ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires
them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Coaching is a client-driven process. The
coach’s responsibility is to:
• Discover, clarify and align with what the client wants to achieve
• Encourage client self-discovery
• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
• Hold the client responsible and accountable
The coaching process helps clients improve their outlook on work and life, while improving their
leadership skills and unlocking their potential.

How is coaching distinct from
other service professions?
Professional coaching focuses on setting goals, creating outcomes and managing personal change.
Sometimes it’s helpful to understand coaching by distinguishing it from other personal or organizational
support professions.
• Therapy: Therapy deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or in
relationships. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past that hamper an
individual’s emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and
dealing with the present in more emotionally healthy ways.
Coaching, on the other hand, supports personal and professional growth based on self-initiated
change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. Coaching is future-focused, and the coaching
relationship emphasizes action, accountability and follow-through.
• Consulting: Individuals or organizations retain consultants for their expertise. While consulting
approaches vary widely, the assumption is the consultant will diagnose problems and prescribe and,
sometimes, implement solutions.
With coaching, the assumption is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own
solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.
• Mentoring: A mentor is an expert who provides wisdom and guidance based on his or her own
experience. Mentoring may include advising, counseling and coaching.
The coaching process does not include advising or counseling, and focuses instead on individuals or
groups setting and reaching their own objectives.
• Training: Training programs are based on objectives set out by the trainer or instructor. Though
objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached,
with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path that coincides
with an established curriculum. Coaching is less linear, without a set curriculum.
• Athletic Development: Though sports metaphors are often used, professional coaching is
different from sports coaching. The athletic coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs
the behavior of individuals or teams based on his or her greater experience and knowledge.
Professional coaches possess these qualities, but their experience and knowledge of the individual or
team determines the direction. Additionally, professional coaching does not focus on behaviors that are
being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the focus is on identifying opportunity for development
based on individual strengths and capabilities. Why should I partner with
a coach?
If you want to take advantage of an opportunity or challenge, feel “stuck” on the path to achieving
your goals or simply believe there is something more to discover in your personal or professional life,
partnering with a professional coach could benefit you.
Coaching clients who responded to the 2017 ICF Global Consumer Awareness Study reported
positive coaching impacts including:
• Improved communication skills
• Increased self-esteem/self-confidence
• Increased productivity
• Optimized individual/team work performance
• Improved work/life balance
• Increased well-being
• Improved business management strategies
• Expanded professional career opportunities
• Accelerated on-boarding into a new professional roleWhat are the benefits of
partnering with a coach?
Professional coaching brings a host of benefits, including fresh perspectives on personal and professional
challenges, enhanced decision-making skills, and increased confidence. Coaching can also have a powerful
ripple effect, sparking transformation in your family, your community and your workplace.
According to respondents to a 2014 survey conducted by ICF and the Human Capital Institute, benefits
of coaching cited by decision-makers in organizations using coaching included:
• Increased engagement
• Faster on-boarding
• Faster leadership development
• Increased emotional intelligence
• Improved team functioning
• Increased commitment
• Increased job satisfactionWhat are the benefits of
partnering with a coach?
Professional coaching brings a host of benefits, including fresh perspectives on personal and professional
challenges, enhanced decision-making skills, and increased confidence. Coaching can also have a powerful
ripple effect, sparking transformation in your family, your community and your workplace.
According to respondents to a 2014 survey conducted by ICF and the Human Capital Institute, benefits
of coaching cited by decision-makers in organizations using coaching included:
• Increased engagement
• Faster on-boarding
• Faster leadership development
• Increased emotional intelligence
• Improved team functioning
• Increased commitment
• Increased job satisfactionWhat are the benefits of
partnering with a coach?
Professional coaching brings a host of benefits, including fresh perspectives on personal and professional
challenges, enhanced decision-making skills, and increased confidence. Coaching can also have a powerful
ripple effect, sparking transformation in your family, your community and your workplace.
According to respondents to a 2014 survey conducted by ICF and the Human Capital Institute, benefits
of coaching cited by decision-makers in organizations using coaching included:
• Increased engagement
• Faster on-boarding
• Faster leadership development
• Increased emotional intelligence
• Improved team functioning
• Increased commitment
• Increased job satisfaction