To suggest or not to suggest – that is the question
The question of whether or not professional coaches SHOULD or SHOULD NOT give advice has been the subject of countless debates in recent years. The Coaching Academy’s Kris Robertson provides an opinion. Respected coaches such as US Coaching CEO Dave Buck of ‘Coachville’, a staunch supporter of coaches offering advice said ‘The client does not have all [...]
The question of whether or not professional coaches SHOULD or SHOULD NOT give advice has been the subject of countless debates in recent years.
The Coaching Academy’s Kris Robertson provides an opinion.
Respected coaches such as US Coaching CEO Dave Buck of ‘Coachville’, a staunch supporter of coaches offering advice said ‘The client does not have all the answers. If they did they wouldn’t need to hire you’, and Michael Neill, author, radio presenter, Master NLP Trainer and the man Paul McKenna describes as ‘the finest success coach in the world today’ said ‘This idea of not giving advice comes from some bizarre idea that your clients are so pathetic and helpless that if you tell them what to do they have to do it’.
On the other hand, The Coaching Academy, Europe’s leading Coach Training Organisation, teach their students that the purest form of coaching is often the most beneficial for the client and in this scenario, there is no room for advice. Kris Robertson, Operations Director at The Coaching Academy explains:
The Coaching Academy is a keen advocate of the non-directive approach to coaching. Myles Downey says that coaching is ‘the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of others’, a definition which is supported internationally across the industry.
However many coaches differ on their definition of coaching and as a result, the services on offer can be very different.
Firstly it is important to differentiate between using coaching skills and working as a professional coach. Coaching skills such as rapport building, listening, questioning, goal setting and belief challenging are, after all, fantastic skills to have in a variety of disciplines including mentoring, consulting, therapy, counselling etc. Working as a professional coach however is about using these skills, working as a catalyst in helping a client move forward towards the goals they set for themselves – and by definition, a catalyst facilitates change without changing itself. Through offering advice, suggestion or leading a client down a path the coach sees as beneficial, disempowers the client, takes away their ownership of the goal and action, implies that the coach is the expert on the clients’ topics and issues and denies the client the satisfaction of personal discovery and achievement.
Is it any wonder that there is a certain amount of ignorance, confusion and mixed messages in the coaching community around the definition of coaching when mentors, consultants and coaches are all offering the same service? If professional mentors have been there, done that and got the t-shirt to be able to offer advice to those taken under their wing; how is the perception of this intervention different to a coach offering advice and solution? It is akin to including a croissant as part of a Full English Breakfast or a footballer picking up the ball and running with it.
Empowering the client to approach their goals, obstacles, actions and personal discovery of the way forward that fits who they are, is what distinguishes coaching from other helping professions,
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Happy Coaching!