Coaching FAQs

The terms executive coach and leadership coach are often used interchangeably, and there is a lot of overlap between the two. Both typically involve coaching people in organisational or business settings, from experienced professionals and technical specialists through to senior leaders and executives. Executive coaching tends to be associated with more senior roles, while leadership coaching can apply more broadly to anyone looking to develop how they lead, influence or work with others. The focus is usually on work-related goals, although personal factors will naturally come into the conversation where they affect how someone is feeling or showing up at work.

The goals of an executive or leadership coaching engagement can be wide-ranging, but broadly the aim is to help someone develop how they lead, work with others and respond to the demands of their role. This might include becoming a more effective leader, strengthening communication and interpersonal skills, building confidence and presence, increasing influence, leading a high-performing team, navigating change or difficult relationships, and managing pressure in a way that supports resilience and reduces the risk of burnout.

Unlike professions like clinical psychologist, coach is not a protected title, which means that anyone can call themselves one. People come to coaching from a variety of different backgrounds, bringing their own distinct flavours, approach and experience.

When you’re choosing a leadership or executive coach, it’s therefore worth looking at their professional training and accreditation, as well as their experience of coaching people in contexts relevant to you. If a coach is accredited with a recognised professional body, it provides reassurance that they have undertaken appropriate training, follow an ethical framework and are committed to continuing professional development and supervision.

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is one of the largest global professional bodies for coaches. To be accredited, coaches must have significant recognised coach training, mentoring and a minimum level of coaching experience. The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and Association for Coaching (AC) are also well-established professional bodies.

Beyond their core coaching credentials, leadership coaches may also undertake training in particular areas or approaches, for example in behaviour change, cognitive-behavioural or solution-focused approaches, systemic coaching or other psychologically informed methods. Some coaches are also qualified to use psychometric assessments measuring areas such as personality, emotional intelligence or resilience, which can sometimes provide useful additional insight within coaching.

Some coaches also have a background in psychology. Coaching psychologists bring formal psychological training and an understanding of areas such as behaviour, motivation, personality, emotions and individual differences, which can add another perspective to leadership development. Chartered Coaching Psychologists are also accredited by the British Psychological Society.

Qualifications are important, but they are only part of the picture. It is also worth considering the coach’s experience, their understanding of organisational life, the evidence base behind their approach and, perhaps most importantly, whether you feel you can build a productive and trusting working relationship with them.

Different industry sectors, roles and types of organisation present different sets of challenges, cultural norms and opportunities. Some leadership coaches specialise in specific organisational contexts, like education or law, for example. Having a coach who understands the nuance of your organisational context can be helpful as they are likely to be able to quickly grasp the environment you are working in, particularly where the challenges are distinctive to your industry. Other coaches work across a range of organisational contexts and this can be helpful as they bring breadth of experience and may offer a more objective perspective, whilst still understanding the broader interpersonal, political and organisational dynamics at play.

What matters most is not necessarily whether they have worked in your exact sector, but whether they can quickly get to grips with your context and help you explore the challenges within it.

Coaches typically draw from a range of tools, techniques and approaches, some of which are supported by a stronger evidence base than others. These might include, for example, cognitive behavioural approaches, Acceptance and Commitment Coaching, positive psychology, somatic approaches, Gestalt principles and insights from neuroscience. Different approaches may be more or less helpful for different people and in different contexts, so your coach should be able to articulate what informs their approach and why.

An evidence-informed coach will typically draw on approaches and frameworks that are supported by relevant research, while also using professional judgement and adapting their approach to the individual, their goals and the environment in which they are working.

Confidentiality and trust are at the heart of an effective coaching relationship. When an organisation is paying for an individual to have coaching, it is important to agree from the outset what information, if any, will be shared with the manager or organisation and what will remain strictly confidential between coach and coachee. The coach should also explain any agreed limits to confidentiality from the start.

Often, the manager and individual will discuss and agree broad goals before coaching starts, with the individual keeping their manager updated on progress throughout the engagement. Sometimes, the manager, coach and coachee will meet at the start of the engagement to agree a three-way contracting arrangement, including what will be shared, by whom and when. There may also be a review meeting part-way through the coaching. What matters is that everyone is clear about the boundaries and has agreed them in advance.

