What is the definition of coaching?  Coaching is about results.  Whether you are a career coach, or another type of coach, the definition of coaching is directly related to the results your clients receive and your evolution as a coach. To make the definition of coaching more tangible it is necessary to explain it in terms of the four traits of a master career coach.   

Career Coach Traits Help to Illustrate the Definition of Coaching

1.  Outstanding results:  

A master career coach consistently produces outstanding results.  Results are key within the definition of coaching.  Master career coaches stand out from the crowd when coaching clients in their area of practice. 

2.  Effortless Results: 

Master career coaches perform and make it look effortless to create situations that seem impossible for other coaches.  They expend little effort.  This is one of the reasons the “free session” is so much more valuable than simply telling prospective clients what the definition of coaching means.  Many people won’t understand what coaching is all about until they actually experience it.

3.  Total Freedom and Power.  

A master career coach has the ability to wield their coaching skills in any direction and in increasingly powerful ways creating results without limits.  A master career coach can get results with anyone.  The definition of coaching may seem a little vague because, even within a niche practice there are endless results you can achieve.  There are just so many areas in which you can coach during a single coaching session that it can be difficult to narrow down the definition of coaching.

4.  Their Identity is Coaching:

Career coaches are their craft.  They become one with their coaching; a distinction between the individual and the coach no longer exists. When you think of Michael Jordan you think of basketball.  When you’re a career coach, you’re always a coach.  If something goes wrong in a casual situation, the coach inside comes out.  In this way, the definition of coaching is similar to the definition of a being a doctor.  Doctors do not slump into their seats when there is an emergency on an airplane they take action; they become a doctor.  

Results Are Key to the Definition of Coaching

In any definition of coaching, the key is results.  When looking at a tangible example of a master career coach you see that coaching is not just about what you help others to accomplish; it’s about who you and your clients become in the process.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Career Coach, Definition of Coaching

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Career Coach, Definition of Coaching Career Coach, Definition of Coaching

What’s the definition of coaching and what do you need to become a life coach? According to Wikipedia, the definition of coaching is “A method of directing, instructing and training a person or group of people, with the aim to achieve some goal or develop specific skills.” But to me, the definition of coaching and what you need to become a life coach is much more than that.

Although Nobody is in “Need” to Become a Life Coach, The Definition of Coaching is About Commitment

What’s my definition of coaching? It’s about being totally committed to helping someone to get a result. And not just any result, but one that is truly valuable to your client and your client’s needs at that time. You need to become a life coach who is committed to going beyond where we are comfortable and what seems possible, and lead others to do the same.

You Need to Become a Life Coach Who Does More Than Solve Problems: The Greater Definition of Coaching

Did you notice that there was nothing about solving problems in that definition of coaching? Too many times we fail to really make a stand for our clients, and we settle for solving problems. Sometimes that can be valuable, but we need to become a life coach who knows the difference between a big problem which is an obstacle and a little problem which is a distraction. If a problem needs to be addressed, handle it quickly and then move on to getting a result. You don’t want to break rapport by telling someone their problem isn’t important enough to work on, but you can ask questions to re-frame the problem and get an idea of how significant it is. They key here is to clarify, and not to take the bait and run with it when there are “bigger fishes to fry”.

So what is your definition of coaching? And what do you need to become a life coach who lives up to your own standards?

Colette Seymann

Designated Accountability Coach, JTS Advisors

Technorati Tags: Definition of Coaching, Need to Become a Life Coach

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Definition of Coaching, Need to Become a Life Coach Definition of Coaching, Need to Become a Life Coach

Do we Really Need a Definition of Coaching?

One of the problems that the industry of professional life coaching seems to have is an identity crisis.  Wether it’s co-active coaching or NLP life coaching, no one seems to know just what the definition of coaching really is.  I was at a party tonight and people were asking me questions when I told them that I ran a coaching company.  They asked things like, “What do you teach?”.  ”Are you about marketing?”.  ”Do you motivate people?”  I always knew that life coaching and it’s brethren have lots of misconceptions in the ‘real world’ about what we do and how we do it.  

You would think that having a definition of coaching would help this little identity crisis.  If we could only DEFINE this thing called executive coaching or life coaching or whatever, then we could help people understand what it is and what life coaching is about.  I guess in a way we’d be supplying life coaching training to everyone, and they would see us just as any other profession.  

Although the definition of coaching is simple, and discusses everything you’d hope (working together to produce a specific result, etc.)  Those same misconceptions and mistakes that my new friends at the party had would still be there, even if they knew the ‘certified’ definition of coaching.   

NLP Life Coaching Takes the Test

Look at something more specific, like NLP life coaching.  there are tons of techniques that NLP life coaching envelops.  NLP originally was a modeling technology, but then people began to mistake it for therapeutic techniques.  Now people look at NLP life coaching as hypnosis or manipulation mind tricks.  How far can you go off the deep end trying to define something as broad as NLP life coaching?  The trouble is that NLP life coaching is even more specifically defined in terms of the skills and results involved that just general coaching doesn’t have to deal with.  The definition of coaching wont help with clarity around coaching and a further definition won’t help with clarity about NLP.   

The Definition of Coaching Still Lives On…

No matter how much the definition of coaching eludes or clarifies itself to us, the ephemeral and mercurial  art of coaching is going to have to cover a lot of ground.  It’s a big job, and the only thing that we as coaches can do about it is to learn as many of the techniques as possible and then really commit to helping our clients at the highest level with those same NLP life coaching techniques.  

Jeffrey T. Sooey

CEO, JTS Advisors

Technorati Tags: Definition of Coaching, NLP Life Coaching

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Definition of Coaching, NLP Life Coaching Definition of Coaching, NLP Life Coaching