What is the meaning of coaching today?

Coaching is a booming industry with hundreds of niches, but the modern definition of what coaching actually is has evolved only recently.

Coaching is ubiquitous in modern life. You can get a coach for almost anything you want; business, health, relationships and even parenting, to name a handful. But what has coaching come to mean in a modern sense and how does this differ from its traditional definition?

The origin of the term "coaching"

The most common definition of coaching is simply “to train or instruct an individual or team”. This includes teaching and providing advice with a view to making said individual or team better or more likely to achieve a certain outcome.

Believe it or not, the term comes from the horse-drawn coaches that would help someone get from A to B in 18^th century Britain. It was slang for tutors “carrying” their students. So it’s actually a metaphor.

When applied to a sports coach, for example, this definition makes perfect sense, but when applied to business coaching or life coaching as we understand it today, it doesn’t fit.

The modern meaning of coaching

In the context of life or business coaching, coaching does not generally mean to instruct, teach or even advise. Few people believe they need instruction on how to live or run their business from someone else.

Today, a coach in this sense is there to help guide their client by helping them find the answers themselves. A trained coach asks questions, holds space, and avoids putting their own opinions forward. This approach is underpinned by two beliefs:

The client is the only person that truly knows what’s best for them
They hold all the answers, they simply need to find them

A crucial benefit of this coaching style is that someone who receives coaching is wholly responsible for their actions because they’ve not been offered an opinion or suggestion for what to do. This means they take full ownership of their actions.

Definition of coaching

Let’s get AI’s thoughts on the definition of coaching and how it’s evolved over time. After all, ask ChatGPT to act like a leadership coach, it can do it. Relationship coach? No problem.

Here’s how ChatGPT defines the role of a coach today:

It also explains how this definition has evolved over time:

“Coaching has evolved from a directive, advice-giving role to a client-centered approach focused on empowerment and self-discovery. Originally rooted in sports and later in corporate management, it has shifted to help clients uncover their own insights and solutions. Today, coaching is more personalized and accessible, often using digital tools to support clients’ growth both professionally and personally.”

It alludes to the way technology is changing and affecting the future of coaching.

The difference between coaching and mentoring

In the world of business, there’s plenty of merit in advice and guidance as opposed to asking questions and holding space. This is because there are more areas where an experienced businessperson may be able to help someone avoid a mistake, capitalize on an opportunity, or simply learn a better way to do something. In general, there are more objective rights and wrongs in business than in life.

This means there is far more scope for a business coach to give practical advice or instruction instead of asking questions. Without the requisite knowledge and experience, the client might simply not reach the right conclusion on their own. However, since this approach differs from what is now understood as coaching, it may be better described as “mentoring”.

Mentoring is commonplace in business but can happen across many fields. A good mentor might still ask questions of their mentee, but they’ll be drawing on experience and be able to offer informed opinion and guidance too. Mentoring is simply a style of coaching, more akin to the traditional meaning of the word coaching.

Two common questions about coaching that relate to experience:

Can someone be a business coach without any experience of running a business?
Can someone fresh out of college be an effective life coach?

Using the modern meaning of the word “coaching”, the answer to these questions is yes. As long as they can ask the right questions, they should be able to guide clients to answers they are empowered to act upon. However, in practice, without real life experience and context, it can be argued that coaches in these positions can be out of their depth. If you’re considering using a coach, it’s important to set parameters; rules by which you choose the right coach for you.

Final words

In summary, being a coach has changed dramatically in recent years. While business, career and life coaches have existed for decades, the coaching industry has evolved in its prominence, as has the general understanding of the word itself.