Viera Tatay: Coaching unlocks and maximizes a person’s own potential

Viera Tatay is a professional coach, a passionate ambassador of coaching culture, a former member of the SAKo presidency and co-author of various coaching projects. She started her coaching marathon in 2015, since then she has 2000+ hours of coaching under her belt.

The very first signs that I would one day get into coaching came around 2010. Back then I was working at a call centre in Nitra as a manager with a passion for developing people. Over time, I started to hit my own limits and came to a growing realisation that just passing on what I knew might actually be the limit, and I didn’t like that at all. I began to look into what other ways of learning and development there were and, when I later discovered coaching, I was so relieved. I had finally found a way to not be a limiter of growth and development for my colleagues. Coaching unlocks and maximizes a person’s own potential, and this fact brought me both joy and relief. And I thought: “This is it!” In 2015, I embarked on my first coaching training course, which I chose very carefully from what was on offer in the country at the time, because I was determined that coaching would be my path. With that decision, I began to write my professional coaching story.

You are a professional coach and an ambassador of coaching culture in companies. Do you also have experience with coaching in English?

I can honestly say that I hesitated with this decision for a long time, even though I could speak English. Because working with language is a very important pillar of the coaching craft. I made the decision last year. First, however, I took the path of individual language mentoring, which included coaching in English, lots of discussions about how I sometimes trip over my tongue, and a lot of valuable feed-forward. I generally consider preparation to be a prerequisite for success. Today the answer is yes, I coach in English as well.

How to distinguish a quality coach in an era when “everyone” is a coach?

I see it as helpful to start by recognising who is actually a professional and not a self-proclaimed coach. A coach is someone who has undergone accredited coaching training that covers coaching philosophy, code of ethics, and coaching competencies. Current coaching education programmes are most commonly accredited by the ICF, SAKo and EMCC. Without the necessary education, people miss the professional framework of our occupation and lack clarity about what they do, how they do it, and why they do it.

When I think of the term quality coach, the first thing that comes to mind is professionalism, and that starts with a responsible approach to the necessary education. Here I would like to emphasize that it is also useful to distinguish between how people use the term coach nowadays. I have noticed that many people who undergo training start to label themselves as coaches even though their primary job/role is something else. For example, they work in companies as managers, or in the HR department, or in education.

When I think of coaches, to me, they are people whose primary job or business is related to coaching – providing coaching services – as an external or internal contractor. If coaching is an adjunct or one of the tools that a professional has in their toolbox, then I tend to question the label of a professional using a coaching approach and tools. For example, a manager who also uses a coaching approach is, to me, a manager who also has coaching tools in their management briefcase and not a coach. When we look at our calendar and what our days are filled with, it tells us a lot about what our craft is and what feeds us. If a coaching session appears on our calendar once every two weeks, it’s worth considering if the coach label aligns with what we really do.

In terms of professionalism, I would associate the following terms with it: certification with an independent organization (ICF, SAKo, EMCC), mentoring, supervision, continuing lifelong learning, and reflection on one’s own practice. When I use the term certification, I mean a certificate that I obtain through an independent certification process with the ICF, SAKo, EMCC, which consists of an assessment of my coaching conversation, passing a test, evidence of education, and experience. What I don’t mean is a certificate of attendance that I receive at the end of my coaching training from a coaching school where I completed my training. Because those are two different things.

Because all of the above says that we don’t coach based on one training workshop that we did x years ago, but we are constantly working to grow humanly and professionally, staying in tune with new approaches, techniques and findings, and providing quality service and support to our clients. At the same time, not becoming blind to ourselves or our development needs, as well as our clients and the possibilities that our collaboration can bring.

If I were to answer who I see as a professional coach in this context, for me it is someone who is continually learning and reflecting on their practice, and for whom coaching is their daily bread, not an occasional add-on to other work. Which is not to say that another professional who has coaching as one of the tools in their professional toolbox can’t coach well.

An interesting data point when selecting a coach, in addition to the aforementioned, is the number of hours of experience. However, I used to say that it is not about the practice itself i.e. the quantity, but the practice that is reflected and supports the quality of our coaching. If I coach 500 hours and don’t even look back on them, or if I coach 500 hours and regularly reflect on my conversations and experiences and take them into mentoring or supervision, it makes a difference. Because we don’t know what we don’t know.

You can always ask a coach about their education, independent certification, experience, and continuing education. It’s not a secret, and a coach who follows the profession’s code of ethics will answer you transparently and truthfully. If they didn’t, I would see that as the first red flag.

Furthermore, I see defining personal preferences as an important part of choosing a coach to help me narrow down the many options. Personal chemistry also plays an important role – compatibility on a human level. Simply put, whether you click as people. Or the coaching approach of a given professional. Clients are beginning to perceive that there is such a thing as coaching approaches, and I find that if they have tried the services of several coaches, they can tell which approach fits them best.

