What does coaching mean? What is it, and what does a coach actually do?
Have you also wondered why, depending on whom you ask, which article you read, or which coach you go to, coaching is typically defined – and carried out – quite differently?
Sometimes so differently that it may leave you wondering, ‘Can all of this really be coaching?’
Yes, it actually can, and there are some good reasons for this. But before we delve into the exciting world of coaching, let’s briefly outline what you will gain from reading this article on coaching.
This article is divided into two main sections: a ‘need to know’ section and a ‘nice to know’ section.
The first ‘need to know’ section is for those who you who are simply here looking for the essence of what coaching is. All depending on what you’re looking for, if you click on the links below, you will be directed to the relevant section:
– What Is Coaching?
– What Is a Coach?
– What Is the Goal of the Coaching Process?
The second ‘nice to know’ section is for those of you who are extra curious and would like the big picture of what coaching is delivered in an easy-going and clear manner:
– What Are the Most Well-Known Coaching Models?
– Where Do the Words “Coach” and “Coaching” Come from?
– What Are the (Humanistic and Psychological) Roots of Coaching
– What Types of Coaching Exist?
– What Theoretical Approaches Exist Within Coaching
(For those of you who are curious about what we do here at Good Conscious Life, we can tell you that what we do is not traditional coaching, but rather a blend of coaching, guiding / mentoring / teaching, sometimes with a touch of therapy if the situation calls for it. We call it guidance of consciousness!)
What Is Coaching? What Does Coaching Mean?
– A Definition of Coaching
As mentioned, there are many different opinions on what coaching is. There are several reasons for this. The two main reasons are partly the somewhat vague origin of coaching (which we will discuss later in this article), and partly that “coach” is not a protected title (in principle, anyone can call themselves a coach – more on that in the section ‘What Is a Coach?’).
But fortunately, coaching has some overall characteristics that most people agree on. These characteristics will be highlighted in our following general definition of coaching:
Coaching is a structured and goal-oriented process of conversation that takes place between a coach, who guides the conversation and facilitates the process, and a coachee (also referred to as a focus person), who receives assistance with a specific issue, goal, or desire for insight and / or change / improvement.
The conversation typically focuses on the present and the future. Based on the coachee’s self-determined agenda, the coach assists his / her coachee in achieving a specific outcome, solving a particular problem, understanding something, changing undesirable behavior, a mindset, or similar.
The goal is to create reflection, learning, and development resulting in new ways of being, thinking, choices, or actions that may improve a situation or condition, thereby contributing to improving the coachee’s overall life.
The mindset in this process is internally resource-based – meaning that the individual (the coachee) is considered resourceful, creative, and full of possibilities. The coachee is therefore always considered the most knowledgeable about himself / herself and his / her own life.
The coach’s job is therefore to help the coachee unlock and apply his / her own wisdom, values, and resources through questions, challenges, and stimuli.
This definition is, as mentioned, general and constitutes our general definition of coaching.
Here are some other international definitions of coaching that are often used to define the essence of coaching:
Coaching is “a powerful, human relationship where trained coaches assist people to design their future rather than help them get over their past … coaches aid clients in creating visions and goals for ALL aspects of their lives and in creating multiple strategies to support achieving those goals. Coaches recognize the brilliance of each client and their personal power to discover their own solutions when provided with support, accountability, and unconditional, positive regard.”
– Patrick Williams, Therapist as Life Coach, 2007 (the quote can be found here).
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”
– Sir John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance, (the quote can be found here).
What Is a Coach?
– A Definition of a Coach
Being a coach is essentially about stepping into a role where a specific set of competencies are exercised. Therefore, anyone can call themselves a coach if they wish, and in principle anyone can practice coaching in their own unique way.
Generally, however, there is relatively broad agreement that the primary job of a coach in a conversation is to be neutral, curious, and ‘ignorant’ of the coachee and his / her situation. The coach is to ask a lot of questions that foster reflection, learning, and development in the person being coached.
A coach should not typically offer their own opinions, experiences, or advice, since the coachee is considered the expert who is all-knowing about his / her own life. Only in special cases and with explicit permission from the coachee should the coach provide his / her personal views, experiences, or guidance.
