The Confusion Over What Coaching Is
Coaching means many different things to different people. The occupation is fairly new as an organized profession and is struggling to find identity. Coach training schools vary widely in their philosophies and competencies. Many consultants and persons trained in psychology are simply calling themselves coaches with no formal training or consistent standards.

In many companies and industries coaching is showing up in several ways. One is through the use of external coaches to work with key or targeted individuals (CEOs, high potential executives, problem managers). Secondly, some companies have hired internal executive and management coaches. Thirdly, they have trained their own management and executive staff in coaching skills. While all of these are valuable initiatives, each has unique implications.

For our purposes here, business and executive coaching is defined as an interaction that occurs between people that produces desired performance, change or transformational results by promoting personal and organizational awareness, purpose, competence and well-being.

How coaching is experienced by people in organizations, however, is not always clear. There is a great difference in the coaching experience that depends on whether the person coaching is truly independent or not.

Coaching Without Responsibility, Accountability and Authority
According to Mike Jay, founder of B-Coach Systems (www.b-coach.com), "It is easy to mistake a coach for a person (leader, manager, teacher, trainer, mentor, etc) coaching as they both use the same skills; however, the critical issue is that of responsibility, accountability and authority over outcomes. This key differentiation separates coaches from leaders, mentors, managers, teachers, trainers, facilitators and counselors coaching."

This difference is important because it shapes the nature of the coaching relationship. Only with a coach is the focus solely on the agenda of the person being coached as a part of a business or organizational system. When a manager is coaching, or using coaching skills, there is at the very least implicit pressure to change in a direction desired by others. That pressure may also be present when an organization designates internal personnel to do coaching.

With an external coach the focus is on the development of the person being coached. The most effective coaching will help clients identify the relationship between their own development and requirements of the business. There is a natural tension between these two streams that a coach can help clarify. By asking questions designed to examine assumptions and beliefs, the mental models of the person being coached are explored. This leads to double-loop learning (Argyris and Schon) where a person can improve not only performance, but emotional intelligence as well.

A truly effective coaching experience is one that provides long-lasting results. On the surface, coaching sounds like goal setting with accountability and motivational pumping up. The athletic coach comes to mind. Even Ken Blanchard co-authored a book with Don Schula, Everyone's a Coach. But the truth is, not everyone's a masterful coach.