Why Good Coaches Try NOT To Give You Advice

When a coachee approaches a coach, the coachee usually expects the coach to give advice on an issue that the coachee is experiencing.

But as the session goes by, the coachee realizes that the coach is not giving the needed advice. To make matters worse, the coach may ask too many questions.

Eventually, the coachee reaches a eureka moment – an epiphany of sorts – that the coachee has the answer all along. Now wasn’t that a total waste of coaching time!

When a coach is like a doctor

When a patient visits a doctor, the patient is presented with a deluge of questions:

Where does it hurt?

How much pain are you experiencing?

When I do this, what do you feel?

When did the symptoms start?

The doctor cannot feel the pain of the patient, so he asks questions to at least get a glimpse of what the patient is experiencing.

The same is true for a coach. We cannot pretend to know what the coachee is feeling so we ask a ton of questions for us to let them process what they feel.

Now, when a doctor’s questions are answered, a barrage of tests will be done to determine what the sickness really is. Then, the doctor advises the patient on the medicines or procedures that the patient needs.

This is why a coach is NOT a doctor.

A coach is NOT a doctor

A coach’s questions will not lead to a piece of advice, but to the coachee eventually realizing the answer.

The solution here does not come from the coach but from the coachee.

Through a series of questions, the coach will lead the coachee through a process of awareness, so the coachee can solve his or her own situation.

Coach VS. Doctor

For a doctor, a patient is not well, and the problem needs to be solved.

For a coach, a coachee is complete and only needs to sort out the problem.

For a doctor, the patient needs a solution coming from the outside, a medicine or an operation, or even both.

For a coach, the solution comes from the inside, for the coachee to sort things out and draw solutions from within.

Will a coach ever give advice?

That is for another discussion.