The coach’s primary role is therefore to facilitate a developmental process – to be the lubricant (through his / her questions) that helps the coachee achieve his / her goals.
The relationship between coach and coachee is typically professional, but since the coach does not necessarily need to possess specialized knowledge (other than in principle mastering a questioning method or coaching model), coaching can also easily take place between two non-professional individuals.
For example, when we curiously inquire about a friend’s motivations and purposes for a given thing, thereby assisting in a clarification process, it could theoretically also be called coaching.
Although anyone can be a coach, most people who call themselves coaches have often undergone coach training. Coach training typically focuses on a specific approach (e.g., NLP coaching, neuro coaching, systemic coaching, etc.) or focuses on a specific area of life such as sports coaching, business coaching, life coaching, etc.
These training programs typically end with an exam / certification, after which you may call yourself a coach within a certain field.
What Is the Goal of the Coaching Process?
Overall, the goal of coaching is for the coachees to gain ‘something’ (insight, understanding, techniques, new habits, etc.) that they can use to improve their quality of life and their practical life, whether it’s at work, in relationships, in sports, or elsewhere.
One of the most crucial moments in coaching sessions is when there is reflection, learning, and development – those moments when the coachees suddenly gain insight, realization, or understanding that can change something in their life for the better. This is where the great potential for change and improvement lies. So, these moments – and the practical implementation of them – are the goal of the coaching process.
How Is New Reflection and Learning Most Effectively Created?
– ‘The Zone of Proximal Development’ Is a Sweet Spot for Effective Learning and Development
There are many theories on how we learn and grow most effectively, but one of the most well-known is introduced by the Russian developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934).
Lev Vygotsky has introduced a concept called ‘zone of proximal development‘ which describes where we learn best and most efficiently. This zone is characterized by the level of the challenges being ‘just right’ – what we have to learn is neither too easy nor too difficult.
Therefore, a coach is often interested in getting the coachee to a place where they have left their comfort zone, is challenged, but not so much as to be too overwhelmed to make new decisions.
This zone is often characterized by a certain level of frustration, as it may feel like a kind of no-man’s land – you have left what’s familiar / old behind but not yet found / discovered something new. Here, with the coach’s help, you may find new ground, a new perspective.
What Are the Most Well-Known Coaching Models?
So how does one actually conduct a coaching session in practice? Getting started isn’t actually that difficult, as there are several step-by-step models that coaches can use to successfully guide a coachee through a session.
These models typically divide the session into phases (e.g., beginning, middle, end), each serving different functions to help the coachees achieve their goal.
Many of these models are quite similar in essence. In broad terms, there are 3 steps in these coaching models:
1) START: Definition of the goal of the conversation. What does the coachee want to achieve?
2) MIDDLE: Exploring the situation. Uncovering obstacles and mapping opportunities.
3) END: Decisions are made and action is planned.
We will now present you with two examples of popular coaching models and link out to a few more. These coaching models have more phases than outlined above, but the essence is the same, which you will discover shortly.
The GROW Coaching Model
The GROW coaching model is considered one of the most used models in coaching (especially in organizational contexts). GROW is recognized for being one of the most effective coaching models for addressing more goal-oriented issues.
Despite some uncertainty about the origin of the GROW model, it is believed that it originated in England in a conversation between Max Landsberg (a recognized authority in leadership coaching) and Graham Alexander (also a well-known authority and pioneer in leadership coaching), and that it first appeared in a book by John Whitmore (also a pioneer in leadership coaching) in 1992, Coaching for Performance.
Alexander’s and Whitmore’s inspiration for the GROW model dates back to the 1970s and Tim Gallwey, a tennis coach who discovered that his students significantly improved their game by focusing more on the ‘inner game’ rather than the ‘outer game’.
The new focus included non-judgmental observations instead of self-criticism: “By quieting their internal thought processes, they were able to use their natural abilities more easily.” (Tim Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis). It quickly became evident that Gallwey’s method could be applied to many other situations as well.
