Industrial and Commercial Training

The similarities and differences between coaching and therapy

Peter Bluckert
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Peter Bluckert, (2005),"The similarities and differences between coaching and therapy", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 37 Iss 2
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 The similarities and differences between
coaching and therapy
Peter Bluckert

Peter Bluckert is Managing Abstract

Director of Peter Bluckert Purpose – This article sets out to explore the similarities and differences between coaching and
Coaching, Bingley, UK. therapy – a subject of great interest currently within coaching and therapy fields.
E-mail: mail@pbcoaching.com Design/methodology/approach – The objectives are achieved by examining the convergence of
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approaches and thinking within these fields, as well as exploring theoretical contributions to the debate.
Findings – Coaching and therapy have a number of similarities. However, as this article explores, the
two disciplines are in many ways, considerably different, particularly in terms of context issues bought to
sessions and the ultimate intension. Typically, the skill sets required for each differ. Practical
considerations such as terms of contract, length of session, pricing and boundaries also vary greatly.
Originality/value – The paper examines in greater detail a subject which is of very definite interest to
both coaching and therapeutic practitioners, and also examines the popular argument in greater depth.
Keywords Coaching, Counselling, Occupational psychology, Gestalt psychology
Paper type General review

Introduction
Given that coaching and mentoring[1] is still in its early stages of development as a profession it
is hardly surprising that there is a lack of clarity and agreement around definitions, approaches,
core competencies and several key issues. One of those issues is the difference between
coaching and therapy[2], and it is a subject often discussed by coaches in training and by more
experienced practitioners. It is one of those thorny topics which defies simple, reductionist
thinking and doesn’t fit neatly into two by two box system models or bullet point lists.

Common features
Part of the reason for this is that coaching and therapy share certain common features.
Both may bring about behavioural change and help people understand how their cognitive
and emotional reactions can interfere with personal effectiveness, performance, and
well-being. Both are conducted by skilled practitioners who establish strong relationships of
trust with their clients. Some of the core skills are the same, such as deep listening and
questions which raise awareness.
Further overlaps can be found in some of the underlying philosophies behind coaching and
therapy. Like coaching, a variety of therapy practices embrace a client-centred,
collaborative partnership that encourages clients to acknowledge their creativity and find
their own unique solutions.

Coaching, consulting, training and development

Coaching also shares similarities with other disciplines such as organisational consulting,
management development and training. Differentiating these can be difficult, for whilst some
consultants and management trainers play the expert role, many others adopt a primarily

DOI 10.1108/00197850510584241 VOL. 37 NO. 2 2005, pp. 91-96, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0019-7858 j INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING j PAGE 91
 facilitative role not unlike that of the coach. It would be simpler to say that management
consultants tend to come up with models of change, suggest solutions and deal with
information, processes and procedures. We could then position coaching on the other side
of a boundary where the focus of the work is with individuals, relationships and interpersonal
skills. Unfortunately it’s not as clear-cut as that.

Convergence of approaches and thinking

Part of the reason for this is that many of these disciplines have been around for a very long
time. As a result there are many different sub-groups with distinctive approaches under the
broad umbrellas of therapy, consulting and development. Professional people learn from
each other and are curious about what can be discovered from similar but different
theoretical practices. Many therapists, clinical psychologists and management trainers have
gone into consulting and coaching, taking with them their understandings, skill-sets and
professional norms. New models of coaching have been constructed on the proposition that
coaching is an amalgam of these different disciplines. In Greene and Grants’
Solution-Focused Coaching (Greene and Grant, 2003) we find a model which
incorporates counselling, consulting, training and mentoring (see Figure 1).
Another recent book on leadership development coaching, by West and Milan (2001), is
premised on the view that the development coach draws primarily on two related disciplines
– consulting and counselling – and synthesises these into his or her practice. Their model,
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which they refer to as a ‘‘marriage of two disciplines’’, is shown in Figure 2.

They view the coach’s role as ‘‘personal management consultant’’, understanding both
business/strategy and psychology/human behaviour in order to facilitate content
improvement via process improvement. They quote the influential organisation
development thinker, Edgar Schein, when he says:
. . . the coach should have the ability to move easily among the roles of process consultant,
content expert and diagnostician/prescriber. The ultimate skill of the coach, then, is to assess the
moment-to-moment reality that will enable him to be in the appropriate role (Schein, 2000).

Differentiating coaching and therapy

Despite the blurring of boundaries between coaching and therapy the demarcation issue
concerns many coaches, especially those without a psychological background. Some of the

Figure 1 Greene and Grant model

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PAGE 92 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING VOL. 37 NO. 2 2005
 Figure 2 West and Milan model

offerings in coaching literature nevertheless leave something to be desired. They make the
case that coaching focuses on the present, is goal oriented and geared to highly functioning
successful people who want to do even better. Therapy is characterised as past-focused,
designed to address painful, unresolved issues and is geared to troubled people or those
with pathology. Whilst these descriptions hold some truth they also contain inaccuracies
which are potentially misleading and over-simplistic.
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So what are the key differences between coaching and therapy? We will start with some of
the earlier statements made in this section and then add some further differentiating factors.
Finally we will address some commonly asked questions about coaching and therapy.

