Ask Jen: "What do you think is the key difference between life coaching and coaching in organisations?"

"If you listened to a cross-section of life-coaching and corporate coaching, you should expect you to hear very similar conversations; the skills, the steps or path, and the principles of CoachWise™ should all still be in play. In fact, you shouldn't hear a difference at all.

And whilst I could talk about how CoachWise™ coaches are equipped with skills to help clients navigate the complexity of organizational life, one of the key differences between life coaching and corporate coaching is in the setup. In life coaching, the client finds and contacts a coach, agrees payment and terms, decides the agenda, and the whole process is strictly confidential.

In corporate coaching, the process involves a corporate sponsor who decides many of the same questions before the coach and client ever meet. In some cases, the coaching is offered to the client as a fix for some problem or lack of ability that's been identified by the sponsor, or by the client's associates. 

The problem is that coaching is not designed to fix problems. And it's not designed to run anyone else's agenda through the client's life - either their professional life or their personal life.

Coaching is designed to help clients get what they want. So, in corporate coaching, whatever has transpired before the coach and client start working together, it's critical for the coach to help the client decide on his or her own goals and purpose. Usually, that means means putting aside for the moment whatever agenda (goals, purpose, vision, mission) has been handed to the client from the corporation, the sponsor, or the client's associates. As well, clients can also start with a "fixing" agenda of their own, which also should be set aside. 

Once the coach and client are clear about what has heart and meaning for the client - independent of everyone else's ideas for this client - then, and only then, the coach and client can look together at whatever results others might want out of the coaching, and find the greatest overlap.

If this sounds hard, it's because sometimes it is. But here's what makes it easy: When the client approaches coaching with a strong motivation to grow as a leader, we will always find an overlap between the client's goals and the corporations goals. Stronger leaders are always going to benefit the organisations they work within. So, any effective coaching around leadership will directly impact the organisation's goals for the better. 

If I had any single advice to give to buyers of organisational coaching, it would be this: "Give coaching to your most talented players with no agenda other than leadership growth. Expect great results and set up appropriate measures for leadership growth at reasonable time frames. And then stay out of it." 

While I'm at it, the other piece of advice is for the sponsor or organisational buyer to get a coach of their own: with direct experience of coaching, it's much easier to see what it can do and how to employ it effectively."

Highly opinionated as ever,
Jen Lindsay, MCC