In fact, many people believe that it was the GROW model that paved the way for executive coaching, which flourished at the end of the last century and which has not diminished since then.
The principle that you are your own best teacher is also at the core of GROW. Therefore, GROW focuses on increasing the coachee’s awareness by examining existing knowledge, thus learning from his / her own experience.
The GROW Model Structures a Coaching Conversation into Four Phases:
1) Goal: What is the goal of the conversation? What do you want to talk about? What do you want to achieve?
2) Reality: What is the current situation? What obstacles are you facing?
3) Options: How can you move forward? What are your best ideas for this? What resources can you use?
4) Way Forward: How will you reach your goal? What steps will you take towards your goal?
The CLEAR Coaching Model
CLEAR is a precursor to GROW and was developed in the early 1980s by Peter Hawkins. Peter Hawkins is a professor of leadership associated with the University of Bath, School of Management, and holds a senior position at the Bath Consultancy Group.
This model is very similar to GROW, with just a few additional phases. Like GROW, CLEAR is well-suited for goal-oriented coaching.
The CLEAR Coaching Model Structures a Coaching Conversation into Five Phases:
1) Contract: What is the goal for the conversation?
2) Listen: The coach primarily listens and only participates to steer the conversation towards that which is examined.
3) Explore: Detailed exploration of how the coachee is affected by the situation.
4) Action: The coachee commits to taking action / making changes based on his / her new insights about himself / herself and / or the situation.
5) Review: Important decisions are reviewed and consolidated. Additionally, feedback is provided to the coach.
There are several other coaching models that we won’t go into detail about here, but which resemble the ones mentioned above. For example, the OSCAR coaching model, the STEPPA coaching model, the ACHIEVE coaching model, or the 5D coaching model.
Where Do the Words “Coach” and “Coaching” Come from?
To explore the origins of the words “coach” and “coaching,” we need to go back many hundreds of years.
In this section, we will explore how the term “coach” was first introduced into the language and how its meaning gradually began to resemble the meaning we attribute to the word “coach” (in relation to a person) today.
“Coach” Was Born in Hungary about 500 Years Ago
If we start by looking at the word ‘coaching’, there’s actually a rather peculiar story behind it. We need to travel back in time to Hungary in the 15th century where we’ll visit a small village named Kocs.
Kocs was known for building particularly good, spacious, and comfortable lightweight horse-drawn carriages that transported goods between Budapest and Vienna. Such a carriage was called a “kocsi“.
Kocsis became such a success that countries across Europe during the following century copied it. In English it became “coach”, in German “Kutsche”, and in French “coche”. Interestingly, in Danish and Swedish, the focus shifted away from the carriage itself and “kocsi” instead became the term for the driver of the horse-drawn carriage – the coachman.
Thus, a coach can also metaphorically be seen as someone who transports something / someone from point A to point B.
“Coach” First Appeared in the World of Education around 1830
If we look at when “coach” was first used to refer to a person as a kind of mentor, we need to move several hundred years forward in time from the 15th century to around 1830 to Oxford University in England.
Here, “coach” was used as slang for a tutor or assistant teacher who “carried” a student through to their exams. Again, the meaning was that a coach helps a person move from where they are now to where they want to be in the future. )Reference).
“Coaching” Makes Its Debut in the World of Sports in 1861
About 30 years later, coaching was first used in relation to sports. We are still in England, and from 1861 onwards, coaching was used in sports with the meaning of supporting athletes in their performances.
Although coaching at that time begins to resemble what we know today (see the definition of coaching earlier in this article), it would take about another 100 years before coaching takes on the distinct meaning of unlocking pure potential that it has today. In the early 19th century, coaching had a more mentor-like meaning than it does today.
What Are the (Humanistic and Psychological) Roots of Coaching
Modern coaching has its foundation in psychology, where several psychological theories (psychological approaches) have played important roles in shaping the understanding and content of coaching as we know it today. (reference.)
The Two ‘Negative’ Precursors to Modern Coaching Psychology
– The Freudian Approach and Behaviorism
Let’s begin with the first two psychological theories: the Freudian approach and behaviorism. These two approaches are very different, but what they have in common is seeing human beings primarly through a psychological-biological lens and having a more negative than positive view of humanity.
