Natalie M. Leslie

coaching is…

Coaching is defined by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Professional coaching focuses on setting goals, creating outcomes and managing personal change. The Core Competencies further help to define what is expected of professional coaches.

Coaches, like Natalie, who have graduated from an ICF-accredited coach training program and meet certain experience requirements are awarded an ICF credential. They are also bound by the ICF Code of Ethics. Natalie is a graduate of the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and has been awarded the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from ICF.

To understand what coaching is, it can be helpful to distinguish it from other personal or organizational support professions.

coaching is not…

Therapy: Psychotherapy deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or in relationships. The focus is often on resolving difficulties or traumas arising from the past that hamper an individual’s emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with the present in more emotionally healthy ways. Coaching, on the other hand, supports personal and professional growth based on self-initiated change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one’s work or personal life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action, accountability, and follow through. For more information on the differences between therapy and coaching, you may read the ICF guidelines for referring a coaching client to therapy.

Consulting: Individuals or organizations retain consultants for their expertise. While consulting approaches vary widely, the assumption is that the consultant will diagnose problems and prescribe (and sometimes implement) solutions. With coaching, the assumption is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.

Mentoring: A mentor is an expert who provides wisdom and guidance based on their own experience. Mentoring may include advising, counseling and coaching. The coaching process does not include advising or counseling, and focuses instead on individuals or groups setting and reaching their own objectives.

Training: Training programs are based on objectives defined by the trainer/instructor. Though objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached, with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path that coincides with an established curriculum, developed and facilitated by the trainer. Coaching is less linear without a set curriculum.

Sports Coaching: An athletic coach is often seen as an expert who, based on their greater experience and knowledge, directs the behavior of individuals or teams (particularly behaviors that are being executed poorly or incorrectly) through physical training and other means. Professional coaching assumes that the individual or team being coached is capable of action, accountability, and generating their own solutions. Professional coaches do not prescribe solutions; they apply their experience and knowledge of the individual or team being coached to support their achievement of specific goals.

Some portions of these definitions have been quoted from ICF’s website.