To summarise this in a few bullet points, we can distinguish good quality, in my understanding of a professional coach, by asking the following questions:

● What is their educational background and where did they get it?

● With which organisation did they get their certification? (ICF, SAKo, EMCC)

● What is their experience?

● How do they continue they education?

● What is their primary job/business?

● How do we connect as people?

I’ve also encountered clients who say they don’t care, that they are just looking for someone to help them. I understand. In situations where we don’t see a clear path ahead, it can be tempting not to add extra points to think about. However, choosing a professional who knows the framework of their profession, its boundaries, their responsibilities, their capabilities, and the ethics that underpin it definitely serves to benefit and protect the client.

You also work as a mentor for coaches. How do you think a coach should be educated? And should they educate themselves?

Absolutely, coaches should be educating themselves at least the entire time they are actively providing coaching services or educating others in the field of coaching. It is not only my belief that this is the right thing to do, but we also commit to this by adhering to the ICF Code of Ethics, which states: “I am committed to lifelong professional learning and personal development”.

Imagine if surgeons operated based on education from 20 years ago because they said that was enough. No further professional or personal development. No improvement in communication, no exposure to new approaches in their field. No collaboration with more experienced colleagues, etc. Doesn’t it send chills down your spine? It makes my blood run cold when I think of a coach who has decided to just work, i.e. coach, because the course was long or expensive and further training is out of sight.

What do I see as valuable development opportunities? Familiarising myself with other coaching approaches than the one/s I learnt during my first coaching training course, for example, by way of shorter or longer training programmes, reading books, attending webinars or engaging in discussions within the coaching community. Working with a mentor to support me in developing my coaching competencies, as well as working with a supervisor who guides me through the various challenges that I experience as a coach in conversations or working with clients overall. In addition to the learning and development that is directly related to coaching, I also see it as useful to go in directions that are not at first just coaching related. Both external and internal coaches can be well served by developing sales skills, marketing communications, and other areas that will help them communicate effectively with people who could benefit from coaching.

Last but not least, I see it as crucial that we work on ourselves as humans as well. To get our own values in order, our own lives, both private and professional, to get clear on who we are as people, where we are going in our lives, what we want to bring to the world, and how coaching fits into all of that. So that we’re not just another enthusiast with a hammer, swinging it in all directions because we’ve experienced what a great tool it can be. So that meeting and working with us be an enriching experience for people and not a reason for them to cross over to the other side of the sidewalk, worried that we’ll pull out the hammer after saying hello.

In your, by the way great, presentation at the SAKO conference 2025 you used various unconventional metaphors, such as coaching is not porn. One of the expressions was “coachipulation”. Can you please explain that?

While preparing the talk and brainstorming, my head was literally a hurricane of stories, different experiences and thoughts from the last ten years I’ve been coaching, and in doing so, these metaphors were created. I learned from talking to people that the concepts remained resonant after the conference. People remembered them, which I’m genuinely happy about.

Coachipulation is a combination of the words coaching and manipulation. I use it to refer to the phenomenon where coaching, or elements of coaching, are used to achieve a goal that is not brought to the session by the client or a colleague at work, but is brought by the manager or sponsor who defines the hidden intention of the topic. That kind of thing: “coach them to do this, but ideally, without them noticing because they don’t agree with it very much”. Alternatively, another example from practice – coaching being used in place of other more appropriate tools.

I have come across attempts to use coaching instead of feedback for example. Imagine you have an opinion, observation, or recommendation for a colleague, but in the good faith that if they figure it out on their own, they will be more ok with it, you try to coach them on it with various questions. Example – a colleague reacted quite strongly in a meeting and after their input the tension could be cut with a knife. Instead of directly opening a debate in the style of: “Vlado, let’s talk about what happened today in the meeting” and, sharing your observation, the questions would come: “How did you feel in the meeting?” “Why did you feel your responses were appropriate?” “What do you think could have been done differently?” 

Open, human, transparent communication or even just plain feedback is a much better way to go. People sense that there is something behind your questions and often confront you with it: “Is there something you want to tell me?” That’s already a clear invitation to be honest.

Secret intentions and unagreed goals do not belong in coaching. Nor is coaching without an agreement that we are going to coach. Abuse of coaching and its elements is also contrary to the ethics of coaching and does not help the reputation of the profession at all. Instead of benefitting, it encourages increasing resentment on the other side.

As for the coaching is not porn analogy, that came from the fact that I encounter people coming into a firm after training, saying they are coaches and you can have coaching sessions with them, expecting an influx of clients, and then being sad when that doesn’t happen.

I always think of a friend of mine from my youth, and I think there are several of them in my circle, who thought that real life relationships were like in porn. He comes home, closes the door behind him, tightens the dripping tap or takes out the rubbish and, with a flirtatious look, there’s action. Then he finds out it doesn’t work that way.