In brief (and very simplified), the Freudian view of humanity is characterized as follows: We are mainly need-driven beings, ‘lured’ and controlled by a wide range of primitive instincts (sexual, aggressive, hysterical, etc.). Our inner world can be seen as a conflict-ridden war zone between various parts of ourselves (rational and irrational, conscious and unconscious), and our general state of being and behavior depend on which parts of us win the ‘battle’.
The Freudian approach is in large part characterized by viewing humanity through a pathological disease lens. The premise is that there is something fundamentally wrong with us – we are relentlessly subjected to our own unpredictable and relatively unsympathetic nature.
Much can be said about Freud, but his ideas were revolutionary for their time, and today we owe him a big thanks for psychoanalysis and the concept of the conscious and the unconscious.
Behaviorism partially emerged as a reaction against the Freudian internally focused (and thus ‘unscientific’) approach. Behaviorists like John Watson basically viewed human beings as ‘blank canvases’, which meant that he considered personality to be shaped almost entirely by the environment. The understanding (assumption) was that behavior (and psychology) was merely a result of interaction with the world. Anything that could not be observed and measured in behavioral experiments was deemed unimportant, as one of the goals was to make psychology a science (science was specifically understood as: = knowledge that can be weighed and measured).
So, in short, Freud and psychoanalysis looked at internal, unconscious causes of behavior, while Watson and behaviorism focused on external concrete causes (also known as conditioned processes) of behavior.
These ways of viewing human beings were considered too narrow and negative by some people, which led to the emergence of humanistic psychology.
Coaching Psychology Has Strong Roots in Humanistic Psychology
Humanistic psychology emerged in the 1950s as a reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Psychoanalysis was seen as focusing too much on the dysfunctional and sick aspects of humanity as well as negative emotions and instincts.
Behaviorism was considered too focused on the importance of the environment with a narrow and mechanical view of humans and our behavior: as if all behavior were a matter of stimulus and response. Behaviorism had forgotten the human aspect, not least our personal will. (reference).
In short, humanistic psychology views human beings as whole individuals (a holistic perspective) with inherent free will and an inner drive towards growth and self-actualization (fulfilling one’s potential and increasing well-being).
The premise here is that humans are fundamentally whole and good, and if problems arise, it is because we have somehow deviated from our natural balance.
American psychologists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were among the earliest pioneers in this field. Seeing human beings as possessing free will, great potential, and an innate drive towards wholeness, health, and happiness they countered the pathological approach of psychoanalysis and the mechanistic approach of behaviorism.
Abraham Maslow was the first to introduce these ideas. He was tired of the focus on the negative aspects of human nature and argued that at a basic, fundamental level we humans are all good and kind and have a natural drive to achieve our highest potential.
Abraham Maslow believed that we are all born with certain needs that drive us to want to develop. This perspective forms the basis of Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, where the bottom comprises our most basic needs and the top represents needs that are about self-actualization and self-transcendence.
Carl Rogers is known for his client-centered therapy, where a good relationship between therapist and client is considered crucial for growth. Therapists (coaches) should actively engage and empathize with their clients (coachees) to understand their experiences and viewpoints. In addition to this, therapists should also accept their clients for who they are. The “unconditional positive regard” is considered necessary for the clients’ self-actualization.
Where Freud would argue that we humans are victims of childhood traumas, both Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow would say that yes, childhood experiences do play a role, but as humans, we also have many resources including free will and the ability to make choices, which we can choose to take responsibility for and make decisive in our journey towards growth, wholeness, and health.
Positive Psychology Provided a Practical ‘Take-Off’ for Coaching
Similar to humanistic psychology, positive psychology also emerged largely as a response to a more traditional, pathological psychology, albeit much later – towards the end of the last millennium.
“Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living.” (Peterson, 2008)
Can you go from okay to really good, instead of just from bad to okay?
