What is coaching?

by Veronica Wantenaar

“Coaching is a professional, collaborative and outcomes driven method of learning that seeks to develop an individual and raise self awareness so that s/he might achieve specific goals and perform at a more effective level”

COMENSA (Coaching and Mentoring South Africa)

We have all heard the saying that the one constant thing in life is change.  This means that individuals are constantly bombarded with new situations and demands, causing confusion, stress and sometimes burnout.   Organisations are facing very challenging economic and social realities and they need to find new ways of engaging, enabling and supporting their people to achieve the business objectives – often doing more with less.

So coaching is about change.

There are two types of change: Choice change and forced change

• Choice changes are the ones when we make the decision to create the change in our lives such as finding a new job, getting married, moving house.  The fact that these are our choices gives us a greater sense of control and confidence in dealing with whatever difficulties may arise but sometimes need support.
• Sometimes we are placed in a position of having change forced upon us such as retrenchment, a broken relationship, disability or illness or the death of a loved one and we do not have a choice but we have to ‘deal’ with the change.  This can bring a sense of loss and helplessness and the need for some practical support.

Sometimes in life we come to the realization that:

• the life that we are living is not the one that we really want; there are dreams and ambitions that we have lost along the way
• We are feeling that our life is out of balance
• We are being forced into roles that we do not want for ourselves
• We are feeling overwhelmed and need to gain some clarity about who we are and what we want
• We are struggling with being effective in our workplace

We know that we need to make a change but it can seem daunting without assistance.  These are situations where coaching can be really effective

Coaching is about moving forward in life.

The coach’s role is to speak and act in such a way that others learn and perform at their best.  The coach provides a thinking space where the individual/s can explore their current reality in relation to their goals and set realistic achievable milestones to take them to their desired future.  The coach is there to facilitate the discovery process and create a sense of awareness that will lead to action and results:  Moving from current state to the desired state.  This could be in terms of your own personal self confidence, your business effectiveness or improved interpersonal relationships.

Over time we will be exploring what to look for in a coach, some ideas around self coaching and responding to some of your coaching questions.