INHE 2002 Week 1 Coaching Definition Post Example

Week 1 Discussion: What Makes Coaching Coaching?

Whose Answer Is It? An Opening Post Separating Coaching From Advising and Teaching on One Criterion, With Two Replies Testing It

None of us has coached anyone yet, so I want to treat this definition as a position I will have to defend later. My criterion is a single question: whose answer is it? In coaching, the plan and the next step come from the client, and the coach's job is to help the client find and test them. In advising, the answer comes from the advisor, who knows something the client does not and recommends it. In teaching, the answer comes from a body of knowledge, and the teacher's job is to transfer it so the learner can use it.

A systematic review of health and wellness coaching describes it as a patient-centered process in which the client sets goals, with the coach supporting self-discovery and accountability (Wolever et al., 2013). That fits my criterion, since the goal-setting belongs to the client. The same review found that published programs called "coaching" varied widely, and some looked more like education or advice. My criterion would sort those differently, and I think that is useful rather than a problem.

Here is a test from my own life. My cousin works as a "health coach" at a gym. When a member asks how to lose weight, she gives them a printed meal plan and a workout schedule. Under my criterion, that is advising, however good the plan is, because the answer is hers. When she instead asks what the member has tried, what got in the way and what they want to try next week, she is coaching. She does both on the same day, sometimes in the same conversation.

The criterion does not say coaching is better than advising or teaching. A person with a new diagnosis may need teaching first, and a person choosing between two treatments may need advice from a clinician. It only says which activity is happening. Readiness matters here too: someone not yet thinking about change is in a different place from someone ready to act (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997), and coaching that hands the decision back to the client may suit the first person better than a plan they did not ask for.

My question for classmates: is there any moment in coaching where the coach's answer is appropriate, and if so, does that moment stop being coaching?

Reply to Brianna

Brianna, you defined coaching as helping someone reach their goals with support and encouragement. I like that you put the goals in the client's hands. Under your definition, though, a personal trainer who designs every workout also helps someone reach their goals with support. Would your definition count that trainer as a coach? If not, what separates them? I think the answer is who decides the steps.

Reply to Malik

Malik, your point that coaches sometimes share information is a strong challenge to my criterion. If a client asks what the recommended amount of weekly activity is, it would be strange for a coach to refuse to say. Coaching texts describe offering information with permission, then returning the decision to the client, as part of the role (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). So maybe my criterion should be about who owns the decision, not who supplies every fact. Does that revision answer your objection?

References

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

Prochaska, J. O., & Velicer, W. F. (1997). The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. American Journal of Health Promotion, 12(1), 38-48. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-12.1.38

Wolever, R. Q., Simmons, L. A., Sforzo, G. A., Dill, D., Kaye, M., Bechard, E. M., Southard, M. E., Kennedy, M., Vosloo, J., & Yang, N. (2013). A systematic review of the literature on health and wellness coaching: Defining a key behavioral intervention in healthcare. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 2(4), 38-57. https://doi.org/10.7453/gahmj.2013.042