{"id":245,"date":"2023-11-01T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/?p=245"},"modified":"2024-01-08T14:04:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T12:04:43","slug":"why-is-coaching-so-often-confused-with-advice-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/why-is-coaching-so-often-confused-with-advice-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is coaching so often confused with advice giving"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content&#8221;][vc_column css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1700004361688{padding-right: 5vw !important;padding-left: 5vw !important;}&#8221;][vc_column_text]<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those who have found ourselves in a Coach role know that very often \u2013 during our introductory sessions with our Coachees as well as later on \u2013 we need to clarify that in coaching no advice is given from the Coach to the Coachee, and that this is an important (although not the only) area that differentiates coaching from mentoring or advisory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are several reasons why people who are seeking to be coached have this mistaken impression. We indicate some below:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The widespread use of the term \u2018Coach\u2019 in the sports field has contributed to associating coaching with advice giving.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even today, decades since the coaching practice has been widely used in our country, we have not found the appropriate word to describe the right meaning of the term in our language. If we attempted to ask our friends and colleagues, it would be fair to expect that most would mistakenly interpret \u2018coaching\u2019 as \u2018guidance\u2019. Only a few might associate it with the Socratic method and with the \u2018art and science\u2019 of asking powerful questions that elicit insightful answers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leaders have been using coaching interchangeably with other methods \u2013 and that is desirable. However, because in the flow of the discussion it may be difficult for the leader to say \u201cI will now stop offering feedback and begin coaching\u201d or \u201cI will now stop coaching and begin directing you\u201d, team members do not realize any distinction between the methods, especially if they are not familiar with the coaching principles. Even though their leader has allocated time and energy in order to support them using a range of methods and tools, for them their experience \u2013 for lack of another name \u2013 is referred to as \u2018coaching\u2019.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf I already knew what I was supposed to do I wouldn\u2019t have come to you\u201d is a response we often get when \u2013 with the best of intentions \u2013 we attempt to offer coaching. Listening to this phrase and out of a desire to give value to those reaching out for us, we succumb to the pressure to respond with a good advice, even if deep down we are aware that it is more effective for our coachees to come up with their own answer, as well as to take accountability for their own decisions. And yet, in doing so, we unwittingly contribute to perpetuating the pre-existing difficulty of distinguishing coaching from mere advice giving.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is the way to deal with it:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Training \u2013 even though we may only have limited time, it is important to invest a few minutes in explaining to our team member who is reaching out for coaching what it is exactly and in which ways it differs from other methods such as feedback, guidance, advisory or mentoring.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Boundaries and consent \u2013 we need to set boundaries around the practice and to get the team member\u2019s consent with regards to what is to be done. How do we do that?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI am aware that you have reached out to get advice and I promise you that, if we find ourselves under pressure or in a crisis, you will get the advice or solution you need from me. But, right now, I think it will be more beneficial for your own growth to support and empower you to find the answer for yourself. I believe that you no longer are at the point where you used to be, when you needed ready-made solutions and answers, but instead that you can grow and have more autonomy and self-reliance in the tasks you undertake. What do you think? Want to give it a try?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If we get a positive response to the above questions, here is what is then needed from us:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Practice and discipline \u2013 for all the reasons we mentioned in the beginning, offering coaching may be more challenging than we think (even for experienced or well-trained Coaches). The advice is to approach the practice with a growth mindset, thus with the belief that \u2013 even if at times we succumb to pressure or the habit of giving advice \u2013 using persistence, practice and discipline we may seek to continuously improve in effectively applying the method.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=&#8221;Get in touch&#8221; style=&#8221;outline-custom&#8221; outline_custom_color=&#8221;#004494&#8243; outline_custom_hover_background=&#8221;#004494&#8243; outline_custom_hover_text=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; shape=&#8221;round&#8221; size=&#8221;lg&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;none&#8221; link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.designate.gr%2Fweb%2Fcontact%2F|title:Contact%20us&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1699805371643{padding-top: 40px !important;}&#8221; el_class=&#8221;bold&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are several reasons why people who are seeking to be coached have this mistaken impression&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-executive-coaching"],"modified_by":"Fotini Dariotaki","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2098,"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/2098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.designate.gr\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}