Business Coaching Practice

Coaching helps people find their own answers. You will be able to explain the difference between coaching and advising and agree with a client what success looks like.

• Different from advising, mentoring, training and therapy.
• The client sets the goal; the coach asks and listens.
• Trust, confidentiality and respect.
• Limits and referrals.
• In the first meeting, explain that coaching helps clients find their own answers, whereas advising tells them what to do, and give one example of each.
• Agree what a successful outcome looks like for the client, written in their own words, and revisit that statement every few sessions.
• Practise a one-minute description of your coaching.
• Write your own limits and when you will refer.

Activity. Write a one-page description of coaching in your words.

Standard to meet. Check with the mentor that they agree it separates coaching from advice.

Common mistake. Giving advice and calling it coaching.

Check yourself. Where did you catch yourself advising?

Start with clear terms. You will be able to draft a clear coaching agreement and recognise when a client's needs call for a different professional.

• Purpose, sessions, time, cost if any.
• Confidentiality and its limits.
• Data handling and notes.
• How to end.
• Put a short written agreement in place covering session length, frequency, confidentiality and what you will not do, and ask the client to sign it before starting.
• Know your limits: refer the client to a suitable professional when issues go beyond business coaching, and do not present yourself as giving medical or legal advice.
• Switch phones off in sessions.
• Use the client's own words in notes.

Activity. Draft an agreement and sign with a client.

Standard to meet. Sign before session one.

Common mistake. Vague agreements.

Check yourself. What does your agreement promise?

Great coaches talk less. You will be able to listen without interrupting, summarise accurately and reflect a client's feelings back with care.

• Full attention; no phone.
• Reflect back in the client's words.
• Silence is useful.
• Notice feelings and energy.
• Practise listening for ten uninterrupted minutes, then summarise the client's main points in two sentences and ask whether you have understood them correctly.
• Notice words the client repeats and the feelings behind the facts, and reflect them back gently, for example by saying you noticed they sounded worried about cash.
• Keep session notes short and private.
• End each session with the client's own summary.

Activity. Practise listening for 10 minutes with a peer.

Standard to meet. Check that the peer feels heard.

Common mistake. Interrupting.

Check yourself. How long was your longest silence?

Open, short, curious. You will be able to ask short open questions, then wait quietly so the client reaches their own conclusions.

• What do you want? What is in the way? What else? What will you do?
• Avoid "why" that blames.
• One question at a time.
• Ask for specifics and dates.
• Prefer open questions starting with "what" or "how", such as "What would make this month a success?", and avoid asking several questions at once.
• Pause for five seconds after asking a question, since silence gives the client room to think and often produces the most useful answer.
• Ask what the client will do, by when and how you will know.
• Check in between sessions by short message.

Activity. Prepare 20 questions and test five.

Standard to meet. Write open and neutral questions.

Common mistake. Closed questions.

Check yourself. Which questions were open?

A simple structure keeps focus. You will be able to run a timed one-hour session with a clear opening, focus, plan and close.

• Check-in; goal for today; explore; options; commit to actions; close.
• A fixed time for each part.
• Client summarises.
• Notes after, not during.
• Structure each hour as a five-minute check-in, ten minutes reviewing last actions, thirty minutes on the focus topic, ten minutes planning and a five-minute close, with a visible clock.
• End every session by asking the client to restate their key insight and next step, and write both in the shared notes.
• Never push your own opinion as the answer.
• Ask for feedback after each session.

Activity. Run a full practice session.

Standard to meet. Fit the session to the time.

Common mistake. No time boxes.

Check yourself. How long did each part take?

Turn talk into action. You will be able to turn a client's goals into dated actions and review missed ones as lessons rather than failures.

• SMART goals: specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, timed.
• Scale 1 to 10 for progress.
• Barriers and supports.
• Check-in between sessions.
• Turn goals into specific actions with a number and a date, for example "contact five past customers by Friday", and record them in one shared sheet.
• At the next meeting, ask what happened before asking why, and treat missed actions as information about obstacles rather than as failure.
• Keep a log of questions that worked.
• Practise silence for ten seconds.

Activity. Set goals with each client.

Standard to meet. Write each goal so that it is measurable.

Common mistake. Goals without dates.

Check yourself. What is the date?

Light tools help clients see. You will be able to introduce a light business tool at the right moment and let the client remain the one doing the work.

• A wheel chart that scores each business area.
• Simple cash and customer map.
• Priorities grid.
• Do not overload.
• Offer simple tools when they fit, such as a one-page cash forecast or a weekly priorities list, but let the client do the thinking and filling in.
• Teach each tool in a short practice exercise, ask whether it suits their working style, and drop it if the client does not find it useful.
• Meet your mentor once a month.
• Record learning in a reflection diary.

Activity. Use one tool with a client.

Standard to meet. Ask the client to choose a priority.

Common mistake. Too many tools.

Check yourself. Which tool helped most?

Learn from feedback. You will be able to gather honest feedback, compare progress to original goals and plan your own development as a coach.

• Client feedback form.
• Self-reflection on strengths.
• Mentor review.
• Plan 90 days.
• Every six sessions, compare the client's original goals with their progress, ask for honest feedback, and note what you would change in your approach.
• Keep your own growth plan with reading, peer review and one skill to practise each quarter, and record what you learned from each client engagement.
• Review ethics every quarter.
• Plan three skills to build in 90 days.

Activity. Gather feedback and write the plan.

Standard to meet. Plan has three skills and dates.

Common mistake. Ignoring feedback.

Check yourself. What will you change?

A client begs you to tell them what to do.

Question: How respond?

Model answer: Offer to explore options, ask what they would do if they were sure, and confirm their decision.

A client reveals severe stress and health problems.

Question: What now?

Model answer: Listen, say this is beyond coaching, and refer to a qualified professional.

On the slide: L1 Basic · Basics of listening

Notes: Describe what coaching is and what it is not (advice, therapy, teaching). Notes: ask a mentor to explain the difference with two examples. Standard: three sentences in your own words.

On the slide: L2 Awareness · Awareness

Notes: Describe the coaching cycle: agreement, goals, questions, actions, review. Notes: watch or read a sample session and mark each step. Standard: each step found with a quote.

On the slide: L3 Foundation · Foundation

Notes: Practise listening and open questions in short sessions with a peer. Notes: ten-minute sessions with a feedback sheet. Standard: peer confirms they felt heard and set one action.

On the slide: L4 Practitioner · Practitioner

Notes: Run one full session with an agreement, notes kept private and a follow-up. Notes: practice client. Standard: signed agreement, a goal in the client's words and a dated action.

On the slide: L5 Specialist · Specialist

Notes: Coach two practice clients through four sessions each, with agreements, private notes, plans and feedback. Notes: include a referral rule for clinical issues. Standard: each client shows progress against their own goal and gives feedback.

On the slide: L6 Advanced · Advanced

Notes: Lead a coaching team with supervision, case review and a code of practice. Notes: add anonymised case notes and a complaints route. Standard: supervision held on schedule and boundaries reviewed.

On the slide: L7 Super expert · Super expert

Notes: Set the coaching contract, boundary and referral method and teach the coaches who use it. Notes: hold an ethics review on cases without client names and revise the code of practice.