Why Is Everyone A ‘Coach’ These Days???
I wanna take a deeper dive into the 'everybody's suddenly a coach' phenomenon, as well as mention my stance on 'coaching' as ‘A Thing'. From the perspective of a teacher-in-some-capacity of 15 years.
First things first: I think we need to talk about how 'coaching' is used as a catch-all for “anyone who, in some way, promises to make your life and/or business better”. Which lumps together actual coaches, consultants, teachers/trainers like me, and mentors (and probably other jobs not right at the top of my head right now).
From my experience, most people who call themselves 'coaches', are actually one of those other things. From my understanding, 'coaching' cannot be prescriptive. You don't TELL the client what to do, and you certainly don't force them to follow some paint-by-the-numbers blueprint or method. You probably also don't say things like 'I did it, and you can, too - if you follow my Seven Step Sizzling Sexy Money Maker Mindset Manifestation Masturbation Method!'. And you certainly don't pretend to be a shrink - as much as babbling about 'mindset', 'limiting beliefs' and 'subconscious' is all the rage in that industry. Coaching is not meant to be amateur-hour therapy.
‘Coaches’…in their own mind. Source: SpudComics.com
From my understanding, coaches are supposed to ask questions and 'hold space' for their clients, helping them work out their own answers. They don't diagnose, they don't claim to know you better than you know yourself, and they don't prescribe.
So, as you can see...most of the people selling you some kind of 'coaching', don't fit that brief.
Now that we've established what coaching ISN'T (and why I call myself a 'teacher' or 'mentor' and not 'coach'), I want to get into the usefulness of (true) coaching.
Actual coaching probably has its uses, in very specific contexts. I'm not AT ALL sold that it's the panacea the 'coaching' (ie. self-development and success-peddling) industry likes to spin it as. Overall, I think its use and value are massively overstated. Most of the things people turn to that industry for, need teaching, mentoring, or consulting - not coaching.
If you've never built a successful business before, I don't think coaching will help you. Because the answers in this case aren't within you, so all the 'thoughtful questions' in the world won't magically conjure them up. What you need is someone who has actual business credentials and/or has done it themselves AND helped many people similar to you, to show you the ropes. Just as you'd need a fluent French speaker to teach you French - you wouldn't improve it by sitting around mindsetting your limiting beliefs or whatever.
For the contexts in which real coaching would apply - like finding your passion in life, learning to establish better boundaries, or better time management...I still think a psychologist is probably a better person to turn to, than a coach.
A psychologist will have a number of tools up their sleeve - whereas a coach just has coaching. Meaning they're pretty limited in how they can help you.
'Cause coaching is just *A* tool - but so are 'tough love' and 'leading by example'. They're all tools that could help, in SOME contexts, get SOME people from A to B. But they don't apply universally. And you wouldn't make them into a whole job, right? Can you imagine someone saying their job is 'tough lover'? Or 'leader by example'? Leader of what? By example of what, exactly?? It sounds weird because it IS weird.
And that is the real issue: as far as I can tell, coaching A tool that COULD be useful in SOME contexts, but not nearly enough that it warrants being made into a whole other job. It could/should just be A tool in the toolbelt of other jobs, like trainers, teachers, leadership positions in companies, or psychologists. I just don't see the point in isolating it like that.
Thanks for reading all this. If you have musings on the 'coaching' industry, the place of (true) 'coaching' in the world, or anything else I touched on...send me a message.