Christine Alexander Smith, a Certified Professional Co-active Coach, working in-house at one of the largest I.T. companies in the world, believes Coaching makes a difference in-house, because it helps raise people's expectations of what they are capable of doing.

"The coaching relationship creates a safe space which takes away the fear of failure, and invites people to become more curious about what other directions are available to them, when things don't work." She says.

In addition, coaching can play a role in ensuring companies can honestly reflect the diversity of modern life. Christine says: "Historically, coaching has been used for executives when they're going to the next rung. Today that's not true. Coaching is now being introduced, so that everybody gets a chance to contribute to their workplace in a meaningful manner, and participate fully in the community of the corporate world; people who are disabled, women, people of ethnic minorities."

Christine has recently set up the Diversity Coaching Initiative, with the prime directive to communicate to people of ethnic and minority community backgrounds, of the value of coaching for mobilizing people to step up and engage at a deeper level.

"When I got my first Co-active coach, I realized that for the first time in my life that I didn't have to do everything on my own. Having a coach, allows employees the comfort zone of knowing that there's someone rooting for them, someone standing on the next hill saying, "I know you can do this."