Frequently Asked Questions

Counselling and therapy are to remedy the client’s problems. The client comes to therapy or counselling because they feel dissatisfied with their life and want relief from psychological and/or physical symptoms.

They want to get away from pain or discomfort rather than move towards desired goals. Therapy and counselling often seek to understand the past and what went wrong in order to be better in the present. Coaching focuses on the present and future. A coach may work with a client who has a good life, but wants the coach to help them make it better still.

Training and teaching involve the transfer of skills and knowledge to the learner. The trainer or teacher is the expert.

In coaching, the coach is not the expert, coaching does not give answers, but asks questions. Coaching explores the present and designs the future for the client, the client learns in the process, but the coach does not teach directly.

A mentor is a senior person in the business who guides a junior person from their greater experience. A coach does not have to be a senior person in the client’s line of business. The client has to know the business, not the coach.

Consultancy deals with the business system as a whole. A consultants recommendations affect individuals indirectly. Coaching affects individuals directly. Coaching will very often be part of a consultant’s recommendations for a business.

Coaching is gaining popularity in business because it is one of the most cost effective ways of making people, and organisations more effective. It demonstrates the commitment of the business to their people and avoids costly recruitment and retraining.

It is growing popular generally because people now expect to be able to do more, and to fulfil their dreams and goals, mental, emotional, financial and spiritual. A coach helps people to do that. A coach is someone committed to your advancement and well-being.

The word was first used in sports for a person who helped an athlete train and improve. All top athletes have a personal coach. From there, the idea spread to all walks of life. A significant event in this expansion was the publication of Timothy Gallwey’s book, ‘The Inner game of Tennis.’ This book used ideas from sports coaching in a much wider way.

No. Coaching is different to psychology. Psychology is a broad study of the mind. To be a coach you need to train as a coach, not in any other profession.

Here are a number of principles:

• All human beings dream of fulfilling themselves and they deserve the opportunity to be their best.
• People create their life experience and a coach can help a client to create the life that they want.
• Intellectual understanding is not enough. Change means taking action.
• There is no such thing as failure, if you do not get what you want, you find another way. Failure is just a short-term way of saying that you not succeeded – yet.
• Everyone already have all the resources we need or can create them. No one is helpless. The client has the answers, the coach has the questions.
• A coach works to increase the amount of choice in the client’s life.
• Coaching is an equal, synergistic partnership.

Executive Coaching
Coaching for top-level management to improve strategic decision-making and leadership.

Business coaching
Business coaches coach people in their work on professional issues. They often work with managers inside a company and may also coach teams.

Team Coaching
Many coaches specialise in coaching business teams. These coaches help teams to give their best, helping them to work smoothly and effectively.

Life coaching
A life coach deals with the client’s life in all its dimensions – personal and professional, health and relationships. Often life coaches will help a client in their work, because work is an important part of life, but their focus is not wholly on work.
A life coach is the only professional trained to deal with all aspects of a client’s life.

Career coaching
A career coach specialises in coaching people who want to find a job, change career, or get back into the job market after a break from work.

Sports coaching
All serious athletes now have a coach, usually a senior player who has been successful in their day. He or she knows the game, motivates the player and builds their skills in their chosen sport.

Individuals will be clear about what they want from life. They will go after it with passion, because they have cleared away the obstacles that blocked them.

They will have a more satisfying and happier life in every aspect. Professionally, they will be more effective and skilled at their work and get better results.

For organisations, coaching is a long-term investment in higher business performance. It is the most cost effective way of getter higher performance from key individuals. Coaching is evidence of the company’s commitment to developing its people and contributes to a supportive organisational culture with high morale.

Coaching retains key employees and avoids:

• The cost of retraining
• The loss of company knowledge to competitors
• The drop in productivity when personnel leave.

You decide together with the coach how often the sessions will be, what form they will take (for example by telephone and/or face to face) and the duration of the coaching arrangement (for example, three or six months). Different coaches will suggest different arrangements.

Everyone and anyone. Organisations hire coaches to improve teamwork, to coach executives and help managers. Individuals hire coaches to improve their life, their relationships, and their general happiness.

This varies considerably from country to country and it also depends on the coach’s speciality. Ask the coach you want to engage to explain their fees.

By going to the International Coaching Community database and searching for a coach in your area.

A coach will help you to explore the present and design the future you want. It will enable you to achieve your goals and live your values. A coach is at your service.

No. The coach wants the client to be autonomous and achieve what they want. They make it clear from the start that the client is responsible for, and owns the results of the coaching. Coaching works to make the client more self reliant, not less so.

No. That is not possible. A coach does not do therapy, and will refer the client to another qualified professional if that ever becomes necessary.

Some NLP skills can help a coach be more effective, but training in coaching is very different from training in NLP.

Coaching is a new profession, ICC and Lambent do Brasil have established their Standards and ethical guidelines for the International Coaching Community

See our Standards and Ethics page on this website.