I can hear you asking, "Deirdre, I have heard about coaching over the past few years, but what exactly is it?"
What is Coaching?
Coaching is about generative transformative change. It’s an ongoing professional relationship that enables people and organizations to feel and function at their best. Potential being your latent ability, capacity or possibility yet to be explored - whether you are seeking to reinvent yourself personally or professionally, take control of your health or take on a big challenge. You stretch your abilities and boundaries to pursue what captivates you, what is compelling to you. We help you to get in motion and stay on your path with the knowledge, tools and encouragement to make decisions about what changes to make, how to make them and develop strategies to maintain the changes you make. Coaches:
• Foster a generative professional relationship focused on the client’s vision, goals, needs and values.
• Elicit personal motivation for change or development- if you really don’t know why it is important to you, not your husband, doctor, boss or anyone else, but you, to change something, the change won’t last or won’t happen in the first place.
• Support you as you improve your capacity for change by working with you to increase your resilience, self-efficacy and positivity.
• Encourage people's strengths, abilities, creativity and inner wisdom while balancing this with critical examination of what is and is not working for you.
Why does coaching work?
Coaching works because we use a strengths-based approach that focuses
on where you are now and where you want to be in your life. We work as
a team, to make smart decisions that support your vision, goals, needs
and values. Coaching involves two critical components: 1) reflection,
an opportunity to think about and clarify one's visions, values, goals
and hurdles; and 2) action, a commitment to take self defined steps to
move towards one's goals.
Is coaching the same as counseling or therapy?
Coaching is not psychotherapy or clinical counseling. These are different activities and professional relationships. Coaching is not a substitute for either, but can be a complement to them, if you are engaged in either.
