5 false beliefs about coaching

Although coaching is a booming profession and, therefore, there is more information and less ignorance about it, there are still some myths and false beliefs that surround it and that prevent many people from confidently approaching a coaching process.

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Misconceptions about coaching

Below we clarify and explain what false myths surround coaching to try to clear up as many doubts as possible about the real work of a coach.

1. Coaching process and psychological therapy are not the same

This may be one of the most ingrained false beliefs around coaching. Both professions work in similar spheres, but do not focus on the same thing. Psychological therapy deals mainly with mental health aspects, mental dysfunction works: let's say that it is where emotions are taken to be fixed when they break down and do not allow the person to lead a normal life.

On the other hand, coaching does not cure or treat mental health problems. In fact, a coachee is not a patient, as it is in the case of psychology, but a client. A coaching process is more aimed at extracting excellence from oneself, to improve how you relate to your resources and to yourself to be more efficient in different areas of your life.

When a coach detects that there is a mental health background that is preventing the coachee from personal development, the ethical and correct thing is to refer it to a psychologist to treat that sphere that is not yours. In the same way, a psychologist can observe after finishing a therapy that his patient needs a accompaniment to achieve progress in some area of ​​her life and it would be appropriate to refer her to a coach to let her do it. In short: coaching and psychology are not the same, but they should go hand in hand to help people from a much broader level.

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2. Coaching is not mentoring either

The keywords of a mentor's job are to advise and help, while those of a coach are to guide and accompany.. And although the line that separates them is fine, they are not the same and, therefore, each profession is different.

But it is that, in addition, they differ in something important: the mentor is a specialist in a specific subject and advises and helps based on what he or she has done in that area to be successful; meanwhile, the coach can carry out the accompaniment whatever the objective to be achieved. What is important is the methodology to achieve it, not the type of objective itself.

To better understand it, the mentor works with his apprentice advising what to do based on what he has already experienced, shows the pros and cons of what he does and helps him on his career path through his own contacts. Instead, the coach accompanies the coachee, influencing the why, makes him reflect on what would happen and guides him to find the best way to achieve his objective.

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3. A coach is not a motivator

It may be one of the false beliefs that do the most damage to coaching because they call into question the professionalism of the coach. A coach does not work by patting on the back and with phrases like "you can handle everything", "if you want, you can", etc.

In coaching, more than the word, active listening prevails and, above all, the methodology that has nothing to do with saying positive phrases. The coach does support and maintain the motivation of the coachee during the process, but he does not do so by giving encouragement with empty words.

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4. A coach does not transform your life

Expressions such as "coaching has changed my life" or "that coach has transformed me" are common. But they are trick phrases that give all the prominence to those who do not really have it in a coaching process.

A professional coach never tells the coachee what he has to do. He only uses the question so that it is the coachee himself who traces the path and finds the tools that he himself has to travel it.

Therefore, the coach is only a guide, never the protagonist. It is true that the professionalism of the coach will make the coach go more or less straight on that path, but the reality is that everything the client gets in this case is due to his own commitment and effort.

5. Not all people can receive coaching

Although coaching is for everyone since it helps to solve dilemmas of all kinds and to be able to draw up action plans to achieve goals. vital objectives, the reality is that not all people are prepared to undergo a coaching process at any given time. certain.

A coaching process implies commitment on the part of the coachee and also knowing that it will mean changes on a personal, internal level, and you have to be aware of it and be open and prepared for that to happen. If not, the coaching process will be worthless.

In this sense, the coach himself can detect that the client is not at the point of intention and commitment to take advantage of the coaching process and what is ethical is to communicate it to the coachee to make decisions timely.

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Professional coaches to end the myths

One of the most effective ways to end the false myths surrounding coaching is for people who practice this profession to be authentic professionals who demonstrate and make understand with their good ethics and practice what it really is and is done with a process of coaching.

In our Master in Professional Coaching the coaching methodology is learned from the perspective of respect and ethics, so that the coaches who come out of this training leave a trace of professionalism that makes coaching occupy the place it deserves in the sphere of help human.