when the client does everything himself. And the main task of the coach is not to leave a single step from the position of the coach during the session. Now do you understand what the point is? The client, through his awareness of the problem, does what he needs.

The coach does nothing instead of the client, because he has a completely different task. To get a little closer to understanding who a coach is, watch the TV series “Billions.” It very clearly shows the work of such a specialist in a company that makes money from the resale of assets.

Conclusion

You learned who a coach is, in simple words, and what the meaning of a coach’s activity is. What is the difference between a coach and a trainer, consultant, mentor and friend. Why do you need a coach, how to choose a coach for yourself and what 3 conditions must be met for the success of working with a coach.

Good luck!

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Fact #1: Coaching is not about teaching other people.

If you have already watched at least one episode of the series “Billions,” you should have noticed that the coach’s client does everything himself: he finds a problem, builds a goal and draws up an action plan.

Therefore, coaching is not about teaching other people. It is assumed that the people who take the session are competent enough to solve all the tasks assigned, and also have all the resources for this. Both physical and mental.

The most important thing is that coaching requires a productive change in thinking, and not the acquisition of any new knowledge. In this case, correct goal setting is of particular importance.

It may seem that coaching is very focused on the problems of the situation, but, nevertheless, the main focus is on achieving results. At the same time, a good specialist should push the client to deeply study the current situation. But not from the position of solving the problems that exist now, but from the position of finding resources to set and achieve goals.

Once again, the task of coaching is not training, but the development of new skills in strategic thinking and action in the future. Problems and conflicts that existed in the past cannot be solved by coaching.

Yourselfbranding

A coaching session is about what awaits the client in the future, and not about what happened in his past. If you want a coach to teach you something new, then you need another specialist. If you want to solve your current problems, then a coaching session will definitely not help you.

I am sincerely surprised why the Internet is teeming with a flock of coaches, but none of them can explain to the common man how they can be useful to him. In response, we usually get a bunch of “obscene” words like: facilitation, transformation, meditation, mediation, and so on.

Even I could not avoid terminology and mentioned the “position” of the coach.

Stage 3: Understanding the client's situation

“Could you tell me a little more about this?” is a good question that helps to understand the client’s situation. Then other questions begin. Their goal is to achieve understanding with the client.

• Obtain information about the client's situation(s)
• Paint a more complete picture of this situation
• Help the client understand themselves better
• Help the client become aware of ideas or solutions while clarifying their situation.

First, ask the client to simply state the facts about the situation (whatever it is). This is similar to emptying our pockets: first we place the contents on the table without examining each item in detail. If something seems problematic to you, just make a note of it and move on.

As the client responds, the coach asks clarifying questions, takes notes, and uses active listening. Periodically, the coach makes a summary: repeats the client’s main statements with the question: “If I understand you correctly, ...?” (repeats summary of information heard from client). The summary relieves tension and encourages the client to think.

Fact #2: The position of a coach is not the position of a mentor.

This is really something that many experts are silent about, but in vain. Because, in my opinion, without understanding this fact it is impossible to explain in human terms what coaching is.

So, my friends. There is such a thing as a coaching position. Any deviation from this position, and even more so getting used to the role of a mentor (mentor), is a gross mistake on the part of the specialist. A coach does not teach or give advice. Therefore, he cannot be a mentor.

Here are a few mistakes that lead to losing your coaching position:

1. Failure to make coaching strategic. The coach should pay attention not only and not so much to current goals and results, but to focus the client on strategic results.

1. The coach talks too much. During a coaching session, the client speaks 80% of the time, the coach speaks 20%. Yes, yes, the same Pareto rule works here.

1. Failure to convey to the client the benefits of stress and tension. As soon as the client’s tension is detected, it must be resolved by directing it to useful actions.

1. Failure to grasp what the client is actually saying. You need to watch not only the words, but also the intonation and gestures, which sometimes clarify the situation even better than words.

1. Perceiving the client's problem as one's own. If the client has a situation that is familiar to the coach, then most likely this will lead to falling out of the coaching role and giving advice.

1. To give advice. Based on his situation, a coach can give advice, but this is a grave mistake. Because what one person has already done cannot always be done by another.

It is strict adherence to the coach’s position that is the key to conducting a successful coaching session, which can help the client develop new skills and build a successful strategy to achieve the desired results.

