If you are asking this question it means you’re already on track and in the right direction. Not only you had the courage and self-love/respect to acknowledge that help may be helpful, but you’re also searching for the right type of professional to guide you in that journey. The truth is that while both therapy and leadership coaching may look alike from the distance, they are very different disciplines, with different objectives and they require a different education, training and certification processes. Let’s talk about the basic differences, hopefully it will help you decide which one of these services is a better fit for you right now.
Simply put, the first main difference has to do with mental health. While therapy tends to focus on treating a diagnosis that can be found on the DSM-5 in order to improve a patient’s life, leadership coaching focuses on helping clients discover and move towards a specific desired professional objective or vision. So, while a therapist is equipped to help someone with debilitating symptoms of anxiety, depression, obsession, just to name a few, a responsible leadership coach would not accept to work with clients whose main objectives have to do with overcoming mental health complications.
This does not mean that a leadership coach shouldn’t work with someone who is clinically depressed or has debilitating anxiety, for example, but those symptoms should be worked through with a therapist, while the coaching process focuses on other areas of the client’s professional and personal life.
This same idea translates to assessment tools that are meant for therapy and those meant for leadership development. A clinical personality assessment such as the MMPI-2 or the Rorschach will provide information to help reach an accurate diagnosis by comparing the individual’s responses to that of a clinical population. An assessment tool design for leadership development, such as The Hogan leadership forecast series or The Leadership Circle Profile, will provide information to help you understand your leadership at a deeper level by comparing your responses to those of a professional based population. The debrief sessions and recommendations that follow these two types of assessment tools, will also be designed and structured with two very different objectives in mind.
While sometimes it’s very easy to recognize which service is more appropriate, it is also true that some circumstances are trickier. It may happen that in the middle of a coaching engagement, for example, something comes up that uncovers a “deep wound” that needs to be addressed by a therapist. Or the opposite, after making progress in treatment we may want to work on certain topics that would be more appropriate for coaching. In these cases, it is important to recognize that it the responsibility of the coach or therapist to act professionally and guide the client or patient in the most ethical manner.
Here are some general examples to give you an idea of where I would initially seek for services if I found myself in these situations. Because there are many gray areas and each individual’s circumstance is unique, please consider that these are not intended as advice or recommendations.
If you would like to have a 15-minute, free of charge, zoom conversation with Dr. Furth to discuss your specific situation and determine if leadership coaching is right for you, feel free to find a time that works for both of us here.
