Life Coaching vs. Counseling: Differences and Similarities

Introduction to Life Coaching and Counseling

Life Coaching

Life coaching can be defined as a professional discipline that aims at helping an individual achieve their set goals in life. Life coaches take responsibility for helping their clients focus on the bigger picture so that they can make the initial steps toward realizing their potential. Cole (2000) describes coaching as an action-focused collaboration that revolves around a person's current standing and how his or her goals can be attained (p. 95). Furthermore, the author asserts that nothing is better than having one's very own "Bela Karolyi" for helping one get past life's "uneven bars" and "balance beams" (p. 95). This ongoing collaboration, known as coaching, aids people in achieving satisfying outcomes in life — it enriches clients' learning, improves their quality of life (QOL), and helps them perform better (Cole, 2000). In Grant's (2003) opinion, goal-centered coaching is a solution-focused, methodical, and cooperative process that endeavors to boost performance, wellbeing, and self-directed learning (p. 752).

Prior to the recognition and acceptance of the life coaching field, managers typically attended "charm schools" for behavioral counseling and acquiring human relations skills, so that they would be well prepared for their corporate roles (Hall et al., 1999). Myles Mace is credited with first applying the tool of "coaching" for developing managerial skills in 1958 (Eggers & Clark, 2000). During the 1970s, National Training Laboratories were opened to certain executives to offer rigorous offsite coaching. By the first half of the following decade, GE and other corporations began offering personal efficiency training to their executives. The latter half of the decade witnessed the introduction of the 360-degree feedback concept; however, follow-up assistance was hard to come by (Hall et al., 1999).

According to Cowell and Judge (1997), Dick Borough coined the phrase "executive coaching" in 1985 when explaining the techniques he employed for leadership development. Three years later, Forbes published its "Sigmund Freud Meets Henry Ford" article (Machan, 1988). In a number of ways, the practice of coaching originates from managerial development courses and appears to have been implemented simultaneously on the western and eastern coasts of the United States. Widespread use of management coaching by HR professionals began around the turn of the last decade of the twentieth century (Judge & Cowell, 1997).

The profession mainly focuses on engaging the client in an intensive, initiative-oriented process to identify their strengths and weaknesses in a given area of life. Customarily, life coaches support their clients in the pursuit of the highest achievable success, enabling them to move toward happiness and satisfaction. Life coaches also motivate clients' dreams and visions by offering emotional, psychological, and directional support.

The practice of life coaching was established in the late 1940s. However, according to Hudson (1999), the life coaching approach was only recognized as an autonomous discipline in the late 1980s. This was mainly due to the rapid change in the structure and functionality of organizations around the world. There was an insatiable need for individuals to be trained in political leadership, succession planning, and other personal goal-oriented areas. World changes made it difficult to analyze and predict the fate of individuals, because aims and goals became more susceptible and easily swayed by societal variations (Rao, 2010). Life coaching evolved to fill the gap that would facilitate a feeling of continuity following drastic social transitions. It is important to note that both disciplines adhere to strict confidentiality as an essential aspect needed to achieve their respective goals harmoniously.

Life coaches articulate strategies and mechanisms best suited to facilitating the achievement of life goals without negating the skills balance. To become an effective life coach, one must demonstrate a high ability in strategizing, accountability, and motivational skills. This is the only way of ensuring that the client manages to achieve their life goals in the most effective and efficient way under their coach's guidance. Unlike counselors and consultants, life coaches move alongside the client throughout their life journey — from the beginning until the set goals are achieved.

Counseling

According to Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, and Kulik (1983), counseling is a contextual form of therapy in which individuals are given room to discuss their psychological and mental health problems in search of life solutions, while maintaining secrecy and confidentiality. Counseling is considered a psychological science that addresses issues and disturbances affecting the individual mind and other psychological processes. The science and art of counseling involves the engagement of at least two individuals in a cooperative relationship, wherein one (the counselor) is an educated, competent, and experienced individual — typically certified and licensed as a helper — while the other (the client) seeks assistance. The relationship is aimed at resolving client problems or concerns arising from their endeavor to manage life in a progressively more complex environment (Maples, 1996, p. 47). The American Counseling Association (ACA) offers a more concise definition, stating that counseling is a fairly short-duration, theory-centered, interpersonal process of aiding individuals who are essentially psychologically healthy in resolving their situational and developmental issues (ACA, 2007).

Counseling represents an ethical and competent application of relationships for facilitating emotional development and acceptance, self-knowledge, and optimum improvement of individual resources. The general goal is to offer a chance to lead a more resourceful and satisfying life. Counselor-client relationships vary according to need; however, they might deal with developmental problems, solving specific issues, decision-making, crisis management, internal conflict, personal insight enhancement, and relationship skill improvement (Gladding, 2004).

The task of counseling addresses wellness, professional development, personal development, and pathological issues. That is, a counselor addresses relationship-related areas (Casey, 1996), including inter- and intra-personal problems associated with adjusting and finding meaning in familial, educational, professional, and other contexts. Counseling is carried out with individuals regarded as functioning adequately but experiencing some serious issues. Counselors cater to the requirements of a broad array of individuals whose situational or developmental problems need to be dealt with through remediation or adjustment. Normally, these issues get resolved through short-term interventions. However, in some cases, treatment may be prolonged to address disorders covered under the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Counseling is a theory-based activity in which experts apply numerous theoretical techniques, including cognitive, behavioral, systemic, and affective techniques. These theoretical models are applicable to individuals, families, and large groups. The process of counseling can be intervening or developmental, and it entails both change and choice. Counseling may be termed the "run-through" for action in certain instances (Casey, 1996, p. 176).

In the United States, counseling emerged as a profession somewhere between the latter half of the 1890s and the start of the twentieth century. Throughout the early part of that century, vocational guidance represented the chief emphasis of counselors, with psychometrics forming part of its initial groundwork. During the 1930s, the counseling profession started expanding beyond vocation-related issues, and the notion of guidance through education emerged (Gladding, 2004). Only in 1942, with Carl Rogers' work Counseling and Psychotherapy, did the notion of guidance — offering recommendations, training, or a focus — start disappearing from counseling literature. The mid-twentieth century saw the reinforcement of the counseling profession through events such as the founding of the American Personnel and Guidance Association, the founding of the Counseling Psychology branch of the APA, the formulation of novel counseling and guidance theories, and the enactment of the 1958 National Defense Education Act (Gladding, 2004). Counseling spread into settings outside academia during the 1970s, accompanied by the introduction of programs for cultivating helping skills and professional organizations, as well as counseling licensure. The following decade witnessed the emergence of standardized counselor training certification, transforming counseling into an independent, recognized profession with diversified counselor specialties and a major emphasis on development and growth (Gladding, 2004).

During the counseling process, clients are assisted in identifying their problems and specifying solutions to overcome their mental challenges. Counselors are expected to specialize in a given approach — such as Applied Behavioral treatment. More importantly, the psychological problem affecting the client usually determines the type of counseling therapy most relevant. Counselors explore the thoughts and emotions of human beings to produce therapeutic changes relevant to individual life. They encourage clients to speak openly about their problems in order to identify causes, effects, and possible solutions. In most cases, counselors advise individuals on how to cope with a life issue or help facilitate reconciliation between the client and the challenges they face. The process of counseling is conducted through face-to-face communication, telephone counseling, or online counseling, and the approach depends on factors such as age, gender, and the counselor's techniques.

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