What is Coaching?
Here is what it comes out from exploring the root meaning of the word coach:
"Coach" is an old French word meaning "a vehicle to transport people from one place to another." Today, a coach helps a person move up a level, by expanding a skill, by boosting performance, or even by changing the way a person thinks. Coaches help people grow. They help people see beyond what they are today to what they can become tomorrow.
With the client, the coach examines a situation, creates a plan of action, and works side by side with the client to resolve the issue. The coach does not have to be an expert in the client's issue. The client is the expert. The coach collaborates with the client to create a solution using the client's knowledge and answers.
The coach does not have the answers; they have the questions that lead to the client finding their own answers.
Coaching is not therapy. Coaching does not rely on past issues for achieving growth, but on goals for the future. The focus is on where the client is, where they want to be, and how to get them there.
There's certainly a lot of careful listening involved from the coach's side but there's a big difference between someone who needs coaching and someone who needs therapy. Sometimes, people work with both a coach and a therapist; the two efforts complement each other.