It’s as if we forget the larger context. For example, we might think about these questions. How is our partner doing? How’s their day going? What are they currently dealing with? What makes them happy? What kind of joint programme are they in the mood for?

We need to take into account how our communication is going, what experiences we are having together, what state our relationship or our day is currently in. Because an event is not the result of an empty slot in the calendar or taking out the trash.

Now imagine a manager who doesn’t always listen properly, jumps in, steals the floor in meetings, only addresses the work agenda in meetings, doesn’t care much about us as people, only our role, speaks one way in front of people and then differently when they aren’t there, or has recently fallen out with several people in the company. And all of a sudden, after training they’ll announce coffee with a coach. Would you go?

I invite you to think about this too: How do people perceive me? What kind of (working) relationship do we have? How do we work on it? How do I treat people? What do people experience with me? What have they heard or read about me? Am I readable to them? Am I transparent? Do I do what I say? How am I working on myself not only as a coach, but as a person?

I believe you’re starting to be suspicious that it’s not just about coaching, it’s about who you are outside of coaching. How you perform, how you think, how you lead and develop people, how you approach them overall, not just when you put on your coaching hat.  It’s about who you are to them.

Do you perceive a saturation of coaches on the market, or do you think there is still a demand for them?

I do perceive that there are more coaches on the market, or people with coaching training. However, I still think that there are not as many professional ones for whom this is their daily bread as it seems at first glance. I base this on the distinction I made above – professional coach vs. professional who uses coaching skills.

Personally, I am also very happy that so many people see the value in coaching skills that have the potential to really improve communication, collaboration, relationships, the atmosphere in business and companies, and ultimately improve the results we can achieve together.

It is refreshing to see more and more people responding with coaching questions such as: “How does it make sense for you to work with this situation?” or “What does it mean to you when you say xyz?” instead of unsolicited, albeit well-meaning advice.

The demand for coaching services and professionals with coaching skills is growing. In addition to seeing a rising demand in my practice, the latest ICF survey says as much, showing that the number of organisations using all three modalities of coaching – both external and internal coaches, as well as managers using a coaching approach – is on the rise. In 2019 this was 32% and by 2023 it was 38% of organisations. At the same time, the number of companies that are purposely allocating a portion of their finances specifically to coaching services and training in this area is on the rise. In 2019, 25% of organisations were doing so and in 2023 33%.

Coaching can definitely help the client, show them a new direction, or a new perspective. As you say: “So that no leader is left to face their challenges alone”. On the other hand, can coaching do harm?

Coaching alone can’t hurt. It’s a very non-violent form of collaboration. However, where I see a threat is when it is used inappropriately. For example, in conflict with ethics, where we can take the afore mentioned “coachipulation” as an example. Instead of benefits for all parties involved, there is a risk of undermining trust, effective collaboration, functional relationships, the atmosphere in the organisation, etc. Or if coaching is not the indicated service. There are some things we don’t coach out of a person. For example, if a person lacks specific knowledge or skills and we incorrectly identify that the person needs training or coaching, for example, the coaching collaboration may be more of an ordeal than a beneficial experience. This is because coaching develops a person from the inside out and not the other way around.

I see situations where a person needs another form of support as a separate category. For example, legal advice, financial advice, or the topic and situation is better off in the hands of a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

Clients are not always aware that the topic they come to a coach with is already beyond the competence and scope of our profession, which is of course ok. Even worse is when the coach doesn’t even detect it and ventures into waters where they are not sufficiently equipped to work with the person. This is also one of the reasons why it is important for coaches to educate themselves beyond the coaching craft. It helps them to distinguish between what belongs to the field of our profession and where we need to transparently communicate that these are topics suitable for collaboration with another professional. Even if we don’t disclose this before the collaboration itself, it is ethical and important to start paying attention to it if it comes up while working with a client.

Where do you think coaching will go in the future?

I still see coaching as a very relevant profession and a set of skills that will have its place in society. However, what is already changing and developing is the use of different technologies and platforms that make it easier for people to find a coach according to defined preferences and named topics in coaching, or to be able to go through a simpler coaching-development process.

Simpler coaching interventions, especially when using techniques that are part of but not the essence of coaching, can already be effectively substituted by AI. I also see this as an invitation to coaches that, if they desire to remain relevant in the marketplace, they need to develop, not just build their coaching only on tools, but to work on developing their own mastery of coaching.

The great benefit of the above is a much greater availability of coaching support to the general public without the waiting time for a free appointment with professionals, which for some coaches can run into months.

At the same time, where human contact is indispensable, is the area of deeper issues in both the business and private spheres of life, and the ability to have truly transformational conversations, which I would describe as a kind of art. I purposely use the term conversations because techniques don’t have much place in this art.

Anyway, I’m curiously watching how the field of coaching shifts and develops and hope that what comes next will pleasantly surprise and benefit us all.

Edited by: Kamila Jančíková / Photos: Viera Tatay’s personal archive