What is coaching?

Coaching is a collaborative relationship and a personalised approach to self-development and growth. Coaching is about closing the gap between where you are now and where you'd like to be, and how best to get there.

In coaching a client and a coach come together to work on how best to achieve the client’s personal, and /or professional, goals to enable the client to reach their fullest potential.

A client and a coach work together to define and achieve the client’s best. The coach is the support person who assists you to:

• clarify and determine goals
• make informed choices
• explore options and potential barriers to success
• develop strategies to reach your goal, and
• live the life you choose for yourselves. 

The International Coach Federation, of which I am a member, defines coaching as follows:

“Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

Professional coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives. Coaches help people improve their performances and enhance the quality of their lives.  Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach's job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has.”