WHAT IS META-COACHING?

The new phenomenon called “coaching” means a lot of different things to different people. In spite of the field moving on twenty years (1991, Leonard Thomas, Coach U.), there still is no singular definition of what coaching is. And there is still a lot of things being done under the banner of “coaching” that is not coaching.

In spite of that, most people in this field do distinguish it from the other helping professions, from therapy, consulting, and mentoring. Most know that it is for healthy people, and not people who are inwardly hurting and experiencing different forms of dysfunction. Most also know that it has something to do with the newer psychologies — Cognitive, Humanistic, Positive, Developmental, Strength-based, Brief, etc. Most also know that it has something to do with challenging, stretching, and getting better results. Most are beginning to connect it to peak experiences, peak performances, meaning and meaningfulness, contribution, creating a legacy, leadership, etc. All of that is good— very good.