With psychologist Martin Seligman at the helm, positive psychology can be seen as the study of strengths rather than weaknesses, joy instead of depression, optimism rather than pessimism, etc. The aim is to enhance and optimize ‘normal’ life rather than just trying to repair a life that is ‘broken’.
This approach is about looking forward in time in terms of achieving goals and satisfaction, rather than solely focusing on determinism and trauma. It examines why something works, rather than why it doesn’t.
By focusing on the strong and competent individual, positive psychology has provided a solid foundation for coaching psychology.
What Types of and Theoretical Approaches within Coaching Exist?
There are many different types of coaching as well as various theoretical approaches.
In this article, we will distinguish between types of coaching (typically focusing on specific fields / areas or target groups: business, sports, teenagers, spirituality, etc.) and theoretical approaches within coaching (focusing on specific theoretical approaches: systemic coaching, cognitive coaching, etc.).
Within specific domains, some approaches may be more dominant than others (e.g., the use of systemic coaching in business coaching), but this is not always the case.
Types of Coaching
In the following, we will present a list of different types of coaching accompanied by a very brief description. The purpose is not to make the list or descriptions exhaustive, but rather to provide insight into the vast and colorful world of types of coaching.
Coaches generally seem to operate under the motto: “If there isn’t a name for the type of coaching I do, I’ll just invent it. No problem!”
Depending on who you ask, the definitions of types of coaching types can vary. The following definitions of types of coaching are our own – some people may define them differently.
Business Coaching / Organizational Coaching
This is a very broad category that generally covers coaching individuals within a business context. The focus is typically on the business / organization (operations, growth, performance, roles, etc.) and to a lesser extent on personal issues and development (though this may still occur).
Business coaches may specialize in corporate coaching (larger companies) or with self-employed individuals / entrepreneurs (or both).
Executive Coaching / Leadership Coaching
An executive coach focuses on the role of being a leader – often a leader with significant responsibilities in a large organization. Typical areas that can be addressed include skills, ambitions, decisions, personal performance, etc.
It can be lonely and challenging at the top of the organizational hierarchy, so executive coaching provides a leader with a safe and confidential space to test ideas, hypotheses, and develop theories before potentially implementing them.
Although the specific purpose is not personal development, the outcome often leads to personal growth.
Employee Coaching
Today, employee coaching has become a natural part of many companies’ personnel policies. Employee coaching is a service that leaders often offer employees who are facing challenges in the workplace or are seeking development within the organization.
Employee coaching focuses on job satisfaction, addressing collaboration issues, developing skills, managing change, and supporting transitions into new roles.
Team Coaching
Team coaching aims to facilitate synergy within a work team in a workplace setting. The goal is often to enhance performance while fostering better internal and external relationships within the team.
To streamline team efforts, the coaching process often focuses on clarifying personal values and recognizing individual strengths for each team member. This will establish common ground and defining a shared mission.
Team coaching sessions can occur in one-on-one settings, with the entire team, or as a combination of both.
Project Coaching
As the name suggests, project coaching focuses on coaching related to projects, including activities such as defining, describing, coordinating, managing, collaborating, and so on.
The target audience for this type of coaching typically includes project managers, project team members, or entire project groups, aiming to facilitate smoother and more efficient project workflows.
Sales Coaching
Sales coaching typically focuses on identifying the salesperson’s skills and talents, overcoming any barriers (such as self-esteem issues or performance anxiety), and improving and developing existing and new strengths, techniques, and methods.
The goal is often straightforward: to achieve more effective sales. Often, sales coaches also take on mentorship roles, providing valuable tips and ideas based on their own experience.
Career Coaching
Career coaching may help anyone seeking greater clarity, development, and more effective action within their career path. Career coaching may take place at any point in a career, but it is most commonly seen during career changes or advancements.
In career coaching, there is typically a strong focus on forward-looking activities such as brainstorming, creating visions, setting priorities and goals, and developing paths / strategies to achieve desired outcomes.
However, it can also involve personal exploration of passions, preferences, interests, areas for development, and more.
Life Coaching
Life coaching is a highly popular form of coaching. Since it focuses on life as a whole, this type of coaching is suitable for everyone. The emphasis is on creating a more joyful and fulfilling life overall through activities such as identifying barriers, reducing stress, clarifying personal values, setting goals, problem-solving, and realizing dreams, among others.
