So, what is coaching?

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

I am often asked by my potential clients and others - ‘What exactly is coaching?’.  My response has been varied but the one that has stuck the most is this simple story.

Let’s say that you have had this nagging thought for the past few days that you need to do an outdoor activity. You’re not sure what that activity is but it has to be outdoors.

Now, you have this special magic box that you know can help you get to an answer. You pull out this magic box and tell it about your nagging feeling. The question box engages you with some powerful questions and through this process of questioning, you come to the realization that what you really want to do is to go on a hike on the Mist Trail in Yosemite. The magic box also helps you visualize what the destination at the end of the trail would look like. You smile and thank the magic box.

One fine morning, you put on your hiking shoes, stuff your backpack with food and water and head out for the trail.  Once you reach the head of the trail, you look around but you don’t see any path that you can follow. All you see is a lot of debris. Confused, you pull out your magic box and tell it that you need help finding the trail. The magic box helps you see through the debris where you clearly see your trail! Excited, you embark on the trail all the while keeping your focus to look through and clear the debris - as the magic box suggested.

As you proceed on the trail, you find that you lose your focus often and need some help to get back on the trail again. You reach out to your magic box once more and it helps you to refocus so that you can be on track. Through this constant guidance from the magic box, you soon complete your hike and you finally find yourself at the end of the trail. Here, the vision of the destination that the magic question box helped you paint comes to life and the nagging thought in the back of your head finally gives away to a feeling of achievement!

What you witnessed was “coaching” and the “magic box” is your coach.