Typically, the details of the coaching conversations remain confidential between coach and coachee, helping to create the trust and openness needed for honest and exploratory conversations. The coachee can then agree what progress or themes they want to share with their manager, within the context of the overall coaching goals.

Research consistently highlights how crucial the relationship between coach and coachee is to effective coaching. It is important that a coachee feels their coach understands them, is non-judgmental and creates a psychologically safe environment for them to be as open and vulnerable as they choose to be, while also being willing to challenge their thinking when it’s helpful.

Many coaches offer a free 15-30 min chemistry session so you can both assess whether the fit feels right and whether you would like to work together. It can be helpful to prepare a few questions in advance, for example about the coach’s approach, experience, qualifications and values.

Alongside the answers, pay attention to how the conversation feels: whether you feel listened to and understood, whether their style feels right for you and whether you can imagine having open and constructive conversations with them.

You don’t need to be a psychologist to coach well and many coaches draw on psychological principles in their work, as well as their own professional experience and expertise. This can include experience of leadership, business or particular sectors and professions. A key difference is that coaching psychologists have more in-depth training in psychology and how it can be applied to understand behaviour and support change.

Those who are chartered by the British Psychological Society (BPS) have undertaken significant psychological training and typically draw on a range of evidence-based approaches, depending on their coachee’s needs.

They may use knowledge of thought patterns, interpersonal dynamics, motivation and behaviour change, for example, to help coachees reflect more deeply, see things from different perspectives and take action in line with what matters to them.

No, “coaching psychologist” is not a legally protected title in the UK, so in principle anyone can use it. However, the BPS has established professional standards that practitioners must meet to become a Chartered Coaching Psychologist.

If this distinction is important to you, it is therefore worth checking whether someone describing themselves as a coaching psychologist is Chartered with the BPS.

Studying psychology in greater depth can give coaches a richer understanding of what shapes how people think, feel and behave and why certain patterns can be hard to shift.

In practice, this can help a coach explore not just what is happening, but some of the factors that may be influencing it - for example the beliefs, assumptions or habits that sit behind a recurring challenge. It can be particularly useful when someone finds themselves getting stuck in familiar patterns around confidence, perfectionism, interpersonal dynamics or coping under pressure, for example.

Psychological knowledge can also help a coach think about performance and wellbeing together - exploring how someone can perform effectively while also protecting the habits and resources that sustain their wellbeing - as well as recognise when someone may benefit from a different kind of support, such as therapy.

There is no single definitive answer and excellent coaches come from many different professional backgrounds.

What matters is that the coach has appropriate training and credentials, relevant experience and an understanding of the organisational context in which the individual is working. The relationship between coach and coachee is important too, including whether you feel understood, comfortable being open and able to have honest, constructive conversations.

For individuals and organisations who particularly value a psychologically informed approach, a Chartered Coaching Psychologist offers the reassurance that they have met recognised BPS standards in applying psychology to coaching practice, including evidence-based practice, ethics and ongoing professional development.

Ultimately, the right choice will depend on what an individual wants from coaching and the particular experience, approach and style that will be most useful to them.

It’s important to ensure that your coach works to appropriate ethical and professional standards. Accreditation with coaching bodies including the International Coaching Federation (ICF), European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and Association for Coaching (AC) can provide reassurance that a coach has undertaken appropriate training, follows an ethical framework and is committed to continuing professional development.

Being accredited also indicates that the coach has built up a certain level of coaching experience and demonstrated relevant coaching skills.

If someone describes themselves as a coaching psychologist, it is also worth looking at their psychology credentials rather than relying on the title alone. A coaching psychologist will typically have undergraduate and postgraduate training in psychology, alongside specialist training or experience in coaching psychology. Chartered Coaching Psychologists have gone a step further by demonstrating to the BPS that they meet its professional standards for coaching psychology.

Credentials are only part of the picture, however. Relevant coaching experience, supervision, continuing development, organisational understanding and the ability to explain clearly how they work are also useful things to consider.