Key differences explored

Coaching focuses on the present and future whilst therapy deals with the past
As a general statement this holds some water but will not always be the case. Some therapy
does focus on the future and a competent coach may well focus on the past when their client
has a particular need to do so. It is more a question of degree and the type of therapy being
discussed. Short-term solution-focused counselling has much in common with coaching
whereas long-term psychoanalysis is fundamentally different.

Coaching is geared to highly functioning people whilst therapy exists for troubled people with
painful, unresolved issues or who have some form of pathology
Again there is an element of truth here but in the main this is the most misleading of all the
common characterisations. The truth is that there are some very well functioning and
successful people who take on coaching. Similarly, there are distressed people in therapy,
some of whom will be diagnosed as having some form of pathological condition. However,
people enter therapy for many reasons including self-exploration, self-knowledge,
professional development and better self-management. The other problem with polarising
coaching and therapy in this way is that it suggests that successful managers do not have
psychological problems and clearly this is not always the case. Issues of stress, addiction
and depression are increasingly surfacing in corporate life, as well as cases where complex
psychology is present. The business coach will be ill-prepared if they are not aware and
attuned to this.

The intentions of coaching and therapy are different

This is where there is clear daylight between the two disciplines. The primary goal of
coaching is to improve a person’s effectiveness at work in ways linked to overall business
strategy. To this end, a coach will sometimes guide individuals toward increased awareness
of how their thoughts and emotional reactions lead to problematic behaviours in the
workplace. Therapy may share coaching’s goals of improved personal effectiveness and
increased awareness of problematic thoughts and emotional reactions that may impede
work effectiveness. But therapy also addresses non-work aspects of an individual’s life and
may involve in-depth explorations of the client’s history, and their key relationships with

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VOL. 37 NO. 2 2005 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING PAGE 93
 ‘‘ Despite the blurring of boundaries between coaching and
therapy, the demarcation issue concerns many coaches,
especially those without a psychological background ’’

parents and other family members – issues that may be only tangentially related to business
effectiveness. Therapy may also lead to deep and sometimes intense emotional
experiences that demand skilful guidance from an experienced practitioner. Due to the
differences in these two approaches, what is acceptable for one intervention may be
inappropriate for the other. For example, while a therapist may legitimately explore the early
childhood and familial roots of difficult behaviours, it is less appropriate for an executive
coach to do so. If a coach feels there is important unfinished emotional business hampering
an executive’s performance in the workplace, he or she should refer the executive to a
competent therapist.

The training, skill-sets and experience of coaches and therapists are quite different
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In order to take on the deeper self-exploration common to the therapeutic situation,

counsellors and therapists require an extensive training typically far in excess of coach
training. Psychotherapy and counselling training can last many years and involve weekly or
twice-weekly personal therapy. This is far more demanding than current coach training
offerings which typically vary from a few days to a full year. Executive and other business
coaches may bring a great deal of other training along with extensive corporate experience,
but will rarely have undertaken the sort of lengthy training required of a therapist.

Other differences
There is no doubt that coaching is more results and action-focused than therapy. This is
because most corporate coaching exists within a three-way contract involving the manager
(coachee), the organisation and the coach. The company is footing the bill and there is an
expectation that certain outcomes will be achieved. These are often discussed at the
beginning.
The delivery of coaching may also involve processes very rarely used in therapy such as
structured feedback from bosses, peers and subordinates. Therapy typically takes place
behind a curtain of greater privacy with two-way confidentiality. It is not uncommon in
coaching for a three-way confidentiality agreement to exist whereby the coachee’s line
manager or HR manager is also in the feedback loop.
Practical differences also exist in terms of how long sessions last, where they take place and
with what boundaries. Therapy is often conducted within the hour or 50 minute frame.
Coaching sessions tend to last longer and be spaced at longer intervals. Therapy tends to
take place in the therapist’s consulting rooms whereas coaching can occur in the manager’s
office, a hotel syndicate room or by telephone. Therapists do not have contact with clients
socially and are very careful about boundary issues. Coaches regularly accept invitations by
clients to attend corporate hospitality and may invite clients to their own events.
Corporate culture also plays an important part in coaching and the executive coach must
learn how to handle the complexities of organisational life. Coaches from a therapy
background often comment on the faster pace and find that they have to quicken their own
game. They are also more likely to find their personal values in conflict within a world which is
primarily money and profit-oriented and where highly competitive and driven individuals are
the norm.
Even down to appearance things are different. Corporate coaches generally dress similarly
to their clients and wear suits, whereas therapists tend to dress more for comfort.

