Authentic Coaching

I have recently been asking myself if it is possible to be an authentic coach.

The CIPD defines coaching as "developing a person’s skills and knowledge so that their job performance improves, leading to the achievement of organisational objectives. It targets high performance and improvement at work, although it may also have an impact on an individual’s private life." http://bit.ly/ei0PI

I agree with the CIPD definition but would add the worlds of business and life are never separate, they always overlap and coaching will have an overlapping impact. Coaching should not become counselling but you have to take the persons life as a whole life into account.

Coaches are trained to be non judgemental and respectful of others models of the world. To enable this clean language is used and coaches keep their opinions and personal models out of the coaching session.

I define being an authentic coach by being true to who you think you should be coaching and why. It also means giving an opinion when asked, and that might be uncomfortable for the person being coached to hear. There is also an element of allowing your own life story to become part of the dynamic, within reason. After all storytelling and metaphor are powerful methods of enabling change when used respectfully.