You can see the International Coaching Federation’s definition in the quote to the left. One of my favorite metaphors for explaining coaching is a road trip - you are the driver and know where you’re ultimately going and when you want to stop to rest; I’m in the navigator seat helping you find the way and keeping you on the route you want to take.

Coaching is different from mentorship, consulting, and therapy, but there are some through lines between all of these approaches.

Mentors are typically seasoned professionals in your field who can help you through specific challenges based on their knowledge gained from time in the profession.

Consulting is a process where an expert is hired by a company to help elevate work being done. Consultants analyze what’s happening and give you recommendations on what to do to achieve better results.

Therapy should only be done with a licensed mental health professional and is a series of meetings with that professional to help you talk through thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Coaching does not rely on professional expertise (a good coach can coach anyone, regardless of their profession) nor is it a process of giving advice or recommendations. It is probably mostly similar to therapy in practice, where the coach works with the client to determine goals and then helps guide the client through the realizations and reflections needed to move forward. Therapy, however, emphasizes Psychopathology, emotions and the past to understand the present, and it works more with developing skills for managing emotions or past issues than does coaching.

Coaching is not a substitute for mental health support from a licensed clinician.

Coaching sessions will vary based on the individual needs of the client, but you can expect that we will begin with a check in and confirmation of how you’d like to spend our time together, we’ll review any updates since our last session, and our conversation will be geared towards making progress to our agreed-upon goals. The client is in charge of the direction and content; my role is to keep you making progress towards the goals you have identified at the beginning of our engagement.

Some clients like homework in between sessions, some do not. I often end a session with a client with a few things to do to make progress towards their goals before our next session. Usually these are action steps that the client has identified; setting up coffee with a colleague to talk about changing jobs, for example.

I often will ask clients to notice or reflect in between sessions; for example if you’ve realized that a particular action by a coworker is really irritating you, I’ll ask you to notice when this comes up and think about what’s happening around you at the time. Often you’ll find trends that help you understand what’s really underneath the issue.

I work mostly with clients at the leadership level (Director, Senior Director, Associate Vice President, Vice President), but by no means exclusively. Many of my clients are working in higher education in leadership positions or as fundraisers, marketers, or alumni engagement professionals, but I work with many other clients in a multitude of fields across the public, nonprofit, and private sector. A good coach doesn’t need to know much about your line of work to coach you — the emphasis is on identifying goals and helping you reach them, which usually doesn’t have anything to do with the widget you’re actually producing.