Hi Everyone
What do you think the biggest myths in coaching are at the moment?
I am preparing a report and would appreciate your in-put.
Your thoughts about myths might relate to life coaching, business coaching, team coaching, executive coaching, corporate coaching, some niche within coaching or the field of coaching over all.
Many thanks
Amechi Udo
16 Responses
from the hip
Myths:
~Coaching is just the new word for training or teaching (like HR is for Personnel or Finance is for Accounting)
~the best coach is someone who is an expert on the subject
~only senior people need coaching, everyone else can be sheep dipped
~coaches have to shout and swear at people
~coaching sessions are like therapy
~coaching takes a long time and we haven’t got time to coach.
~a coach has the answers
~only failures need coaching, you can’t learn anything from your successes (only other people can learn from your successes)
Hope that gives you food for thought!
Some more myths
Following on from Rus:
Coaching is only for senior members of staff
Coaching is certainly not needed at senior level… ‘I haven’t got where I’ve got needing coaching’.
It’s a fix for under-performers… almost a last resort.
Life Coaching: It’s flowery, people will think there’s something wrong with me, counselling, it’s to deal with people who have serious ‘issues’
Hope this helps too..
What is coaching
I used to have a problem with understanding the differences between: Training, Development and Coaching.
Through experience I feel happy that I now understand these differences.
Training: is improving the knowledge and understanding of a subject, skill, or behaviour.
Development: is transfering this knowledge and understanding into an applied skill.
Coaching: is enabling people to improve on an aspect of thier lives by being guided to find find the solution for themselves
Leaders ..
Thanks for the prompt and mine is…
” Leaders can get by without getting it, or doing it.”
Nick McB
A few more
“Coaches only question and draw out responses from the coachee, they don’t offer advice and guidance and they don’t challenge blatant foolishness.”
“Anyone can be a successful coach.”
“You don’t need to be an expert within a field to make the best coach.” (which is sometimes true, but I can’t see Manchester United hiring coaches without them having a huge amount of expertise in football!)
“Coaching is never training or mentoring or teaching.” (again ask the coach of any top football club)
“Coaching must never be about attaining a pre-defined outcome.”
Coaching’ll Fix It!
My favorite one is that coaching fixes everything. Automatically. In fact, all you need is a coaching program (no one even needs to attend it!) and magically everyone in the organisation is perfect.
Good luck with the report!
Nikki
The magic answer?
That coaching is the solution for everything..that it will meet all learning and development needs…that business & personal performance is guaranteed to improve…
I am a fan of coaching…but I recognise it has limits – training / workshops / courses do STILL have a place & a value!
FIX IT!
I agree with the comments that people expect Coaching to fix all of their problem areas and development needs, which of course it can’t! Also, something I have experienced first hand with some delegates is their managers feel that one Coaching session is enough, they find it difficult to buy into long-term business coaching, with coaching objectives and goals, coupled with not believing they have to be the driver in-field with the Sales Engineer, driving the coaching culture and ensuring the delegate has the right support in achieving their objectives. So, it can be two fold, convincing the delegate and manager about the benefits of coaching, ensuring they have realistic expectations and that coaching doesn;t stop when they leave the Coach!
low performers
“Coaching should only be for low performers”
I’m too busy for coaching
“Managers never have time to coach” – that may well be, but coaching is integral to the manager’s role.
Nick
Coaching is Complicated
Perhaps driven by the hugely expensive coaching programmes available in the marketplace, I think that there is a perception that it requires some sort of mythical ‘expertise’ to coach.
In fact, a good conversationalist with an enquiring mind, prepared to listen at least as much as speak, makes an excellenct coach. Every question asked, however small, makes a difference.
The profession needs demystifying for the greater good.
To follow another point, I believe that training supported and complemented by a good coach (and it could easily be a peer, rather than a line manager) is the way forward for developing potential.
Coaching Businesses to Success
Coaching myths
IMHO one of the greatest myths being pedalled about coaching at the moment is that if you get an expensive coaching qualification it will be an easy pathway to a lucrative living!
A myth or true? Coaching qualifications is currently a bigger industry than coaching itself.
That there is one way
Myth: that there is one best way of doing it.
This is not generally expressed as an overt belief, but it underlies a number of training syllabuses as well as assertions made by coaches in their marketing (eg “coaching is …”; “coaching always …”).
Incidentally, how many books are there out there that simply say, “do it like me”? And how many authors admit in those books that they believe such extensive self-revelation is a good way to facilitate people’s learning. Just a thought.
Getting more response here than CIPD forums Amechi!
Creating (lucrative) differences
Hi all,
I too note the number of ‘accrediting coaching organisations’ that claim to guarantee to double/treble/septuple your income from coaching simply by ‘attending this FREE 2 day course….and then the twelve subsequent modules at only £2,395 each VAT!’ (n fact – I seem to receive regular mailshots into my inbox from them.)
They appear to know the secret differences between life coaching, business coaching, team coaching, executive coaching etc etc.
Yes, whatever works for the people who attend these course, find them useful and the clients they go on to work with. But, surely, as Peter said, we are just talking about the same skill set, combined with rapport and experience that are resonant with the client.
So – myth: ‘accreditation guarantees the quality of coaching and likelihood of best outcome’.
All the best with your report Amechi.
Reb
Coacing – the end all to end all!
To me there are too many ‘coaches’ (usually managers)who believe that coaches are born not made and consequently make no attempts to make themselves into effective coaches. In this way, I believe, and in my experience, there are more problems achieved than successes. Staff feel that they have to ‘pamper’ their managers into thinking that they are doing good; the managers believe this and perpetuate the problems. All coaches MUST have training in the art and science of coaching, and must understand that it is not the heaven-sent answer to EVERY learning/training problem – because it ain’t Has anybody tried to imbue learning skills in behaviour through coaching!!!! Training and learning is ‘horses for courses’ and an over-reliance on coaching, e-learning, off or on the job training must be living in cloud cuckoo land!
All that Bol????….
One of the biggest myths is that just because the media have chosen to make programs on Life Coaching for losers and Life Coaching for the stupid rich middle class who don’t know how to deal with there cash and hair dresser.
Is that Life coaching is for losers and stupid middle class people….
HOW COULD IT WORK FOR ME…
Who is the loser in this myth?
The Life Coach or all the people that could benefit from coaching.