Personal Development Coaching
A personal development coach is very similar to a life coach and there doesn’t seem to be that much of a difference. The focus is typically on personal growth and development and realizing one’s potential. It is also holistic and aims to achieve a generally better and more satisfying life.
Spiritual Coaching / Holistic Coaching
Spiritual coaching focuses on creating wholeness and balance. It is typically founded on the idea that a well-functioning individual is whole and composed of body, mind, and spirit. These elements must work together and be balanced in relation to each other. In spiritual coaching, the coaches guide the conversation very intuitively (going with the flow) based on their own sensations and insights.
The focus is on guiding the coachees back to a well-functioning wholeness, which may include transcending the ego and moving into the transpersonal realm.
Mindfulness Coaching
Mindfulness coaching typically consists of a combination of mindfulness training (such as meditation aimed at achieving full presence in the moment without distracting thoughts and emotions) and coaching.
The primary goal is often stress management – alleviating existing stress and preventing its recurrence.
Self-Esteem Coaching
Self-esteem coaching can address low self-esteem in general or specific areas where people may feel inadequate such as e.g. in their job, in love, within their family, etc., or situations like exams, sex etc.
A self-esteem coach typically works with fears, beliefs, limiting thoughts, setting boundaries, as well as strengths, abilities, and desires.
The goal is to increase awareness of the coachee’s own qualities, build self-acceptance and self-love, thereby reducing self-criticism and enhancing joy in life.
Relationship Coaching
This type of coaching is carried out with a couple with the aim of improving satisfaction, love, and joy in their relationship. Couples often seek out a relationship coach because of general challenges in the relationship or specific challenges in certain areas.
A relationship coach typically helps clarify individual thought patterns, break unhelpful habits, create space for sharing expectations, ensure that individual and shared values, dreams, and goals are identified and communicated, and provide various practical tools for communicating and managing challenging situations.
Dating Coaching
Not surprisingly, dating coaching is coaching focused on the process of dating. This means you can be coached on everything from your online profile text and photos on a dating site / app, to how to best behave when meeting someone in person, to how to potentially start a new relationship.
The focus is largely on finding the right match that is healthy and will bring joy. Additionally, coaching often addresses beliefs, self-esteem, desires, and dreams related to dating and the goals of dating (sex, fun, companionship, relationships, etc.).
Sex Coaching
Sex coaching focuses on people’s sex life and often also on their relationship, as sexual problems frequently originate from challenges within the relationship. A sex coach typically coaches couples, but also singles.
Since the starting point of sex coaching is primarily on having a good sex life, the focus initially revolves around how to achieve that. However, because sexual issues (lack of sex, low libido, boredom, etc.) often stem from elsewhere, the focus may shift to other topics.
This may include working on communication in sexual relationships, individual self-esteem, trying new things in the bedroom, and more. Many sex coaches also take on the role of sex therapists or educators.
Divorce Coaching
Divorce coaching is used before, during, or after a divorce. Divorce can be experienced as a deep crisis, involving many emotions (and sometimes children). There are often numerous questions and issues that require clarity and resolution. The focus is generally on creating the best possible process through collaboration, managing expectations, and effective communication.
Conflict Coaching, Mediation, and Facilitation
In workplaces as well as in personal lives, conflicts and disagreements can and will arise and sometimes they will be disruptive or destructive. Research has been conducted on what causes conflicts, how people typically behave in them (conflict behavior), and, importantly, how best to manage them (conflict management).
This includes knowledge of ways to communicate during a conflict (conflict communication) and methods to mediate between parties and resolve conflicts. Conflict coaches specialize in these areas.
Mediation, which aims to help people understand each other and reach agreements, is actually a focus area within conflict management, and some people are experts in this highly useful form of coaching.
Women’s Coaching and Men’s Coaching
These types of coaching for women and men mostly resemble life coaching, with the distinction that the coachee (and usually the coach as well) is either a woman or a man. Both genders are considered to have their specific challenges, interests, themes, and areas of development that women’s or men’s coaches specialize in working with.
