However, despite the fact that both life and business coaching share the common element of "coaching", the reality is that the two disciplines can be quite distinct.

Indeed, what has been described as "business coaching" in the past has tended to be life coaching for individual executives. And, while this can be an extremely valuable exercise, many businesses require a more targeted approach to coaching, one with a sharper focus on the benefits of the coaching to the bottom line.

It is for this reason that ICTI (the International Coaching and Training Institute), in association with Next Step Development, is offering a new Diploma in Management and Executive Coaching, which will be available across a number of locations in Ireland from September of this year. It has been designed for maximum effectiveness in business coaching, and as such, it will be of benefit to both professionals within a business setting who wish to add coaching to their portfolio of skills sets, or to businesspeople, managers, organisational consultants, HR professionals, corporate training and development experts and career counsellors who wish to pursue a career in business coaching.

"There was really very little on the market that trained people specifically in the disciplines of management and executive coaching, " said Marcus McKeown, CEO of ICTI in Ireland. "The modules we offer have been designed to help people to understand the theory and practice of coaching in a business context, with all modules designed for the purpose of corporate enhancement."

This is the key point about the new Diploma. Where life coaching, even in a business context, tends to concentrate on the person's emotional situation, management and executive coaching is concerned with how to get the best out of people in order to improve the bottom line of a company. The programme itself was designed by the ICTI, using the expertise of internationally renowned organisational psychologist Mike Vandermark (based in Phoenix, Arizona).

"The goal of the Diploma is to educate people to create the habits of effective leadership and management, with the end result that an organisation will be able to use its resources to generate maximum returns, " said McKeown.

The programme itself is being launched Nationwide in September, and the duration of the course is 10 days over four months, during which time four modules will be studied . . . and course promoters promise that these modules will be like nothing before offered to the Irish market. In addition, companies can also bring the Diploma course in-house, in which case the duration will be whatever the client company requires it to be.

"The focus of the Diploma is not just on the content of the modules, but on their mode of delivery, " explained Alison McGuire, director of Next Step Development.

"This delivery is based on the concept of coaching conversations, whereby each session is kicked off with powerful questions which have been designed to get people thinking. The course designers have even written a number of musical parodies designed to provoke conversations among the group participating, exploring themes such as values, truth, honesty and authenticity.

And, having initiated these conversations, the facilitator will then draw people back to look at the results of the process."

Because of the conversational nature of the programme's delivery, there are upper and lower limits of participation, which means that no class will be too big or too small. By participating, people will be exploring questions such as "what type of coach am I?", "what kind of coach do I want to be?" and "what kind of coach do people need me to be?" - while the programme will also address issues such as performance planning and elimination of self-limiting beliefs.

"We are trying to create a person who can confidently and competently manage themselves and others, using a coaching style, " explained McGuire. "By offering the Diploma, we are looking to draw a definite line between what is business coaching and what is personal coaching."

For further information, contact 053 942 3657 or e-mail: info@nextstepdevelopment. eu