The first in a series of articles for helping you find the right coach to help you achieve your goals.

To find a business coach that’s right for you, you’ll want to know what you are looking for. To that end, this article explains what coaching is, why it works to help people grow, and what differentiates one coach from another.

Rather than write one long article, I’ve divided this information into a few shorter blogs. That way, you can go straight to the content is that important to you. You can also skip over anything that doesn’t interest you as you search to find a business coach.

In this article, I’m focused on what coaching is and the differences between different coaching approaches. As you might have noticed, there many different kinds of coaches—business coaches, leadership coaches, life coaches, etc. The one thing they all have in common is the coaching process, which I explain below. I also take a look at the difference between coaching, teaching and therapy, which often have the same goal but go about achieving it in different ways. And I’m including a little research about why the combination of on-the-job learning and coaching is so powerful. 

At the end, I list related articles to help you find a business coach that’s right for you. Read the ones that interest you. When you’re done, you should have a better idea of what to look for as you set out to find a business coach.

Coaching is a Process

At its essence, coaching is a process for self-reflection and self-discovery. The coach is a guide to help you discover the best in yourself. Coaches offer support in a variety of ways as you learn to master the skills you want.

The overwhelming evidence from research shows that processes that build self-awareness are most effective in helping people grow new skills and make changes that benefit them.

For some people, that’s counter-intuitive. Many people believe that if you want to learn something new, you should take a course or read a book by an expert. However, we now know that people retain more and make more changes when they engage in self-reflection and self-discovery. After all, we know best what is right for us.

Vast amounts of data show that, in order to change, people must become aware of thinking patterns that are leading to unwanted results. This kind of learning is at the heart of non-directive coaching and it is, according to the data, the most effective process to help people change. 

So any true coaching will have that process of self-reflection and self-discovery at its core. The coaching process aligns with how most adults like to learn. Most adults like to set their own pace, direct what they want to learn, and control where the conversation goes. When we do something that doesn’t turn out the way we wanted, we have the right to decide what we want to change and what we don’t. Coaches work by respecting and validating what is best in their clients and helping their clients stretch and grow at a pace that is comfortable to the client.

The Difference Between Coaching, Teaching, and Therapy

When looking to find a business coach, it’s useful to know the differeces between coaching and other kinds of learning. This focus on self-discovery and self-learning is what differentiates coaching from other learning experiences.

Teaching works on the premise that the teacher knows something that you want to learn. If you enroll in a leadership course somewhere, the teacher will offer a curriculum, exercises, class discussions, reading, writing assignments, etc. to help you synthesize the material. Teachers tell you what to learn and how to learn it.

In contrast, therapy and coaching both use the same fundamental process of self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-reflection. Actually, former therapists looking to broaden their impact on clients started the coaching industry.

Coaching and therapy differ in one essential way: their time focus is different. Therapists aim the process at understanding the past. Therapists commonly ask questions like:

  • How did that make you feel?
  • When was the first time you felt that way?
  • Who else has made you feel that way?

In constrast, coaching focuses on the future. Coaches are more likely to ask: 

  • How do you want to feel?
  • What have you learned that you want to do more of (or that you want to avoid) as you move forward?
  • What can you do to change the outcome next time?

What is Business Coaching?

I like to compare business coaching to how a high school track coach works. On a high school track team, the student sets the goal. That is, the student decides to sign up for track. They also decide what kind of race they want to run, if they are a sprinter or a distance runner, how much they want to practice, and how committed they are to winning.

To help them achieve their goal, the coach provides support for improving their natural talents. The coach may suggest certain shoes or clothing that help other racers do better. Usually, the coach devises training exercises and a practice schedule to help the student build the right fitness and readiness skills. The coach helps turn failures into learning experiences, which is how the best runners learn to improve. In the end, the student does the training, figures out what works for them, and runs the race.

It’s exactly the same for business coaching. You, as the client, decide on the goal and the time and resources you want to commit to reaching it. The coach is there as a trusted advisor, who can help you find ways to test and improve new skills more quickly than if you were experimenting on your own. In weekly or bi-weekly conversations, the coach’s job is to listen and guide you as you flesh out ideas, develop new plans or tactics, and try new skills. The coach may suggest techniques or ideas that work for others. When things don’t go well, the coach is there to help turn failures into learning experiences that help you move forward smarter.

The coach may also help you self-reflect on assumptions and attitudes which may be limiting your success. The coach will help you build confidence, try new ideas, and cheer you on as you work toward your goals. In the end, you decide when and how to implement what you have learned.

90% of Success Comes from On-the-Job Learning and Coaching

Over half a century of research into success has demonstrated that 90% of what we learn comes from on-the-job learning and coaching or mentoring.

70-20-10 rule 2025

The 70:20:10 Rule was discovered by Lombardo and Eichinger after extensive studies of successful people. It has held up over time in further studies and offers a clue into the best way to acquire the skills you need to succeed.

  • People learn 70% of the skills they need to succeed on the job using trial and error learning.
  • People learn 20% of the skills they need to succeed from a coach or mentor.
  • People learn 10% of the skills they need to succeed from formal learning like courses and books.

Again, this is surprising to many who prize their educational journeys and worked hard in school. Academic success is important and especially important for getting in the door. But as it turns out, what you need to be successful in a business role is largely not found in a book or a course. 

Coaching emerged from the 20% that you need to learn from a mentor because most leaders don’t have time to mentor others, at least not many. And there are some things you need to learn from another person, especially regarding emotional intelligence. Books and AI won’t help you deal with tricky people problems. That’s where coaching comes in.

I should mention that to some extent, certain personality traits have been associated with success in certain jobs. To be clear, there is no one-size-fits-all personality or trait that predicts success in every role. At least one academic review of the current use of personality tests, conducted by people with no vested interest in a testing service, found very low validity that personality tests predicted job performance.

On the other hand, leadership skills and emotional intelligence have consistently been found to predict job success, both in academic studies and corporate studies. This is why the most prestigious firms that educate leaders, like Harvard, MIT, McKinsey, Korn Ferry and many others, focus on leadership development and emotional intelligence. Business coaching coupled with on-the-job experiences is a powerful combination that provides on-the-job learning and mentoring at the same time, just when you need it most.

If you are looking to find a business coach, you are going to want to work with someone who has data and evidence to back up their approach and shows that the skills they help you develop will lead to your goal. Leadership coaching, at its best, is based on the science of success.

Further Reading to Find a Business Coach

Now you know what coaching is and some of the research behind it. There is still more to learn to find a business coach that’s right for you. Next, you might want to look at the following blogs:

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