CPQLTD Professional Glossary — 50 terms

1 Rule of use

These are CPQLTD-specific operational definitions for consistency, editorial work and assessment. They do not replace legal, medical or academic definitions where the term is regulated in a given country.

2 Fifty terms

01. Coaching

A structured, dialogic partnership that supports awareness, choice and action without owning the client’s decision.

02. Coach

A practitioner who uses coaching skills within a declared competence, professional boundaries and ethical requirements.

03. Client

The person or team receiving coaching, who retains ownership of decisions and responsibility for choices.

04. Coaching session

An agreed period of professional work with a purpose, context, boundaries and reviewable outcomes.

05. Coaching agreement

An agreement defining goals, roles, confidentiality, fees, communication, cancellation and the scope of service.

06. Professional presence

The coach’s ability to remain attentive, flexible and non-defensive during the session.

07. Awareness

An increasing capacity to notice patterns, assumptions and choices not previously visible.

08. Active listening

Listening for meaning, context, tone and silence, checking understanding without imposing an early interpretation.

09. Powerful question

A concise, non-leading question that widens thinking, reveals an assumption, or turns awareness into choice.

10. Feedback

Specific information or observation offered respectfully to support learning, without judging the person’s worth.

11. Action plan

Client-owned steps with timing, review criteria and accountability.

12. Accountability

Reviewing what the client committed to and learned from action or inaction, without punishment or rescue.

13. Psychological guidance within coaching

Using supportive psychological knowledge to understand behaviour and awareness, without diagnosis, treatment or claiming an unheld licence.

14. Cognitive awareness

Noticing the relationships between thoughts, interpretations, emotions and behaviour to widen choice.

15. Behaviour change

Designing experiments, environments and cues that support a new behaviour or reduce an unwanted one within a non-clinical scope.

16. Neuroplasticity

The nervous system’s capacity to change with experience and learning; used by CPQLTD as an educational concept without therapeutic claims.

17. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)

A communication and self-development framework used in some coaching contexts; CPQLTD does not present it as medical treatment or a substitute for clinical evidence.

18. Mental flexibility

The ability to revise assumptions and change strategy when new information or context appears.

19. Intrinsic motivation

A drive linked to meaning, choice and values rather than external reward or pressure alone.

20. Self-awareness

The ability to notice one’s thoughts, emotions and biases and their effect on choices and behaviour.

21. Business coaching

Coaching within business, decision and leadership contexts whilst remaining distinct from technical consultancy.

22. Executive coaching

Coaching for leaders requiring clear organisational contracting, confidentiality and stakeholder management.

23. Coach trainer

A practitioner qualified to design and deliver coach education and assess learning against defined standards.

24. Mentor coaching

A development process focused on coaching performance and competencies through review and feedback.

25. Professional supervision

A regular space to review cases, ethics, the practitioner’s impact, blind spots and professional learning.

26. Continuing Professional Development

Documented learning after qualification that maintains competence, ethics and currency of practice.

27. Scope of practice

The boundaries set by education, competence, law and the agreement for what a practitioner may safely offer.

28. Professional referral

Directing a client to another professional or service when the need exceeds the scope of coaching or requires different expertise.

29. Confidentiality

Protecting client information from disclosure except with consent or a legal/safety exception explained in advance.

30. Conflict of interest

A situation in which personal or organisational interests affect objectivity or trust, requiring disclosure, management or recusal.

31. Dual relationship

An additional relationship with a client that may increase the risk of exploitation, pressure or loss of objectivity.

32. Code of ethics

A set of principles and conduct rules defining professional expectations and accountability mechanisms.

33. Professional credential

A professional status granted after meeting education, experience, assessment and ethics requirements and maintained by renewal.

34. Certificate of completion

A document confirming completion of a programme, module or educational assessment, and not automatically a professional credential.

35. Accreditation

A quality-assurance or recognition relationship applied to an organisation or programme and stated with its awarding body and scope.

36. Professional membership

Affiliation to a professional network or community with terms and benefits separate from a credential or qualification.

37. CPQLTD-T tier

A level within CPQLTD’s proprietary professional credentialing system, based on evidence of education, practice, supervision and assessment.

38. LCS™ Diploma

CPQLTD’s specialist life-coach education pathway; an advanced educational qualification, not an automatic professional credential.

39. CPD™ Diploma

CPQLTD’s integrated foundational practitioner-coach diploma, distinct from the general concept of continuing-development hours.

40. PCA™ Diploma

CPQLTD’s coaching-and-psychological-guidance pathway with explicit practice limits, referral requirements and no diagnosis.

41. CTTA™ Diploma

CPQLTD’s advanced train-the-coach-trainer pathway for designing and delivering coach education and group training.

42. CPQLTD ecosystem

The system linking the CPQLTD professional body, the academy, standards, credentialing, knowledge, research and community.

43. Change Makers Club

A CPQLTD professional community offering membership, networking and activities; membership is not equivalent to a professional credential.

44. Electronic verification

A public mechanism to verify a certificate or credential using a registered number or code.

45. Practice log

A dated record of coaching hours, clients and type of work used as evidence for a credential application or renewal.

46. Performance assessment

A review of a session or practice evidence against a available standard measuring competencies and behaviours.

47. Ethics acknowledgement

A documented commitment to read and follow the code of ethics and provide truthful information.

48. Individual coaching

A coaching relationship between a practitioner and an individual client with an agreement, confidentiality and agreed goals.

49. Group coaching

A coaching process for a group requiring explicit agreements on safety, confidentiality and roles among participants.

50. Digital coaching

Coaching delivered through digital channels with additional requirements for privacy, security and consent.