Coaching and the Leader

I want to take a moment and mention the need for coaching in a leader’s life.  There are many different uses of the word coaching.  It sometimes appears to be the new name they put for giving advice. Just use a new word to do the same thing.  According to the ICF, coaching is defined as’ “ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”  Every leader needs someone to help them have a way to reach their potential.  Coaching is different in many ways. Here is a metaphor that will show you some of the differences in how different people would direct you, let’s say you want to learn how to ride a horse…

A mentor..

…is a person that owns a horse and is able to share his/her experience of learning to ride with someone else and they will show you how you can learn to ride yourself.

A consultant…

…is a person that will pull out a manual, assess your current riding ability and then give you the solution to helping you ride using steps that should be used in order to confidently build your ability to ride. 

A counselor…

…is a person that will ask you about your past experiences of horses as well as learning to ride and help you explore how those past experiences are getting in your way now, and that are perhaps preventing you from learning to ride now. 

A coach…

…is a person that will explore with you where you want to go.  What are the benefits of being able to ride a horse? Where will horse riding take you? What adventures do you want to experience?  They will help you create a vision that will fuel your passion and help find the best direction for learning to ride as it relates to your life and your future hopes and dreams.

What has been your experience with these different types of people and the advice they have given you?

References

https://coachfederation.org/