Twitter chat: Busting coaching myths

Busting coaching myths

Throughout history of humankind, myths have existed to fulfil different needs[i] and serve specific purposes. It may be down to the human need of making sense of the world, circumstances and events, as in creation myths. They have also served as justification of specific acts, as in a Greek emperor descends from the gods and should be revered.

An appreciation may be that myths will always exist, as they are inherent to the human condition. However, some may be more helpful than others.

In coaching, we may have heard phrases like ‘Successful people don’t need coaches’[ii]. This kind of myths may discourage some to explore coaching as an option for development and grow. Other kind of myths like ‘Isn’t coaching the same as mentoring?’ may open up an opportunity to understand the boundaries and communicate those more efficiently.

This week’s twitter chat wishes to explore the following questions:

1. What coaching myths have you come across?
2. What are coaching myths really telling us about?
3. In what ways we could use coaching myths for the benefit of coaching and coaches, if at all?
4. How could we debunk unhelpful coaching myths?

References

http://www.coachedtolead.com/top_10_myths.php

13 Myths About Coaching – University of Exeter https://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/humanresources/documents/learningdevelopment/coaching-myths.pdf

4 Common Coaching Myths – https://www.td.org/newsletters/atd-links/4-common-coaching-myths

5 Myths About Coaching – and What’s More True! | By David Frank Gomes https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/5-myths-about-coaching-and-whats-more-true-by-david-frank-gomes/

7 Coaching Myths That Are Keeping You From Being A Better Leader https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2017/11/14/7-coaching-myths-that-are-keeping-you-from-being-a-better-leader/#27d7665744fb

[i] https://blog.oup.com/2012/08/how-and-why-do-myths-arise/

[ii] http://www.coachedtolead.com/top_10_myths.php