What is a coach: meaning, types and what they actually do
What a coach is and what the word means, what happens in a session, the main types of coaching and how a coach differs from a mentor, therapist or consultant.
What is a coach: meaning and origin of the word
A coach is a professional who helps a person set a goal, personal or professional, and make progress towards it. A coach does this through questions, listening and commitments chosen by the person, not by giving them the answer. The client of a coach is sometimes called the coachee, and the process they go through together is coaching.
The International Coaching Federation (ICF), the international association of coaches, defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential”.
What does coach mean today
Today, coach means something close to “trainer” or “guide”, but neither word fits exactly. A sports trainer tells you which exercises to do; a coach, in the sense used at work and in personal life, helps you decide for yourself what to do and then stick to it.
When someone says “I've got a coach”, they're rarely talking about sport. They mean a person they meet regularly to work on a specific goal, such as changing jobs, managing a team better or finally making a decision they've been putting off for months.
Where the word coach comes from
The word coach comes from a village in Hungary. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it reached English through French and German, which took it from the Hungarian kocsi, “wagon from Kocs”, after the town of Kocs. Its first known use in English, meaning a carriage, dates from 1556.
The jump from carriage to person is a metaphor. Merriam-Webster records a second sense, “a private tutor”, which comes from the idea that the tutor carries the student through examinations, just as a carriage carries its passengers. From there the word moved into sport and, later, into work and personal life.
What a coach does in practice
In practice, a coach does three things: helps you pin down what you want to achieve, asks questions that make you think about how to get there, and asks for commitments that you review together in the next session. A coach talks less than you do. What a coach doesn't do is solve the problem for you or tell you which decision to make.
A coach's work shows up in specific things:
- Pinning down the goal. From “I want to feel better at work” to “I want to change employer before the summer”.
- Asking awkward questions. What you've tried, what's holding you back, what happens if you do nothing.
- Asking for commitments. One or two steps that you choose and carry out before the next session.
- Reviewing what happened. What you did, what you didn't and why.
What a session with a coach is like
A session with a coach is a one-to-one conversation, in person or online, that usually starts by going over what you've done since the last one. Then you pick a topic, the coach asks questions while you work out the answer, and you leave with one or two commitments. A coaching programme is a series of sessions with a goal set at the start.
If you'd like to see what a full programme looks like from start to finish, including what to ask in the first session, we cover it in what a personal coach is and when one helps.
Types of coaching and what each one works on
The types of coaching differ in the goal they work on, not in the method, which is similar across all of them. The most common are career coaching, executive coaching, leadership coaching, personal coaching, motivational coaching and team coaching. Choosing the right type is half the job, because each coach knows one kind of problem best.
| Type of coaching | Goal it works on | Who it usually suits |
|---|---|---|
| Career coaching | Finding a job, changing employer or sector | People looking for work or a change |
| Executive coaching | Decisions and the step up to a senior role | Executives and managers |
| Leadership coaching | Delegating, giving feedback, running a team | People who have just started managing others |
| Personal or life coaching | Habits, organisation, life decisions | People who want to change something outside work |
| Motivational coaching | Drive and consistency when you're stuck | People who know what to do but can't get going |
| Team coaching | How a group works, roles and conflict | Teams inside a company |
Each type of coaching has its own page on CompassHub: career coaching, executive coaching, leadership coaching, the personal coach and motivational coaching.
The difference between a coach, a mentor, a therapist and a consultant
The difference between a coach, a mentor, a therapist and a consultant lies in who provides the answer. A coach helps you find it yourself; a mentor tells you what they did; a therapist treats psychological distress; and a consultant studies your problem and hands you a solution. ICF Spain puts it simply: coaching is not psychology, advice, mentoring or consultancy.
| Aspect | Coach | Mentor | Therapist (psychologist) | Consultant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who provides the answer | You, through the coach's questions | The mentor, from their experience | The therapeutic process | The consultant |
| What it works on | A goal that depends on you | Your development in a field they know | Emotional distress or a disorder | A problem in a company or project |
| Looks towards | The future | The future, with their past as a guide | The present and the past | The specific problem |
| Regulated in Spain | No | No | Yes, in healthcare | No |
The regulation row matters most. Under Spain's Law 33/2011 on Public Health, in the consolidated text updated in the BOE on 29 July 2025, the General Health Psychologist is a regulated health profession that requires a degree in Psychology and the official Master's in General Health Psychology.
A coach has no equivalent qualification. So if what you're going through is anxiety, a low mood that won't lift or any distress that stops you functioning, the person you need is a psychologist or your GP, not a coach.
What training and accreditation exist for coaches
You don't need any official qualification to work as a coach in Spain: training exists, but it's voluntary and offered by private schools and associations. One of the best-known accreditations is ICF's, which according to ICF Spain is the world's largest coaching organisation, with more than 61,000 members in 150 countries.
ICF awards three credentials. These are the minimum requirements published by ICF Spain, on its website updated on 9 March 2026:
| ICF credential | Coach-specific training | Client coaching experience | Number of clients | Hours with a mentor coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | 60 hours | 100 hours | 8 | 10 |
| PCC | 125 hours | 500 hours | 25 | 10 |
| MCC | 200 hours | 2,500 hours | 35 | 10 |
All three ICF credentials also require an oral and a written exam. Other coaching associations have their own badges; whichever one a coach holds, what matters is that you can check it yourself.
Is coaching a regulated profession in Spain?
No: in Spain coaching is not a regulated profession, and anyone can call themselves a coach. ICF Spain says so on its website, where it describes coaching as a sector with no official regulation by the public authorities. That's why a private accreditation is the only thing that tells you anything about a coach's training before you speak to them.
The sector is also growing. ICF's 2025 Global Coaching Study, carried out with PwC, counts 122,974 coach practitioners worldwide, 15% more than in 2023, according to ICF's announcement of 16 September 2025. With that much choice, checking a coach's training matters more than ever.
How to check a coach's credentials
To check a coach's credentials, ask for the exact name of their certification and the body that awarded it, then look them up in that body's public directory. ICF Spain explains how to verify ACC, PCC or MCC credentials in the ICF directory.
If a coach says they're trained but can't tell you where or for how many hours, you have your answer. In how to find a coach in Spain we explain what else to look at: experience, fit and price.
When to see a coach
It makes sense to see a coach when you have a goal that depends on you, you know roughly what you want, and you lack structure, consistency or an outside view to get there. A coach can't supply the motivation, but can help make sure it turns into something. If the goal is vague, the first session is for pinning it down.
Situations where a coach usually fits:
- You want to change jobs and have spent months not knowing where to start.
- You've been promoted and now manage people who used to be your colleagues.
- You have a decision on hold that comes back every week.
- You've tried to change something on your own and couldn't keep it up.
When the goal is your career, it helps if the coach knows how hiring decisions are made from the inside. At CompassHub, the coaching team has more than 15 years in headhunting, finding and selecting professionals on behalf of companies. There's nothing to book: you fill in the form, join the waiting list and a coach gets in touch when they can.
When a coach isn't what you need
A coach isn't what you need when there's psychological distress behind the problem, when you want someone to tell you what they'd do in your place, or when you're missing a specific skill. In the first case, see a psychologist or your GP; in the second, look for a mentor; in the third, a training course. A good coach will tell you so in the first session.