Children’s Coaching
A children’s coach works with children approximately aged six to twelve years old. The focus of children’s coaching is mainly to support the child in building a solid foundation of self-worth, self-love, and self-understanding.
Through learning about themselves (self-awareness) from a perspective of loving self-acceptance, the child becomes better equipped to navigate their own thoughts and feelings, as well as life in general.
Teen Coaching / Youth Coaching
A teen coach or youth coach helps young people aged approximately 13-25 years old. Many young people experience their teenage and early adult years as intensely challenging, marked by significant internal and external pressure: the need to perform to pave the way for the future, the need to fit in to avoid being left out, the need to be attractive, and so on. All of this happens while not really knowing who they are. It’s not surprising that this can lead to stress and feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.
Through coaching, young people can work on self-worth and self-acceptance, social relationships, believing in themselves, finding and listening to their own inner voice, and handling worries, uncertainties, and the future.
Parent Coaching
Parent coaching is typically sought when parents experience challenges in their relationship with their child. These challenges may involve communication issues, challenges in being present, parenting practices, responsibilities, and more. Many parents experience loneliness, stress, low self-esteem in their parental role.
They may sense powerlessness when dealing with a child who is struggling or when interaction is not working well. Parent coaching focuses mainly on gaining greater insight, understanding, and acceptance – both in relation to the parents themselves and in relation to their children.
Senior Coaching
Today’s retirees do not have the same self-image as those just one or two generations ago. Nowadays, seniors typically do not view themselves as “old” – they are often healthy, active, and adventurous, seeing themselves simply in a different and new phase of life where they aim to make the most out of it. However, for some, transitioning from a working life to retirement can be a significant challenge.
Senior coaching focuses on easing this transition to a fulfilling and active senior life, allowing retirees to reflect on and create a new identity, uncover their desires, and formulate a plan to live out their dreams.
Financial Coaching / Money Coaching
A financial coach assists in clarifying financial matters, identifying financial goals, changing ineffective financial behaviors, and making sound long-term financial decisions. One of the primary areas often addressed is taking full responsibility for one’s finances, including understanding and gaining insight into personal reactions and behaviors. A financial coach often has a background in finance, such as financial advising.
Sports Coaching
Generally, a sports coach works to help athletes perform better and achieve their specific goals. This often involves clarifying challenges and barriers, strengths and qualities, and mapping out desired future scenarios.
In addition to this work, sports coaches can also focus on competition pressure, motivation, daily schedules, the planning of everyday life and training, stress management, and challenges during injury recovery periods. Practitioners of sports coaching may also be referred to as personal trainers.
Fitness Coaching
Fitness coaching can be seen as a ‘softer’ version of sports coaching. Fitness coaching focuses on both physical health and mental well-being (such as stress reduction and increasing self-esteem), though the physical aspect typically takes precedence.
A fitness coach often functions like a personal trainer, providing advice, guidance, and exercises for optimal personal training. Additionally, fitness coaches assist their coachee outside of the gym, helping them transition from an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one.
Weight Loss Coaching / Diet and Lifestyle Coaching
The goal of weight loss coaching is to help a person lose weight through healthy lifestyle changes. This typically includes a focus on increased physical activity (exercise) as well as dietary guidance to change any dysfunctional and unbalanced eating habits, which in certain cases can develop into eating disorders. Diet and lifestyle coaching is in many ways similar to weight loss coaching.
What Theoretical Approaches Exist Within Coaching?
As coaching has become more and more popular, there has also been a need to stand out professionally through expertise and certifications. For example, several institutions of higher education (business schools and universities) have embraced coaching, offering it as part of their master’s programs.
Overall, it can be said that there are two theoretical approaches within coaching – one focused on the individual and one focused on the system. There are strong advocates for both directions, which has tended to create a certain polarization within the field – one is either a proponent of one direction or the other.
As is the case in previous sections, the mentioned approaches will in no way be exhaustive or in-depth, but should simply be seen as providing an overview.