More and more often, coaching has begun to be used specifically in the development of professional skills. Moreover, it is so common that some people have developed a stereotype that coaching is almost the same as consulting.

Content

Coaching - what is it in simple words and understandable language How coaching differs from training The most common and popular types of coaching The main tasks of coaching How coaching works 1. Works of coaching “from above” 2. Works of coaching “from below” Basic principles of coaching 1. The principle of well-being or “ “everyone is fine” 2. All people have everything they need to achieve what they want 3. A person will always make the best choice out of all possible 4. Positive intentions 5. Change is inevitable Pros and cons of coaching

Fact #3: Coaching is not consulting.

In a broad sense, consulting is something that is related exclusively to business. But it should be remembered that consulting is ordinary consultations, renamed in a Western manner for the purpose of repackaging and marketing benefits.

Since coaching is increasingly associated with business processes, the line between it and consulting is considered blurred. But it is not so.

Yourselfbranding

The topic of consulting is a topic for deeper study and deserves a separate article. For a clearer understanding of the difference between consulting and coaching, let’s make some clarifications. There are three types of consulting:

1. Methodological. When a client is given a technique and he implements it independently

1. Joint. When the client implements the technique under the strict guidance of a specialist.

1. Full construction. When a specialist implements a technique for a client independently.

To understand that coaching is completely different, you can compare a coach to a running coach:

1. Can an athlete independently implement long- or short-distance running techniques? Obviously, it can, but the coach should always be nearby and direct all the athlete’s efforts to those elements of running that are not working out as desired.
2. Can a pre-planned methodology be successfully implemented for an athlete runner? Obviously yes, but the coach’s task is to understand the current situation of his ward, choose the best training option for this particular person and, thus, reveal his potential.
3. Can a coach run at the Olympics instead of his student? Obviously not.

This is a classic example for understanding coaching - the coach acts as a sports trainer. In my understanding, such a comparison is not entirely correct, but to clarify the difference between consulting and traditional coaching, it is quite acceptable.

The most important thing is that counseling people should be considered a type of activity in which training takes place in one way or another. And you and I have already agreed that coaching is not what it seems.

In addition, coaching, unlike consulting, involves observing and accompanying the client to the result in order to make sure whether the client actually carried out all the planned steps and achieved the result.

A little history

TIMOTHY GALLWEY

It all started with Timothy Gallwey, who was the originator of the concept of the inner game, which formed the basis of coaching. The concept was first outlined in the book The Inner Game of Tennis, published in 1974. This date can be considered the date of birth of coaching.

The idea of ​​the inner game came to him while working as a tennis instructor.

The opponent in your head is much more dangerous than the opponent on the other side of the net. The coach's job is to help the player eliminate or mitigate internal obstacles. As a result, a person's natural ability to learn and achieve effectiveness will emerge. The purpose of the "inner game" is to reduce any interference with the development and fulfillment of a person's full potential.

Timothy Gallwey

JOHN WHITMORE

Author of the book High Performance Coaching, published in 1992.

He developed Gallwey's ideas as applied to business and management. John Whitmore is a British racing driver, one of the UK's leading business coaches, and the creator of the popular GROW coaching model.

John was a student of Timothy Gallwey. In 2007, he received the President's Award from the International Coaching Federation (ICF), which recognized his work in promoting coaching worldwide.

THOMAS LEONARD

Considered the creator of coaching as we know it today.

Thomas was a financial consultant. One day he noticed that his most successful clients weren't asking him for financial advice so much as they were asking him for personal business advice. Business managers and top officials of companies were interested in learning how to quickly respond to a changing economic situation, how to effectively manage employees, and some simply could not formulate their future professional goals.

Here is just a small part of Thomas's achievements:

• Founder of the Coach University (www.coachu.com), the International Coach Federation (ICF), the International Association of Certified Coaches (IAC) and the CoachVille.com project.
• Developed 28 personal and professional programs.
• Author of six books for coaches and 14 internal exclusive works for students of the Coaching University.
• Among the more than 28 programs he developed, Clean Sweep is a very popular one.

Fact #4: Coaching Really Works

I’ve read that coaching doesn’t work at all, and therefore the only chance to earn at least some money from this type of activity is…. Training other coaches.

