My Coaching Style: Too Directive?

Some of my friends and colleagues have offered comments regarding the last post in which I wrote about one of my coaching conversations with Alejandro.

The issue that they have raised is that they believe that my coaching style is too directive.

One colleague asked me:

• "Do you tell them what to do?"

I replied that yes, a lot of my coaching has that nature. But then I started to worry because in some parts of the world, as a coach, you don't tell people what to do. You work with your client the whole coaching session and if he "doesn't get it" or come up with his own responses or answers or solutions, he can go home or hang up the telephone until the next session, still waiting, passively, for his own solutions, answers or whatever, to occur to him.
Thinking about this little controversy, I searched through my coaching notes (and found) a training course written by Thomas Leonard some years ago. Thomas Leonard was one of the greatest promoters of the coaching practice. He founded the International Coaching Federation in order to regulate this practice. He wrote several books on coaching and created, among other organizations and structures for coaching, CoachU.com, one of the first coaching schools.

Below I quote TL about a coach telling the client what to do:

"Some coaches feel that giving a client direction robs the client of the joy of discovery.
Other coaches are drill sergeants. Who's the better coach?
They both are...
Different clients need different approaches, depending on their personality/style, the situation/need and the timing/urgency.
Think Baskin Robbins 31 flavors of ice cream. The most successful coaches know all 31 flavors and can adapt to the changing needs of the clients and the marketplace.
(Note: Some coaching schools tsk tsk the idea of a coach being directive. Those schools are not training their coaches for the real world, in my opinion. One trick ponies are rarely successful.)
There are some situations in which you'll be very directive because of your level of experience/expertise, and because the client wants you to be.
One reason that most clients hire a coach is to help them get somewhere faster. Speedier. Easier. Fewer bumps. Fewer delays. Flatter learning curve. You get the picture. True, sometimes, it's more beneficial for the client to "find their own answers," but I've found that most clients want you to bring them up to speed with the dynamic of the situation/opportunity they are in, and help them devise strategies and solutions that work well. Adjust to meet the present client need.
Clients ARE hiring you for your opinions as well as your support and great questions.
Some coaches ask a lot of questions. And that's all they do. Which can get annoying. And lead to "Where's the beef?" complaints. Most clients WANT to know your views, observations, opinions, related experiences, solutions and inklings about what they are working on or how they are coming across. When a client hires a coach, they want all of the coach; not just your great personality and a question bank."

So this was Thomas Leonard's response to the question, in "How to coach anyone."