The Individual-Based Approach to Coaching
Cognitive Coaching
Broadly speaking, the individual-based approaches to coaching are represented by cognitive coaching. Cognitive coaching originates from cognitive therapy, where, in short, the focus is on reinterpreting one’s dysfunctional and negative thought patterns into new sets of thoughts that are more constructive and positive.
The theoretical foundation of cognitive coaching (and cognitive therapy) is that our reactions and behavior are guided by our emotions and thoughts. Thoughts are considered ‘coming first’ – they are believed to influence everything else.
The task of the cognitive coach is therefore to help the coachee become aware of his / her unconscious and controlling thought patterns (and emotions). The next task is to learn to change / “regulate” thoughts from being negative and destructive to being more positive and solution-oriented. This should ultimately result in healthier and more functional behavior. This type of coaching is found to be most suitable for specific and concrete issues or challenges.
NLP Coaching
NLP coaching is in large part based on cognitive psychology, and here in Denmark, NLP coaching is most notably represented through Sofia Manning and her coaching education (Sofia Manning is a student of the very popular American coach, author, and motivational speaker Tony Robbins).
NLP stands for “neuro-linguistic programming,” and the theoretical foundation of this approach is based on the interaction between our mind (neuro) and language (linguistics), which influences our behavior (programming).
Through NLP, the coach aims to use language to help reinterpret dysfunctional beliefs about ourselves and the world, which have created barriers and impediments to our quality of life and personal development.
The Systemic Approach to Coaching
Systemic Coaching
The systemic approach is represented by systemic coaching. Theoretically, systemic coaching is based on the premise that who we are does not consist of a “true inner core,” but rather the idea that the self is constantly changing and is largely shaped by the social context (roles and positions) we find ourselves in.
In systemic coaching, the aim is to create reflection and development based on a greater understanding of the relationships we engage in and the actions we take within them. This makes systemic coaching highly suitable for coaching in businesses and organizations, where many of the challenges that arise can benefit from being viewed within a workplace context and the roles and situations one encounters there.
A characteristic of the systemic approach in practice is, among other things, a distinction between what are called “linear” and “circular” questions (there are also other types of questions, which e.g. you can read more about here).
Linear questions focus primarily on “what” – typically uncovering perceived causes and effects (these questions are thus clarifying). Circular questions (preferred in systemic coaching) aim to have coachees seeing themselves and the situation from an external, meta-perspective (these questions are more exploratory).
Through a meta-perspective, one can, for example, inquire how others might see, experience, or think about the current situation. This helps mentally separate the coachee from his / her problem, which is considered beneficial for taking action.
Narrative Coaching
Narrative coaching stems from the systemic approach. The idea behind narrative coaching is that through narrative conversations, we gain access to exploring and understanding how our limited and negative perceptions of the world and ourselves affect our ability to achieve the goals and desires we have in life.
By creating new interpretations of reality, the narrative (people’s stories about themselves and their life) is reconstructed with meaningful stories that strengthen the coachee’s identity, self-image, and agency.
Do We Practice Coaching Here at Good Conscious Life?
– No, We Don’t. We Offer Guidance of Consciousness: a Holistic Hybrid Focusing on Awareness
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, we refer to our practice as guidance of consciousness, which is essentially a blend of many different methods, including coaching, guiding / mentoring / teaching, and therapy.
The advantage of this more holistic approach is that we fully adapt to the needs of the individuals we are working with. Our perspective is long-term, holistic, and spiritually / transpersonally oriented, our minds are open and non-judgmental, and our approach is playful and intuitive, tailored to the individual.
Although we often start by addressing specific issues and challenges, we always aim for the ‘big picture’ – to activate the fundamental and important aspects of ourselves (our consciousness), so that the people we work with can create a better and more meaningful life experience, resulting in a good life in practice.
What Would You Like to Read Now?
 Go to the ‘main page’ for guidance, therapy, and coaching: What Is Guidance of Consciousness, and Why Is It so Effective? |
Other Pages Related to This Topic
What Is Psychotherapy Treatment? |
Go to the Article Library: Articles on Personal Development – An Online Library on Consciousness and personal development
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