Identifying Your Competence and Coaching Niche

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Becoming a Coach: Identifying Your Competence and Coaching Niche

Embarking on a coaching career is both a personal and professional journey — one that begins with intentional self-reflection. As Grant (2007) notes, the most effective coaches are those who cultivate self-awareness and reflect critically on the unique combination of skills, values, and experiences they bring to their coaching practice.

Whether your background lies in craft-based industries, budgeting at home, or professional leadership, identifying your coaching strengths, specialisms, and backstory is crucial. This forms the foundation of your coaching identity, helping you stand out in a competitive coaching market.

Why Do You Want to Be a Coach?

A vital question to ask yourself is: Why do I want to coach? Are you looking to build a sustainable coaching business, earn additional income, or pursue a meaningful path aligned with your values and passions? According to Cox, Bachkirova, and Clutterbuck (2018), clearly understanding your motivation enhances your authenticity as a coach — a trait highly valued by clients seeking impactful and ethical coaching relationships.

From Strengths to Coaching Skills

It’s equally important to explore how others perceive your strengths. Are you known for being organised, strategic, or empathetic? These transferable skills can be powerful assets in a coaching context. However, as Rogers (2012) points out, coaching requires a shift from directing and instructing to empowering and guiding. Great coaches create space for clients to think, reflect, and grow.

Visualising Your Coaching Journey: The Bridge Metaphor

Think of your development as a bridge, held up by two key pillars:

• One side is your career background, with its accumulated experience and insights.

• The other side is your formal coaching training, including mentorship, reflective practice, and supervision.

Crossing this metaphorical bridge allows your real-world experience to combine with coaching knowledge, creating a solid foundation for delivering professional coaching services (Stober & Grant, 2006).

A Lifelong Commitment to Coaching Excellence

Coaching is not a static skill but a lifelong learning practice. As Ericsson (2006) describes, expertise grows over time through deliberate practice, feedback, and refinement. Clients are drawn to coaches who are committed to continuous improvement. Investing in coaching CPD (Continuing Professional Development), peer networks, and supervision strengthens your credibility and impact.

The Circle of Competence: Mapping Your Coaching Expertise

At a recent coaching network event, I introduced the concept of the Circle of Competence — a simple yet powerful tool for self-assessment and professional development.

Create your Circle of Competence like this:

• Draw a large circle (jam jar size) to represent your current knowledge base.

• Inside it, draw a smaller circle (penny size) to indicate your core coaching expertise. Shade it darker based on depth of understanding.

• Around the outer rim, add small circles or dots to represent emerging interests, niche sectors, or new skills you’d like to develop (e.g., online coaching, career coaching, or wellbeing coaching).

This approach, inspired by Buffett and Clark (2006), also helps you clarify whether you identify as a pure coach — working without needing sector knowledge — or if you bring in specific expertise from fields like education, business coaching, or social housing. Research by de Haan (2021) suggests that sector-specific experience can enhance outcomes, particularly in executive coaching or organisational coaching.

Planning for Growth: Expanding Your Coaching Horizons

Once you have mapped your competence, consider how you might grow into new markets, sectors, or delivery modes — for example, transitioning from face-to-face to online coaching. Plotting your interests and potential areas for growth helps you plan your ongoing development strategically, as advocated by Law, Ireland, and Hussain (2007).

Judith Barton, Director of Coaching & Mentoring, British School of Coaching

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References

• Buffett, W. E., & Clark, D. (2006). The Tao of Warren Buffett: Warren Buffett’s Words of Wisdom. Scribner.
• Cox, E., Bachkirova, T., & Clutterbuck, D. (2018). The Complete Handbook of Coaching (3rd ed.). Sage.
• de Haan, E. (2021). Critical Moments in Executive Coaching. Routledge.
• Ericsson, K. A. (2006). The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. Cambridge University Press.
• Grant, A. M. (2007). Enhancing coaching skills and emotional intelligence through training. Industrial and Commercial Training, 39(5), 257–266.
• Law, H., Ireland, S., & Hussain, Z. (2007). The Psychology of Coaching, Mentoring and Learning. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Rogers, J. (2012). Coaching Skills: The Definitive Guide to Being a Coach (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
• Stober, D. R., & Grant, A. M. (2006). Evidence-Based Coaching.