The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” People hire a personal coach for a variety of reasons. These may include the desire to manage tasks, relationships, or transitions more gracefully, to achieve greater satisfaction in their personal or professional lives, to connect with their life purpose, and to create a vision for retirement. Often, clients wish to identify what may be holding them back, or how they might live and work with greater ease.
Coaching is a potentially transformative experience that can involve deep learning over time. Coaches’ powerful questions help clients see layers of meaning, clarify goals, activate strengths, recognize shifts, and formulate suitable action plans. Challenges that once seemed unsurmountable tend to become less daunting through the lens of coaching.
Coaching focuses on what the client wants to accomplish. Since coaches hold their clients as creative, resourceful and whole, progress through coaching requires thoughtful engagement and a willingness to adjust attitudes, thought patterns and behaviors. Coaching is not mentoring, as the client owns the process and makes his or her own decisions. Although past experience can be a useful frame of reference, coaching is not counseling or therapy.
Five Phases of Coaching
One can distinguish five phases in the coaching process. Although they may occur sequentially, they may also overlap, creating a multilayered texture of percolating, potentially energizing ideas. Although moving forward will often feel most energizing, stepping back to a previous phase can also be enlightening.
The initial phase in the coaching process is Reflection. This is an opportunity to consider aspects of a particular issue or project, including relevance and motivation, potential benefits of bringing the project to fruition, and possible challenges along the way.
The second phase is Insight. This includes awareness of deepening layers of meaning in a particular issue or project within the context of one’s personal and/or professional goals. Ideally, energy is created during the first two phases of the coaching process.
The third phase is creative Planning. This is an opportunity to consider challenges and to create an action plan that will facilitate momentum and growth.
The fourth phase is Action. Based on the plan created, this is an opportunity to move toward the realization of personal and professional goals.
The fifth phase is Consolidation. This is an opportunity to test, reconsider and adjust different aspects of the plan as it applies to actual situations.