One of the side effects of my year-long Executive Coaching Apprenticeship is that I’ve had lots of conversations recently with my colleagues about what coaching actually is and how it works.

I’ve always said that if you pull 100 people off the street and ask them “hey, what does a coach do?”, you’ll get 100 different answers.

So I often find myself explaining to my esteemed banking colleagues that coaching is NOT counselling. Which means there’s no poking around in someone’s past or unpicking the childhood trauma of being passed over for the school netball team. Nor is it mentoring. So there’s no tips, no advice and certainly no telling someone what to do. 

It’s not training, consulting or playing Agony Aunt either.

Which might well prompt the question…

What exactly IS coaching then?

Well, I liken it to my trip to the loo last night. I don’t want to drag this email too far down the pan. But at 3am in deepest, darkest Sheffield, Chateau Grundy is as pitch black as it comes. So I was stumbling around, bumping into the bedside table, feeling my way along the hall and almost going arse over tit down the stairs until a minute or so later, I’d reached my lavatorial destination. 

After I’d answered nature’s call, I began the return trip to the bedroom.

This time, my eyes had adjusted. It wasn’t perfect mind you. But I made out the stairs, I dodged the creaky floorboard and the hallway was much clearer too. And I was back in bed before you could say “spend a penny”.

Well, guess what?

This is exactly how coaching works.

We all have moments when it feels like we’re stumbling around in the dark. And when that happens, the role of a coach is to help you turn up the light (if we're being picky, it's to help you see the lights were never actually off).

I doubt I’ll use this metaphor in my next Apprenticeship submission. I have to keep that writing a bit more boardroom friendly.

But coaching really does work this way. 

After all, the clearer you see, the easier life becomes.

If stumbling around and bumping into things feels familiar, I have two 1:1 coaching packages on offer right now:

Trust Me, I Work Here: for successful professionals who want to be sharper and more effective at their job

The Music Inside You: for anyone who wants the clarity and courage to do more of what matters to them

Enrolment for both is only open until 6^th June. 

So if either speaks to you, best not hang about.

To fulfilment, 

Tom