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PAGE 94 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING VOL. 37 NO. 2 2005
 Judgements are often made very quickly by executives of their potential helpers and the
coach typically has little time to impress and make their mark. Misjudging the dress code
can be enough to create a bad start.
Fee rates are also a significant point of difference and can vary enormously between
coaching and therapy. Typically, coaching rates can be as much as quadruple those of
therapy.
Finally, a more subtle difference between coaching and therapy lies in the presence brought
to each. The therapist presence tends to be more still, composed, thoughtful and enigmatic.
The coach uses their energy differently to create a more action and results focused milieu.
In his book Organisational Consulting: A Gestalt Approach, Nevis (1987) refers to the
position of the therapist with the metaphor ‘‘working by sitting down’’. By contrast he
describes the consultant role as more active and calls it ‘‘working by standing up’’. This
nicely captures the different presence brought by therapists and coaches.

Commonly asked questions about coaching and therapy

In the recent offering by Skiffington and Zeus, Behavioral Coaching, (Skiffington and Zeus,
2003), the authors outline a number of commonly-asked questions about this subject. They
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include:
B ‘‘How long should a coach allow the coachee to talk about or ventilate negative
emotions?’’
B ‘‘How does the coach know when a coachee should be referred to therapy?’’
In my experience these and similar questions occupy the thoughts of many novice and
experienced coaches. We will finish with a brief look at these, though I recommend the
reader to research these further and discuss them with colleagues as they are some of the
most pertinent yet difficult questions for those in professional coaching.
How long should the coach allow a coachee to talk about and ventilate negative emotions . . .
this may be very important for the client, especially if he or she is experiencing a critical
period in their work or career. However, it is about degree. If sessions are always heavily
dominated by distress and this is not giving way to clearer thought, improved sense of
well-being, greater energy and commitment to new actions then this may be an indication of
deeper therapeutic issues or that the individual is ‘‘stuck’’ and requires a different kind of
help.
How does the coach know when a coachee should be referred for therapy . . . this is one of
the most difficult of all practitioners’ questions, not least because clients may not welcome
this suggestion nor take it up even if you offer it. There may be deep-seated patterns from the
past affecting current behaviour or conditions such as depression, severe anxiety, and
addiction which require help from clinically-trained professionals.
Most coaches are not trained to diagnose these conditions and this is one of the reasons why
coaches need to be in professional supervision; to discuss their concerns with another
senior colleague, get support, reassurance, and guidance. Fortunately these issues are the
exception, but the professional coach does need to recognise that there may be occasions
when referral is the soundest thing to do.

‘‘ Corporate culture plays an important part in coaching and the

executive coach must learn how to handle the complexities of
organisational life ’’

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VOL. 37 NO. 2 2005 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING PAGE 95
 Concluding remarks
Coaching and therapy share some similarities but in significant ways are also quite different.
Typically the intention is different, with coaching strongly grounded in work effectiveness and
performance rather than wider life issues.
Therapy issues often focus around how to achieve closeness with others, how to deal with
fear of intimacy, how to improve skills in making contact and building and maintaining
satisfying relationships. Coaching issues tend to revolve around people management,
strategic planning, organisational change, business performance, leadership and personal
development.
Certain skill-sets are similar but the therapist is trained to work at a deeper level particularly
where psychological and emotional issues exist. Experienced executive coaches will often
have a higher level of competence in corporate issues.
Ways of operating as coaches and therapists also vary in terms of contracting – the issue of
who is the client in the coaching situation – and practical considerations such as venue,
length of sessions, pricing and boundaries.
Professional supervision is stressed as a vital aspect of good practice for coaches, just as it
has been for many years in therapy. Indeed, one of the very reasons that therapy practices
have found their way into business coaching is that an increasing number of therapists have
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added coaching to their portfolios. As the coaching field matures, we can expect to see
increasing differentiation in ‘‘types of coach’’. A new category recently approved by the
British Psychological Society (BPS) is that of Coaching Psychologists. It would hardly be
surprising to also see the term Coach-Therapist emerge in the near future.

Notes
1. Coaching and mentoring are activities which have their own similarities and differences. Rather than
use both terms throughout this article, which would be unwieldy, I am simply using the term
coaching to encompass both.
2. Again, we could focus an entire article on the differences between psychotherapy and counselling.
Instead I am using the generic term ‘‘therapy’’ to describe both.

References
Greene, J. and Grant, A. (2003), Solution-Focused Coaching, Momentum Press, London.
Nevis, E. (1987), Organisational Consulting: A Gestalt Approach, GIC Press, New York, NY.
Schein, E. (2000), ‘‘Coaching and consultancy’’, in Goldsmith, M. (Ed.), Coaching for Leadership,
Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.
Skiffington, S. and Zeus, P. (2003), Behavioral Coaching, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York, NY.

West, L. and Milan, M. (2001), The Reflecting Glass: Professional Coaching for Leadership
Development, Palgrave, New York, NY.

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PAGE 96 INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING VOL. 37 NO. 2 2005
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