I am asked to define Business Coaching on a regular basis so I taught I would take the opportunity to day to do just that. To get a good frame of reference we can compare coaching to the various other professional services that it gets confused with.

Coaching is not Management Consultancy or Mentoring or Training and one of the reasons there is confusion lies in the fact that a number of the skills and approaches used by a Business Coach will also be used by these other professions. Coaching as defined by Tim Gallwey is “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them”.

A Management Consultant is typically an external person who will use his particular expertise and experience in a specific area to advise a Company on improvements based on “Industry Best Practise”. A Coach on the other hand will work with a client to assist them in discovering what their own best practise is. In Coaching all conclusions and decision made come from the client himself or herself and are based on the client’s own past experience, knowledge and Organisational culture.

A Mentor is again seen as an expert in a particular area who is generally older and more experienced and will work one to one with a Manager or Team member in an organisation to assist them on developing their career path by sharing with them their own experiences and knowledge. Fundamentally Mentoring differs from Coaching in that a Coach is more a peer than a expert. Coaching is a partnership where the client is encouraged to find their own path, to make decisions and to learn from this process. Coaching is more focused on the development and learning of the client than it is with any end result.

A Trainer in the traditional sense is again an expert with a particular body of knowledge, which they teach to their clients. The source of the knowledge comes from research, the trainer’s past experience, analysis of experts and best practise. It is interesting to see many trainers now embracing the concept of coaching and applying some Coaching fundamentals when running training programs by encouraging participants on courses to come up with their own solutions and ideas to particular areas being discussed as opposed to telling delegates what the best way is.

Coaching is predominantly non-directive which means that a Coach rarely if ever will tell or direct a client what to do. Instead he will facilitate that client through a taught process where the client derives his own conclusions based on the unique circumstances to hand. A client does not pretend to be an expert in the client’s business or in any aspect of their business and will always be slow to give advice or make suggestions. A Coach will instead work as a partner with his client to assist them in identifying options and selecting the best way forward.

A Coach can work on either a 1-1 basis or as a facilitator of a team however at all times ownership and responsibility for all decisions made rest with the client or team. A Coaching session will involve the Coach asking far more questions than giving answers. These questions are designed to probe, clarify, challenge and tie down the client to a specific course of action. A Coaching session is not a talk shop. Coaching is result oriented so a key function of any Coaches role is to assist clients in defining specific, measurable and time based goals that the client is passionate and excited about achieving. When a Coach and client work together, they do so over a period of time. This affords the opportunity to identify what the real goals and challenges are that face the client and to create a supportive, motivating environment that allows the client to learn, grow and evolve.

There is a saying in coaching that “A client either knows the answer already or has the resources to find the answer to any challenge he or she faces”. This is essence defines Coaching and differentiates it from other professional services.

I have 3 one to one Coaching slots available at the moment so if you are interested in exploring Coaching as an option to improve any aspect of your professional or personal life, please contact me to book a 30minute “Coaching Exploration” session.

Fergal O’Connor is a Business and Personal Life Coach working in partnership with his Business and Private clients providing a supportive, confidential, challenging and non-judgemental environment to make their ambitions and dreams a reality. Fergal also facilitates a range of Management training programs and is available for public speaking engagements. Fergal can be contacted at Synergy Coaching Services, Tel: (061) 467287, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it