Initial Reflections on Coaching

Having just listened to Thomas Leonard's lecture on coaching, I find myself asking How is this different than counseling? The "15 proficiencies" and all his other checklists sound a lot like the training I received before beginning my counseling job. Granted, "counseling" is a very broad umbrella with all kinds of styles and philosophies underneath it, so maybe coaching technically is a type of counseling. I'm just not 100% sure what purpose "coaching" serves? And I don't mean that question to be cynical or skeptical. I honestly don't see what this is for if not simply another name for counseling. Who are the "clients" that Leonard refers to? Who needs a coach? He talks quite a bit about who doesn’t need a coach (clients struggling with weight issues seemed to be a hot button issue).

I see the value of coaching in this class though - we are all new to this field and are struggling to wrap our heads around it. Most of all, I think having a coach will be a helpful way to hold me accountable. At the risk of speaking TOO candidly, I'll admit that I probably wouldn't overtly include my new knowledge of dialogue in my daily life if not for the coaching corner. So in the end, I know this is a good thing for me.

One challenge that I imagine coming out of coaching is striking a balance between "commiserating," which Leonard notes as his favorite proficiency and "[revealing] the [coachee] to [himself]." I am imagining, based on the postings so far, that there will be moments when my coachee and I are both skeptical about what we're reading/learning. It becomes my responsibility to be open-minded and suspend my skepticism for the sake of enhancing the dialogue and digging deeper. That's been a huge challenge so far in this course, and it will only get more difficult when I have the responsibility of coaching another person.