It is assumed here that this whole sandbox is nothing more than an ordinary MLM or network business. And other “advanced gurus” call organizations that issue certificates for coaches nothing less than financial pyramids.

If this were true, then the sole purpose of these organizations would be to have a critical mass of such coaches who would train other coaches. But not everyone receives certificates after completing the training. And you should take this into account if you suddenly decide to undergo expensive training.

But let's return to the effectiveness of coaching. Let's remember that the entire process of a coaching session is built on the position of a coach, whose only task is to apply behavioral models in practice. A coach, if he is a really good specialist, acts as a kind of cloud drive on which all these models are stored. And the coach’s duty is simply to guide the client through all stages of a particular model, depending on the client’s initial request.

Then what is the main point? What is the secret of this whole phenomenon, if the coach simply observes, and the client does everything himself? I will now try to explain this in the simplest language).

The whole secret is the client’s full awareness of the problem and the desire to achieve results in the future. Remember how psychologists work? It’s the same story: they say that only the client’s awareness of the problem is the right path to recovery.

By the way, this is why coaching has nothing to do with therapy. For some problems (for example, alcoholism, drug addiction), coaching does not work. Because the level of awareness of such people exceeds the physiological dependence.

A coach, with the help of his tools, must achieve such a level of awareness in another person so that he not only sees for himself all the possible ways to solve problems for the future, but also finds hidden resources to achieve these results. And also, the most important thing is to put them into practice.

At the same time, the coach must make it clear to the client that the responsibility lies entirely with the client, and not with the fact that some wrong tools were used in planning, methodology, or anything else. Full responsibility of the client is the key to successful implementation of the results of the coaching session.

Here are the results a coach can achieve from his client:

1. More conscious actions
2. Immediate application of the outlined steps
3. New impetus for new actions
4. Determining higher priority goals
5. Impatience with situations that lead “down”

And also to the question of the effectiveness of coaching. Think for yourself: if it didn’t work, would large corporations in the United States begin to pour billions of dollars into their budgets? Obviously not.

Okay, you say, helping people and getting good money for it is cool. But since everything is so good, where is the fly in the ointment?

Coach's working methods

There are three methods of coaching.

For some reason, only two are mentioned everywhere - coaching from below and coaching from above, but there is also coaching on an equal basis, so, in more detail:

Coaching from below

In this technique, the coach looks at your situation from the outside and with his questions helps you find your individual solution. At the same time, the coach does not have to achieve significant results in the area in which he specializes. However, you get results.

The simplest example is in sports, a coach who has raised at least one Olympic champion himself may never have received significant results. He knows how to teach, not do. Rumor has it that the coach of the Russian synchronized swimming team does not even know how to swim, most likely this is nonsense, but nevertheless this did not stop our team from winning gold medals.

Coaching from above

This is mentoring, when a coach is a master who has achieved high results and shows by example how and what needs to be done. You, as a client, observe and repeat after him. Once a week or month, you meet and the coach points out your mistakes and what was done wrong, and what, on the contrary, you need to continue.

Coaching on par

This, as you already understand, is when a coach is on an equal footing, but he knows how to look at the situation from a bird’s eye view, so to speak, and helps you find the right solutions.

The coach chooses the option to work with you, depending on your individual qualities.

How coaching works

It’s very simple - coaching consists of four main actions, which in turn can be broken down into smaller ones:

1. Reality – where and/or what situation you are in now, in other words – point A;
2. Goal – where you want to be after a certain period of time – point B;
3. Searching for necessary actions and solutions, as well as what may interfere or delay;
4. Where to start - what needs to be done first in order to move from point A, as a rule, this action needs to be done within 48 hours after the session, but this depends on the coach and his methodology.

Coach session

For coaching, you attend a series of coaching sessions. How much depends on the coach’s methods and your agreement with him.

There are two options.

The first is coaching until a certain result is achieved within a certain period or without a period. In this case, the cost is agreed upon for the entire coaching at once. Payment can be either in full or in part.

The second is time coaching. In this case, payment is either for each session or monthly.

As a rule, a session lasts from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, but sometimes I can extend the session time until we get the result planned for the session. Yes it happens.

