Tag Archives: relationship coaching
Coaching Niches: Leadership Coaching versus Life Coaching
The coaching industry offers many niches. We have life coaching, relationship coaching, communication coaching, leadership coaching, executive coaching, and many more. On the surface it may seem that all these categories offer more clarity for people who are looking for specific results. However, they also create artificial ‘separators’ in our understanding of what coaching actually does.
I believe that coaching serves the whole person and not just a fragmented part of a person — and that all types of coaching include a very personal and intimate conversation about values, ideals, and being authentic. We also talk about relationships and how we communicate with one another, so that we can relate our values and ideals in an authentic way, which many times calls for improving communication skills.
Whether I work with entrepreneurs, business owners, middle managers, or senior executives, after trust is established in our professional relationship, they tend to share other aspects of their lives outside of their careers.
The coaching goal is not to dissect and look at only one narrow aspect. For instance, leadership coaching overlaps with life coaching a great deal. Every person must learn to be a leader in his/her own life — and every leader must lead from the perspective of his/her own sense of authentic values.
We can’t be blind to ways in which all the elements come together in our lives. Coaching is meant to broaden one’s thinking, deepen one’s feelings, and connect the dots in one’s whole life to make sense and bring joy.
Relationship Metaphors in Coaching
I love creating these “situational metaphors” that quickly illustrate particular situations my clients are going through — allowing me to present a different perspective without making them defensive or making me come off as an “expert.”
For instance, one of my clients was holding onto a relationship she knew wasn’t healthy for her, because it was her first serious relationship; her first “grown-up” love.
I said, “It sounds as if though you discovered this great candy store and immediately were attracted to this brightly-colored lollipop — and didn’t get a chance to see the rest of the store, which was full of great, tasty, and much more sophisticated candy. What comes up for you when I say that? ”
Do you have any coaching metaphors you’d like to share?