COACHING BEYOND YOUR EXPERTISE

Once upon a time a long, long time ago Tim Gallwey, the grandfather of Coaching and the founder of the “inner game” of coaching spoke about the difference between coaching and consulting. He said while consultants have expertise in the subject matter at hand, coaches do not. The interviewer said, that “this flies in the face of conventional wisdom.” In other words, he wanted to give advice! Gallwey’s responded by saying— “When you know a lot, it’s too easy to start teaching. But coaching is not so much about telling the client what you know as it is about helping him discover what he already knows, or can find out for himself.”

He was then asked to give an example where a coach would not have expertise. Gallwey then described his experience of being invited to the Houston Philharmonic Orchestra. After he gave a brief presentation about the inner game, they asked for a demonstration. A tuba play volunteered. When he came on stage, he asked him “What would you most like to learn?”