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How Does Performance Coaching Differ from Traditional Training or Counseling?

 


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Tell me if this sounds familiar. About 15 years ago I was doing everything my supervisors told me to do. I went to all the leadership training. I took on extra work and led some of our most important projects. I even went to counseling to see if something was wrong with my mental health! Still, I kept getting passed over for promotion.

Then I got a chance to work with a leadership coach. I didn't know what leadership coaching was back then. I thought, "Great! She's a former senior executive in our organization. She's going to tell me what I'm doing wrong so I can finally move up!" Boy, am I glad I was wrong about coaching!


Today, let's look at how coaching is different from training and counseling. Coaching has some unique benefits that help everyone. They tend to hit home most with veterans and with people whose faith drives their values.


Traditional Training

The goal of traditional training is usually to build skills or pass knowledge from trainer to
trainee. This happens through a set course (usually in a classroom), workshops, and trainers who use specific methods.

A bearded man in glasses presenting to a seated team using a flip chart in a bright office with city views


Training is useful. We gain better skills and learn ideas that fit the tasks we're given.


But training doesn't deal with deep self-doubt. It also doesn't always lead to lasting changes in how you act.


Counseling/Therapy


Counseling focuses on emotional healing. If you've been to counseling, you probably spent a lot of time on past trauma and mental health. You also worked on understanding why you act the way you do. 

A man and woman sitting in armchairs facing each other in conversation, in a warmly lit room with a window and plant

Counselors use "talk therapy" and looking inward. They also use cognitive behavior therapy, a method that helps you change unhelpful thoughts. These tools dig into the root of whatever you're dealing with. This can bring emotional balance, ways to cope, self-awareness, and relief.


Where counseling can fall short is that it often focuses on how you feel now or felt in the past. It doesn't always look ahead or focus on action and better performance.


The Distinctive Nature of Performance Coaching


Enter performance coaching! Coaching looks ahead and focuses on action. Your coach will help you make progress you can measure. You'll reach specific goals and unlock your potential. 


Coaching is a co-active partnership. That means we work side by side. Together we set goals, build ways to stay accountable, make a plan that fits you, and get past whatever is in your way. 


The focus is on moving forward by taking steady action and building new habits.

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We do this by finding your values. I mean the values that truly matter to you, not what some self-help book says they should be. 


This might mean bringing your faith into your work life. We might use spiritual truths and beliefs to build your self-worth. That builds the confidence to quiet your inner critic.


For veterans, it can mean naming the military values that drew you to serve in the first place. Then you see how those values carry over to the civilian world.


We use a range of tools to do this. Affirmations, prayer, mindset shifts, and more help you see your true value.


Through our co-active partnership, we get to the root of self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is the feeling that you're a fraud, even when you've earned your place. We tackle it through your deepest values. We work together to set clear KPIs, or key performance indicators, which are the numbers that show progress. We also set regular check-ins, track wins, and change our plan when we need to.


Coaching is tied straight to results you can see. That sets it apart from counseling or training, where results are often hard to measure.

Conclusion

So let's recap what we talked about today. 

  • Traditional Training:

    • Goal: Build skills, or pass knowledge from trainer to trainee.

    • Method: Set course (classroom), workshops, specific methods.

    • Benefit: Better skills and a grasp of ideas that fit your tasks.

    • Limitation: Doesn't deal with deep self-doubt or always lead to lasting change in how you act.

  • Counseling/Therapy:

    • Goal: Emotional healing, working through past trauma, mental health, and understanding why you act as you do.

    • Method: "Talk therapy," looking inward, and cognitive behavior therapy to find root causes.

    • Benefit: Emotional balance, ways to cope, self-awareness, relief.

    • Limitation: Often focuses on how you feel now or felt before. It doesn't always look ahead or focus on action and better performance.

  • Performance Coaching:

    • Goal: Looks ahead and focuses on action. Makes progress you can measure, reaches specific goals, and unlocks potential.

    • Method: A co-active partnership to set goals, build accountability, make a plan that fits you, and get past obstacles. Stresses steady action, new habits, and finding your values (including faith, and military values for veterans). Uses tools like affirmations, prayer, and mindset shifts.

    • Benefit: Tied straight to real results. Gets to the root of self-doubt and imposter syndrome through your deepest values. Sets clear KPIs and tracks wins.

I'm sure you can see what makes coaching different. It gets real results, quiets your inner critic, and gives you support built for you, right when you need it. If you're ready to see what this looks like for veterans: Performance Coaching for Veterans: Unlocking Peak Leadership with Faith and Accountability


If you're ready for a free intro call with no strings attached, Click here to schedule. I can't wait to work with you and watch you take that next step in your career!
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