Coaching is an effective training methodology for human beings that helps them evolve in one or all areas of life. It aids professionals from all sectors in maximizing their potential and delivering more results in their personal lives, their careers or their own business.
This human-and professional-training approach assists individuals in enhancing results through the optimization of their own technical and emotional resources.
Consultants are experts in specific fields and always bring projects and answers to the client.
In contrast, coaches do not have ready-made plans; their only program is to help individuals achieve what they want. Although coaches also have specialties, their greatest competence is the coaching process.
The main difference between the two is that the consulting process takes place from the outside in whereas in coaching that happens from the inside out.
It is great to have someone with proven experience to show you the ropes and serve as a role model, but the coach does not use his/her personal experiences as a reference of success.
The client is the expert on his/her own life. The coach is the expert on the coaching process and helps the client even if he/she does not have first-hand knowledge of what the client has experienced.
The therapist’s functions entail helping patients solve problems, overcome difficulties and, sometimes, control mental illnesses.
Coaches do not work with mental illnesses nor spend too much time on client issues and problems. In fact, they do not see problems, only opportunities. They focus on solutions. Coaches do not get stuck in the past nor try to analyze behaviors but work the present with focus on the future.
The therapist usually helps the patient understand the “why” while the coach helps the client focus on the “how”.