Mentoring, advising, counseling, coaching… they are all just different terms for pretty much the same thing, right?
Wrong.
Unlike mentoring, coaching is not advice from a sage. Unlike a consultant, a coach doesn't tell you what you should do or hand you their solution to a problem that you are going to have to live with. Unlike most professional development, coaching is not about a specific skill or a prepackaged process that seldom has a lasting impact. Coaching isn't therapy designed to help you come to terms with your past.
What sets coaching apart is its total focus on you, the client. It is a proven pathway to articulating your own vision and priorities, setting a plan of action, developing strategies, overcoming obstacles, and providing the support and accountability that enable you to carry that plan through.
My job isn’t to tell you what to do or what to feel, or even to tell you what is expected of you. My job is to provide you with a confidential and supportive setting within which you are free to explore the options that you have in your life. During a coaching session the word “should” is not in my vocabulary. I am there to help you succeed according to your own definition of success. Period.
In short, what sets coaching apart is that you drive the bus. You set the agenda, and most importantly, you own the results!!! Today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life. That is why coaching works.