WHAT IS COACHING?
Coaching is a partnership between a Coach and a Coachee that operates within a professional process which helps the client unlock his/her potential in order for them to maximize strength, add clarity and provide encouragement to overcome challenges, improve decision-making and enhance performance.
THE ROLE OF THE COACH
The role of the Coach is to listen and understand the needs of the Coachee and therefore offer guidance, support and inspiration while steering the whole Coaching process. The Coach effectively guides the Coachee as they consider and move in new directions where they may want to head. By building self-awareness and creating the space for self-development and self-reflection, the Coach empowers the Coachee to make choices and to retain ownership to create a purposeful life in any desired aspect (personal development, motivation, career and business, life-work balance, relationships, wellness, etc.).
As the Coachee, you are the expert of your life and you own your personal dreams and goals to reach success. As part of the process you are the one who is responsible to fully to the Coaching in order to reach end of the process. The Coach will navigate you through process and will provide you a safe haven where you can discover, grow and thrive with impartial and no judgmental feedback. A safe environment for the Coachee to unleash inner confidence and develop powerful ways of realization, appreciation, learning and action-taking.
Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance.
It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.
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~ John Whitmore, in 'Coaching for Performance'
BRIEF HISTORY ABOUT COACHING
Coaching -as an activity- appeared thousands of years ago in the ancient Greece, where the philosopher Socrates would promote dialogue as the best manner for reaching knowledge. He would help his disciples find their own truth and answers through Maieutic – the art of conversation and powerful questions.
In regards to the term ‘Coaching’, there is a historical explanation that brings us back to the 15th and 16th Centuries in a region of Hungary. In a little town called Kocs, a specific type of carriage became very popular. This new fashionable way of transportation would bring ‘worthy’ people from the place they were to the place they wanted to be, and it became a sign of comfort and excellence. From ‘Kocs’, the word ‘Coach’ evolved.
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The origination of the term ‘Coaching’ started in the later part of the 1880s. This term has been mostly associated with the sports profession through its varied forms. The first thought which rushes to our mind when we think about coaching is about sports coaching. This is because coaching is very well-developed in the sports arena.
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The Coach would always be there to orchestrate the overall strategies for the athlete in order to reach the goal. With the end state in mind, the Coach remains agile to conquer and overcome every obstacle along the way. This word started getting a broader meaning along the 80s and this is precisely what the newer concept of ‘Coaching’ entails nowadays: an experienced person supporting a client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing guidance and inspiration. The process itself ensures the client will give their very best, learn and develop in the way that best suits them.
