Coaching Foundation

All coaching should begin with a foundation. This coaching foundation helps the coach keep in mind that coaching should never be a teaching session where the primary goal is for the coach to steer the coachee in a direction based on opinions that stem from that coach's wealth of knowledge and experience. This does not mean that the coach's experience and knowledge are not valuable. What this means is that experience and knowledge of the client are more valuable because the foundation of coaching is client-centered and not coach-centered.

Coaching is not about having all of the answers but more so about asking thought-provoking questions to discover answers. The foundation for coaching is the coachee and all coaching should be cliented centered. To state it more bluntly, coaching is not about the coach, coaching is about the client. The author, Keith Webb, in his book, The Coach Model, describes coaching as an ongoing intentional conversation that empowers people to fully live out God’s calling.

The coach is more like a guide who understands that the Holy Spirit leads each coaching session. In fact, a good scripture to remember when coaching is, “...the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). The theory is that God is already at work in the individual, and by asking questions, coaches help coachees come up with answers that lead to life-changing actions that help and benefit the client. 

Jesus is ultimately the model of coaching and He provides us with many examples of a coaching foundation. A lesson can be learned from the way Jesus asked questions to people, especially the disciples. A bigger lesson can be seen from the way Jesus was able to encourage people to accomplish things that they could not previously.