Coaching, which involves learning to set goals and achieve them, has many supporters. But it also causes a lot of heated debate. What do coaches teach, how do they differ from psychotherapists, what requests do they work with and how quickly do they help to achieve results?
There are moments in life when we are looking for a person who can help us cope with a difficult situation, determine the goal and suggest the right way to achieve it. As a rule, we rely on the support of relatives and friends, but today we have at our disposal the skills and experience of professional coaches (from the English coach – “trainer”, “mentor”). They help to arrange life, resolve conflicts in the family and at work, achieve professional success – in a word, live life to the fullest.
Interest in coaching in Russia is growing rapidly: this type of service is offered by training and consulting companies, psychological centers in almost all major cities. “I wanted – I set a goal – I achieved it” – such a formula not only captivates with its directness, but also raises a logical question: is it really so simple?
History
In 1974, Harvard professor and tennis expert Timothy Galwey published Tennis: The Psychology of Successful Play.
When coaching tennis players, Galwey noticed that they trained much more effectively if he created the conditions in which they could reach their maximum potential. Conversely, the directive method of teaching led to a decrease in the awareness and responsibility of his students.
Galwey developed the concept of the inner game in a series of bestsellers on personal effectiveness. Having developed a methodology for teaching the game of tennis, he then transferred it to the business sphere. This technique is called coaching.
Wellbeing Therapy
Coaching is a method of counseling that helps you set clear goals and achieve them. The English word coach literally translates as “coach”, “mentor” – the one who leads to the result, to victory. The main principles of the method: focus on your abilities, not on past mistakes, unlocking the potential to achieve the best results
Initially, the main focus of the work of coaches was the development of leadership qualities that allow in business to generate ideas and inspire other people with them. And now coaching has come into the sphere of individual assistance, the development of a “life”, “personal” direction has begun – lifecoaching.
“This method is suitable for very different people,” says Svetlana Chumakova, Russian representative of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). “It is from here that his paradoxical definition arises – “therapy for the healthy”.
This method will help those who solve a specific problem, strive to take a certain bar or get comfortable in a new situation.
Coaching is also called wellness therapy, as coaches do not work with those who are experiencing psychological suffering. This method will help those who solve a specific life task, strive to take a certain bar (pass exams, resolve a conflict) or get comfortable in a new situation (whether it be a promotion or a divorce).
They turn to a coach when they subjectively experience the absence of a feeling of a “ceiling”, a stop, a loss of vital fuse. Those who need to develop further are contacted.
This method is effective in working with top managers: as a result, they better understand themselves, more precisely motivate subordinates. It is also useful for those who are at the beginning of their career path and want to develop qualities that will allow them to effectively express themselves.
The goal is the result
The philosophy of coaching is based on two main principles: seeing a positive future and getting in touch with your values. The essence of this method is to teach the client how to properly use their own internal resources.
From the client’s point of view, coaching’s greatest strength is its focus on quick and tangible results. However, this is also the main reason for the vulnerability of this approach: it is well known that even local difficulties – for example, the inability to change housing or work – often hide underlying problems rooted in the past of a person.
“Life coaching does not work with the past (as psychotherapy does), it focuses on modeling the future,” continues Svetlana Chumakova. – The main task is formulated as follows: “What can I do to achieve my goal?”, and not “Why can’t I achieve what I want?”.
Life coaching aims to quickly correct behavior, but does not specifically target deep-seated traumas.
Coaches do not suggest ignoring the past, for them it is a kind of starting point: how can I – the way my nature and my unique life experience made me – live and act further in these circumstances?
“Psychotherapy allows you to get to know yourself better, but deep changes do not always involve external changes in a person’s behavior or lifestyle,” says psychotherapist Margarita Zhamkochyan. — Life coaching, on the contrary, is aimed at quick behavior correction, but does not specifically affect deep-seated traumas that prevent moving forward. These are two different, complementary approaches.”
Sometimes this method is compared with short-term types of psychotherapy: transactional analysis, gestalt therapy, psychological counseling. However, they are fundamentally different. “Instead of the psychotherapeutic task of “help to understand”, instead of studying the problem, its causes and mechanisms, life coaching solves the problem of “help to achieve”, allows a person, taking into account his difficulties, to achieve the desired result,” says Svetlana Chumakova.
Thus, coaching exists at the intersection of training, psychological and business consulting. And this is not just “three in one”, but an alloy of special value, allowing you to simultaneously achieve spirituality and practicality, in the right proportion affecting the corresponding strings of the human psyche.
How is the session
At the first meeting, the client and the coach discuss the purpose of the work and its format of meetings: in person, by phone or via videoconferencing. Also during the first meeting, the client talks about what he wants to achieve. With the help of special questions, the coach helps to clarify the goal (often it turns out that the true goal is completely different).
At the following meetings, the obstacles to this true goal are analyzed. An achievement strategy and concrete steps are formulated. The participation of a coach helps not to rush things and act consistently.
During meetings, the coach uses various means: listening, questions, confrontation. They help the client to get rid of those ideas that limit him. The client independently implements the plan and from time to time turns to the coach for support.
The role of the coach is to follow the client step by step, enabling him to move forward to the best of his abilities.
Pitfalls
Despite the growing demand for coaching services, their work is being criticized from a variety of angles. The main complaint is that life coaching is an undefined and uncontrolled discipline.
“The passion for this method has led to the emergence of hastily trained “specialists” who do not meet the expectations of customers,” says British business consultant, one of the founders of the method in business, John Whitmore.
“The very term “coach” leaves indefinite the level of education and training of a specialist to whom we trust our lives, work, careers, relationships with others,” Andrey Rossokhin, psychoanalyst and coach of the French business school INSEAD, supports him. “There is a high risk that when working with a coach, we will hear the advice of a person made only on the basis of his own life experience.”
To be eligible to be called a coach, a person must undergo serious training and have the appropriate diplomas.
“Life coaching really recruits specialists from those who “made themselves”, managed to achieve their life goals, understood how they did it, and are now ready to help others find their own way to change their lives,” says Margarita Zhamkochyan. But in order to get the right to be called a coach, a person must undergo serious training and have the appropriate diplomas, certificates, certificates confirming his education.
As a rule, the basic education of life coaches is psychology, pedagogy, medicine. Among them are many practicing psychotherapists. “In the West, the professional community is more developed, and clients have the opportunity to check the reputation of a specialist,” continues Svetlana Chumakova. “Our community is just emerging, and among the consultants there are unprofessional people. The International Coaching Federation has adopted a code of ethics that clearly states what a coach can and cannot do. But in each case, everything remains on the conscience of a particular person.
How not to make a mistake? Watch, ask, be interested in the recommendations of others. Listen to yourself, your intuition, subjective first reactions. Be ready to change your coach and leave with a small but positive experience.
Text: Yuliana Puchkova