Fact #5: The main problem of all coaches

And here it is: most coaches absolutely do not know how to make money! Moreover, both “certified” and “self-taught” from books. And when I write these lines, I am quite serious.

I have one friend who studied at a fairly serious school, received a more or less sane certificate, but what she does next is a mystery to me.

Some strange Facebook live broadcasts on the topic of successful success or how to achieve the unattainable. Some kind of incomprehensible group “Notes of a practicing coach”, a hundred likes from friends and those who just came to look at a beautiful and spectacular girl.

Behind this background of travel photos, entrepreneurial events and other paraphernalia of success, I clearly see commercial failure.

The point here is rather the inability to monetize oneself from the point of view of marketing packaging. There are a lot of such coaches on Facebook. They all talk about the same general topics without specifics, but for some reason the queue of clients is not visible.

So, if you are just such a coach, then know that you lack packaging your skills into a simple and understandable result for the client. Having the tools to solve problems is not the same as being a good seller.

Therefore, if you want my personal opinion, then the marketing block is the first thing that a future coach should go through in training. And you can start with something simple. For example, from a free mini course on attracting first clients for consultations and coaching. Here is the link.

It is also important to understand that this problem concerns both those who got a job in a large corporation or a medium-sized company, and those who work freely as freelancers. In both cases, you need to improve your skill in presenting your results, which you can promise to the client.

Please take a few minutes to review the materials at the link. They will definitely help you in monetizing your knowledge. Even if you are just starting your journey as a coach.

When I started my coaching training, I clearly understood where and how I would apply this knowledge and what exactly I would earn from. If I were creating programs for certifications, then already at the first stage there would definitely be a topic of monetization.

Where did the concept of coaching come from?

Historically, there have always been “trainers” in society. In some circumstances this person was the city priest, in others it was a shaman, and in others it was an elder (father, grandfather, uncle). Before the phenomenon of coaching (or coaching) progressed to its modern state, the term "coach" was used primarily in the arts (drama coach), athletics, and corporate settings. Many managers hire outside consultants to act as mentors who can provide an unbiased and objective look at the company's state of affairs.

Coaching is now seen as a valuable and convenient service for the general public. Thanks to the emergence of "formal" training available to future coaches, anyone can now find a personal and well-trained coach to help them achieve their goals and desires. In your personal or professional life.

What questions do clients turn to a coach for?

The range of questions with which clients turn to a coach is indeed very wide. Here are some of them:

• Business planning, budgeting, goal setting.
• Establishing a balance between work and personal life.
• Solving difficult situations.
• Achieving peak productivity at work.
• Solving business and personal problems.
• Making key decisions and developing strategies.
• Increased sales.
• Control my life instead of letting other people control me.
• Increase my company's profitability by at least...
• Take the adrenaline out of my life so I don't burn out.
• Accelerate my own development.
• Design a path for my own growth.

An example of specific queries that I worked with:

• Which career path to choose?
• How to overcome your weaknesses to become a marketing director.
• Learn to manage a company (the person recently became a partner).
• How to talk to a shareholder about your development.
• Increase your income by 50% in 6 months.
• Create passive income of $200 in 10 months.
• Purchase of a car (not on credit) for 1 year.
• Career growth to the position of manager in 1 year.
• Reducing the level of stress and tension so that work is fun.
• Find a boyfriend by the end of the year.
• Finding life balance (so that work does not come at the expense of other areas of life).
• Increased level of well-being and energy.
• Learn to manage your time, determine your capabilities and effectively determine deadlines for completing tasks.
• Bringing order to life (instead of the existing chaos).
• Lose 5 kg in 3 months.

How coaching evolved

• From the 70s to the mid-80s - the stage of the emergence of coaching in the USA.
• Mid-80s - coaching began to spread in the United States.
• Mid-80s - coaching intensified in Germany.
• The end of the 80s - personnel development through coaching began in Germany.
• The beginning of the 90s - in Europe and the USA, the division of coaching into specializations began.
• Mid/late 90s - coaching is actively gaining momentum in Europe and America.
• From 2002 to the present day there has been a phase of in-depth professionalization.

The difference between coaching and other types of assistance and consulting is shown in the graph:

Thus, coaching is the only way of counseling in which the client is the expert, and the coach only asks questions.