What Other Mindsets Are There? Coaching Core Competency #2
Coaching Core Competency #2: Embodies a Coaching Mindset.
Coaching is not the only way to approach spiritual development, forward movement, or solution generation, but it may be the best one for many situations. And possibly the most overlooked or misunderstood.
Here are a few ways we talk about it at Bridges Coaching.
1) We define the difference between Coaching and Counseling, Mentoring and Consulting. They all have their place. They all can be healthy. And they all are different.
In a nutshell:
- Counseling is more diagnostic and prescriptive, it helps people deal with their past as it affects their present. Coaching may help people to uncover what has been holding them back, but it is a joint process rather than a professional reading the situation and determining how best to move forward.
- Mentoring is more like apprenticing. It is a passing off of a skill or helping another person experience something common for the caregiver.
- Consulting is bringing in an expert for their...
The "Sexy" Coaching Core Competency #1
Coaching, as an industry, is not just a loosey-goosey way of conversational growth. There are specific guidelines called "Competencies" that are the foundation for what coaching entails, both in the secular applications and in Christian arenas.
The gold standard for coaching is the International Coaching Federation (ICF), they set the standards for credentialing worldwide. Bridges Coaching has chosen to align with Christian Coaches Network International (CCNI) which extrapolates all the ICF Coaching Core Competencies sharing how they are Biblical-based and used to forward the kingdom.
At Bridges Coaching we believe coaching makes disciples not dependents and in this coaching competencies series, we will dig into why we feel so strongly about that statement.
The first Core Competency is "Demonstrates Ethical Practice". In know, "Sexy" right? But the truth is that without ethical practice, coaching is just loosey-goosey.
Not everyone who says they are a coach...
What (exactly) Is Coaching?
Coaching has become somewhat of a buzzword in ministry circles and in the business world. It's trendy to say you are "coaching" someone, or getting "coached".
But what does "coaching" really mean?
First off let's be clear that no one owns any word and we all know words can mean more than one thing. In fact, we have all seen words grow to mean different things in our lifetimes. Over the last few years, our society has morphed the meaning of some of the following words:
Masked, Essential, Agenda, Woke, Lockdown, Triggered...
Please stop for a moment and take a deep breath before we go on.
No need to get wound up, I'm just trying to make a point that when someone thinks of "woke" they no longer simply think of when their alarm clock went off, or in many circles, the word "agenda" does not simply apply only to what you will be talking about in an upcoming meeting.
It's similar, but not the same with the word "coaching".
Coaching always includes some sort of...
When NOT to use coaching!
Coaching isn’t for everyone. There are at least three scenarios, or people groups, where coaching would not be a good fit.
#1) Ignorance or Immaturity
When someone is new to faith or unlearned in their faith walk it could be unkind to ask them questions beyond what they know or to leave them bumbling around when they simply need teaching.
People grow from discipling and teaching. They need help to know what quiet time looks like or how to study the Bible. They need to learn how kingdom ways are upside down from worldly ways. Selflessness does not come naturally to most.
Yet – even in the midst of these scenarios how a person walks out their response is best found in coaching questions.
What a healthy quiet time looks like is different from one person to the next, even how best to read the Bible has multiple quality options. Relating in right ways to others could mean patience or honest confrontation.
Teaching shares good options. Coaching helps people discern...
Saboteurs Whisper To Us All... Can you identify their voices?
Saboteurs whisper to us all, they sound like friends, they seem wise, but they infiltrate our minds like a poison that tastes sweet.
Discipleship saboteurs say things like,
- if you don't tell them what to do, they will mess things up, it's just the responsible thing to do
- it will take too long for them to move forward with coaching, they would be better off if you just tell them what to do
- it's wrong for you to withhold your story if you went through whatever they are going through, they should learn from your mistakes and do it just like you
The best poison is only a small percent deadly, but if you take it in you will eventually die...
Using coaching as the Biblical way of discipleship helps people build their own relationship with God.
Coaching builds disciples not dependents.
Coach training can teach you how!
Saboteurs whisper their hopelessness on the other side of coaching as well. Coaches have helped me discern many of the following as limiting...
What Is Coach Training? Here's How to Make Engaged Disciples
When I got my master’s degree I did these coaching “labs” on the side. Turns out they were optional, but I’m so glad I didn’t know that!
Let me explain.
The coaching “labs” were actually coach training and the education I received through them changed my life!
Coaching does not come naturally to most so when I was going through my coach training I really wanted a few things, so I really got seeped in the paradigm.
- I wanted to be coached, and experience what that felt like. I wanted to see if it really worked.
- I wanted to see others being coached so I could observe it being done well.
- I wanted someone to watch me coach and tell me if I was doing it right or wrong if need be. (To be honest, I was a little nervous about that, but I also wanted the affirmation enough to do it.)
- I wanted to have plenty of time to talk through the concepts with a certified coach and know I was heading in the right direction.
The training I took left me...