What is Coaching

Coaching: What is it and how does it help?

Coaching is for people who want change. People who want to learn, develop, and grow — personally and professionally. More and more, change is the only constant - both in work and personal life - and change demands upskilling and reskilling.

So what is coaching — and how it can be used to support personalized growth and sustained behavior change in your organization?

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What is Coaching?

Coaching is a developmental process where a coach supports a client in achieving specific personal or professional goals by providing training and guidance. Together, the coach and coachee practice and build the skills and behaviors required to make progress toward their goals.

Who is coaching for?

Coaching is for everyone. It's an individualized process that can nurture rapid growth and help catalyze sustainable change. But it’s hard work — for both the coach and the individual. And it starts with investing in key impact areas that help to unlock your full potential.

Coaching focuses on formal goals. A coach helps coachee develop self-awareness around strengths and motivation. Ultimately, this leads to changing the behaviors that are not serving them to maximize their potential.

Coaching is an investment that keeps on giving. It delivers value in the moment and continues to return benefits over a career and lifetime. And for organizations, it can be the tool that helps your employees go from flailing to thriving.

Differences between coaching, therapy, and mentorship

Overall, people's well-being and mental health are low. As a result, performance might be at risk, both personally and professionally.

But what specific type of support will address these needs? Maybe you or your employees need coaching, mentorship, or access to therapy and clinical care.

While all three can have a positive impact on individuals’ personal and professional lives, each manner of support is unique. However, there is some overlap which can make the landscape feel confusing. What are the differences between coaching, therapy, and mentorship?

Coaching. Coaching helps individuals develop self-awareness, set goals, and proactively build skills. Coaching helps individuals to grow both professionally and personally.

Evidence-based coaching grounded in positive psychology can also build mental fitness skills. These learned skills ultimately help to supplement mental health care and improve well-being. Coaching generally helps focus on the present and the future, not the past.

Therapy. Therapy is clinical mental health care to help individuals manage and reduce symptoms of mental illness. Therapists are licensed by the state and have a Master’s degree along with state credentialing.

Unlike coaching which focuses on the here and now, therapy focuses on healing the past. Therapy treats mental health conditions, and helps with personal and family issues. When considering coaching vs. therapy, think of what type of clinical or mental health support you or your employees may need.

Mentorship. Mentorship is a relationship focused on career and professional growth. Oftentimes, mentors consult and advise on professional challenges. They can also help encourage new ways for mentees to grow and develop in their careers.

Mentors help facilitate connections and build social capital. When determining whether you or your employees need a coach or a mentor, think about a multi-pronged approach. By doing you, you can help support employee development.

There are differences between coaching, mentorship, and therapy or counseling. Yet all three provide support to the individual. Some people might need all three in their corner while others might choose one or two.

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Coaching will help you

Grow

Manage Stress

Persevere

*graphics by Martin Noun Project (CC by 3.0)

The Costs of Coaching

If you’re ready to start unlocking your workforce’s potential with coaching, you might be wondering about the cost. Let’s break down the cost of coaching.

First, like any employee program or benefit, coaching can not be evaluated by cost alone. It is important to look at what types of outcomes you or your organization want to get out of the coaching relationship or program. Factors such as the impact on employee retention, productivity, engagement, and well-being are a few components to take into consideration.

The outcomes and benefits you see from coaching will also depend on the quality of coaching you choose. It also depends on the degree to which the coaches are aligned and appropriate to your needs and objectives. A career coach might not be the right fit if employees are in need of well-being.

The cost of coaches will vary. Generally, coaches charge anywhere from $75 to $300 per hour. This range takes into account things like experience, length of session, credentials, and professional training and development. Experienced executive coaches can cost far more.

With Grace, we conservatively predict a 3.5X to 5X return on investment (ROI) on investment in Grace coaching for a given employee population. Especially in today’s economic landscape, Grace can help you build resilient teams, retain top talent, and drive innovation and growth.