Coaching and
therapy are both sought out by people who are dissatisfied and want
change in their lives. The distinctions between the two may more
usefully be described as different points along a continuum, rather
than as black and white contrasts.
These differences
can be broadly grouped into four categories:
The
Client
The ideal coaching
client is already fully functional and able to take action, but
wants to function at a higher level. A person who is so deeply wounded
cannot, often, take enough action, and will not be a good candidate
for coaching, until a certain amount of healing has taken place
in therapy.
At this point,
therapy and coaching can usually be pursued simultaneously. Coaches
and therapists commonly make referrals to each other, sometimes
working as a team, in order to complement and greatly enhance their
clients' and patients' needs.
The
Relationship
The therapist-client
relationship usually follows a medical model, while the coach-client
relationship more closely resembles a business or sports model of
mentoring or coaching.
The therapist
generally relies on face-to-face meetings, which aid in client assessment
and diagnosis. The coach may work entirely by phone and email, especially
with clients who live outside the local area.
The therapist
purposefully keeps his or her personality hidden during treatment,
to provide a "clean slate" upon which the patient can
write his or her own story. In addition, the therapist encourages
transference, the unconscious process whereby the patient transfers
feelings from the past onto the therapist, in order to work through
unresolved issues.
The transference
process is inappropriate and actively discouraged in the coaching
relationship. The coach is less like a doctor and more like a partner
in creating what the client wants in his or her life. The coach
tends not to prescribe or analyze, but prefers to ask open-ended
questions, guiding the client to come up with his or her own options.
Then coach and client can strategize together to produce an action
plan.
Because coaching
is much closer to an equal partnership than the therapy relationship,
the boundaries are very different. Therapists must observe strong
boundaries, rooted in law, ethics, and professional standards.
For instance,
the therapist reveals little or no personal information to the client,
and does not enter into dual relationships as, for example, friend,
associate or business advisor to the client.
On the other
hand, the therapist, who is often working with a vulnerable clientele,
must be "on call" in some sense, to deal with emergencies.
Unlike the coach, the therapist must maintain a certain authority
in the relationship, in order to make critical interventions when
necessary.
The coach,
as mentor and partner, may reveal relevant personal information
and experiences to the client, where it can be helpful. In this
way, the coach sometimes becomes a role model as well as a trusted
advisor. In addition, the coaching relationship is typically more
informal than the therapy relationship, and allows the coach to
play dual roles when appropriate; for example, the coach may be
a consultant to the client, or may become a friend.
The coach,
on the other hand, has stricter time boundaries than the therapist.
The coach does not work with people facing life and death situations,
so there are no emergencies in coaching, and the coach is not "on
call" at all hours.
The
Process
Therapy focuses
on feelings and explores them in order to attain insight and the
healing of old and current pain, wounds and issues. This process
involves a necessary focus on the past.
Coaching emphasizes
action, encourages and requests it, in order to solve problems and
achieve goals based on the client's values. The focus is on the
present and future.
The
Results
In therapy,
as the client resolves old issues, hurts and defense mechanisms,
the first results may be mostly internal: a greater sense of inner
peace and self-esteem, although these will, of course, affect the
exterior life.
In coaching,
as the client solves problems, sets and achieve goals, the results
will be very visible in the outer world. Inner changes will accompany
this, of course. But it is fair to say the emphasis in therapy is
on inner change, while coaching focuses on movement in the external
world.
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