What is coaching?
“Coaching is generally defined as being the means by which people and groups of people are helped to reach peak performance […]
Coaching places a special emphasis on generative change, which concentrates on defining and achieving specific goals.
Coaching methods are results-oriented, rather than being problem-centered. They tend to be very solution-centered, to drive the development of new thinking and action strategies, rather than trying to solve past problems and conflicts.
Problem solving or remedial change are more naturally associated with counseling and therapy.”
(Source: The Coach Manual by Robert Dilts)
In brief a coach is the expert who supports his client (coachee) in a decisive way to produce results and to bring more satisfaction and quality into his personal and professional life. He is the one who supports the person asking for his help to examine the current situation (starting situation), set the goals (desired situation) and last, to prepare and apply an action plan that links these. The coach does this by helping the coachee to identify the most functional resources that he already has and at the same time to reduce any “interferences” that have a negative impact on performance.
A study by the International Personnel Management Association has demonstrated that: “training improves productivity by 22% on average, with coaching this becomes 88%”.
Source: Financial Times, May 2002.