Capacity Coaching Initiative: What is a Coach?

Coaching focuses on where clients are now in their lives, careers, or business and explores what they are willing to do to get to where they want to be in the future. It is a designed alliance between the coach and client where the coach provides support, direction and accountability, and the client recognizes that results are a matter of their intentions, choices, and actions.

What a Coach is Not…

…Therapist…Therapy processes emotional history by diagnosing and treating mental health issues. The focus of therapy is on the past and healing emotional wounds. Coaching focuses on how to make the future a better life than today.

…Consultant… Consulting is the process of giving substantive advice by presenting a range of options to the client. It is less personal and focuses on work related processes and issues. Consultants are paid to offer solutions. Coaches are paid to ask questions that help the client examine and work toward their life-enhancing goals.

…Mentor… Mentoring is to guide another person. A mentor is a trusted person we turn to for advice about a particular situation or see as a person we would like to model ourselves after. A coach provides structure and accountability to move forward in life.

…Business/Personal Partners… Partners have a financial, material or managerial investment in the relationship. A coach may be “invested” in helping clients successfully reach their goals, however, the coach does not have financial interests, equity, or authority in the relationship.

…Friend/Family … Friends and family have an emotional history with each other based on shared personal experiences. A coach offers objectivity when working with a client, and the client doesn’t have to be concerned about the friendship being affected.

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