Have you ever had the experience where you went into a program thinking you were getting one thing but got something completely different? Where you paid to be heard and were told what to do instead, or you paid to be told what to do and were invited to share your feelings instead?
The first example that comes to mind for me is weight loss programs. Some are designed to tell you what to eat, and how much, every minute of the day, with no thought on your part… but they also don’t address your emotional eating questions, while others ask you to eat anything you want within a point or calorie range and focus on mindset and lifestyle changes.
Some of us do better when we are told what to do, and some of us hate it. And sometimes it depends on the circumstances.
These are things you need to take into consideration when you are looking for a coach or a consultant that fits your personal style and circumstances, and I figured out the difference when I attended my first Co-active Coaching course.
Are you getting a little saturated by the word coach? Does it seem like everybody and their neighbor is a coach of something now? My Avon lady is a beauty coach and my Tupperware lady is an organizational coach… I wish I was joking.
Coaches, especially those trained by CTI are there to help guide you to come to your own answers. They believe that all of us are naturally creative, resourceful and whole. Whereas consultants, like the health and wellness consultant I used to be, are there to give you the answers, to tell you how many minutes a day to exercise and what foods to avoid. Consultants are more like the sports coach because you do get some rah rah but mostly you get course correction to perfect your skills. And I think that is where the title of coach gets fuzzy.
When I pay for advice on how to build-up my business, or increase SEO, or my conversion rate, I am asking for a consultant’s role. Some of them may call themselves coaches, but what I want is a consultant. That’s why the interview process is so important. You don’t want to dismiss someone who could potentially help you. I also think (and the reason I chose to write this) that the industry has to come up with a best practices standard to help clarify things for the consumer.
For now, all I can do is start with myself. I am a coach in the sense that I am here to help you discover who you really are when you drown out the noise of everyone else’s expectations, I am here to help you figure out what you want out of this one wild and precious life, and I am the one who champions you every step of the way towards those goals. If you are ready to have an ally in the pursuit of your life’s purpose I would love to support you. Book a discovery call to interview me, because you want to be sure my style is the right fit for you.
Have you ever been wooed by someone with a coach title and got something you didn’t expect?