What is individual coaching: personal or business development?

Ryszard Skarbek
Jul 20
6 min read

Updated: Jul 27

Individual Coaching: What Is It? Office Manager

In recent years, individual coaching has become a popular tool supporting personal and professional growth. It's more than just advice — it's a development process that helps clients expand their potential, overcome internal barriers, and achieve their goals.

If you want to learn the ins and outs of coaching and find out what benefits it brings, this article is for you.

What is individual coaching?

Individual coaching is a process that supports both personal and professional development, in which the coach helps the client achieve clearly defined goals. Unlike traditional counseling, it is based on stimulating the client to expand their awareness and make independent decisions. The coach does not provide the coachee with ready-made solutions. The objective is to help the coachee utilize their resources and strengths.

A personal coach helps you increase self-awareness, define your priorities, and wisely manage both your professional and personal life. This includes areas such as regaining professional satisfaction or designing the best career path, improving the quality of your personal life, and developing managerial skills.

What are the goals of coaching?

Goals are varied and always tailored to individual needs. They often include:

Expanding self-awareness – The coaching process helps you understand your own needs, resources, and areas for development.
Increasing Motivation – A coach can help the client identify specific motivators. This applies to both the decision to initiate a given activity, the consistent implementation of the entire plan, and the celebration of subsequent successes.
Achieving professional success – Support in striving for promotion, development of competences, or improvement of efficiency.
Change management – Support in managing changes in professional life, such as a job change or retraining.

Why is it worth participating in individual coaching?

This process brings benefits on many levels. It enables you to explore your potential, which ultimately translates into better results in both your professional and personal lives. It's particularly effective for those who want to develop and are ready for change, but still need support and inspiration.

For some, it's a way to boost self-confidence, while for others, it's a method for effectively managing stress or coping with professional challenges. However, a coach always supports the client in achieving their goals and helps them see entirely new perspectives.

Coach and trainer – what are the differences?

"What's the difference between a coach and a trainer ?" is a question we often hear. A coach helps the coachee create their solutions and develop according to their personal needs. While a trainer's work focuses on teaching specific skills and transferring knowledge.

A coach must create the appropriate space, allowing the coachee to make independent choices and reflect on themselves. Coaching is based on listening, asking questions, and guiding the conversation so that the coachee can define their priorities and specific ways to achieve them.

The role of the client in the coaching process.

The coachee plays a key role in the entire process. The effectiveness of the collaboration depends on their commitment, willingness to reflect, and openness to change. While the coach can help the client explore and develop their potential, it's the client who decides and selects specific activities aimed at achieving their goals.

It is also crucial to be open to the coach's suggestions and ready to take on challenges that may arise on the path to success.

What does a coaching session look like?

A coaching session involves a meeting between the coachee and the coach, during which the client's current challenges and aspirations are discussed. Depending on the client's preferences, sessions can be held in person, online, or even by phone.

During the session, the coach uses various coaching techniques to help the client understand their situation and identify steps that can lead to achieving their intended goal. During the session, the coach asks questions that inspire the coachee to reflect on their behaviors, beliefs, priorities, and values.

Coaching tools and work methods

Coaching utilizes a variety of methods and tools to help clients gain greater self-insight. The most common methods include:

The GROW Method – the most popular coaching conversation structure. We write extensively about it on a dedicated page of our website.
SMART – a method of setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
Re-phrasing – paraphrasing, or the coach repeating what they've heard. This allows the client to see themselves as if in a mirror and hear valuable insights contained in their own words.
Feedback – providing feedback in the form of questions. The best example of this approach is the GOLD technique.
Metaphors - the use of metaphors, stories, and inspiring quotes to stimulate the imagination and help us notice patterns.
Reframing - i.e., a different, more constructive formulation of the way of looking at a given situation or oneself.
Identifying limiting beliefs - capturing deeply ingrained thoughts and helping to eliminate negative beliefs.
Evaluation and monitoring of the plan - the coach's task is not only to help set goals, but also to support in defining a specific plan for their implementation and to motivate on the path leading to their achievement.

business leader satisfied with individual coaching

Personal coaching and business coaching.

Individual coaching is also often used in professional contexts, but it typically differs from business coaching, which focuses on the needs of entire teams or organizations. Business coaching primarily serves entrepreneurs and senior managers, focuses on achieving business goals, and designing company strategies. It is also often focused on developing managerial skills, managing teams, and supporting team leaders in achieving the company's strategy.

In individual coaching, the emphasis is on the client's personal development and needs, making the process more personalized. The relationship between coach and client is more intimate.

How to choose the right coach?

Choosing a coach is a crucial step on the path to success. A trustworthy professional is highly ethical; possesses the necessary qualifications and certifications (e.g., ACC and PCC issued by the ICF - International Coach Federation), documented by participation in specialized coaching training; has practical experience; and demonstrates the ability to build rapport and foster an atmosphere of trust. It's crucial that both parties "catch a common wave," which is the foundation for open communication and mutual understanding.

It is also worth paying attention to the coach's specialization - for some, it is career coaching, for others, life coaching, and still others specialize in team coaching.

It's a good idea to choose someone with experience in the field you're interested in. It's also worth realizing that the results achieved throughout the entire process are directly dependent on the coach's experience, knowledge, and skills.

What does a business leader gain from personal coaching?

The benefits of coaching can be multifaceted, and having a personal confidante can be truly invaluable. Just the opportunity to talk to someone impartial makes the feeling of loneliness that often plagues business leaders easier to bear.

The topics you can bring to sessions are truly limitless. They can concern both professional and personal life. It's often difficult to separate these spheres, no matter how hard we try. Why? Because the same person is always at the center of them. And problems from personal life spill over into professional life, and vice versa.

Is coaching an effective method of personal development?

The effectiveness of Coaching depends on various factors. The most important of these is choosing a coach who best suits our personality and current needs. Therefore, it's worth devoting adequate time and attention to making such an important decision.

Other factors include the client's commitment and determination, as well as clearly defined goals. As the wise saying goes, "No prayer is forced", and entering into a coaching relationship for fun or without clearly defined needs is simply a waste of time for both parties.

Coaching can be an effective tool that offers a wide range of benefits. However, it's important to remember that its effectiveness depends on the cooperation of both parties and the coachee's willingness to implement real change. Many people who have benefited from this process have achieved not only professional success but also greater balance and satisfaction in their personal lives.

Summary

Individual coaching is a process that supports personal development.
The goals of such a process include, first and foremost, increasing self-awareness, building motivation to take specific steps, and supporting change management.
The differences between a coach and a trainer lie in their approach – a coach supports you in discovering your solutions, while a trainer teaches and shares their knowledge.
Coaching sessions are in-person meetings or online conversations during which the client's needs and challenges are discussed.
Coaching tools (e.g., the GROW method) help clients gain better insights and plan action.
Choosing the right coach is crucial to achieving the best results. It's important to consider their experience and qualifications.
The client's role in the coaching process is fundamental. Their involvement influences the effectiveness of the process. Ultimately, effectiveness also depends on the cooperation between both parties, the coach's experience, and the coachee's willingness to change.