I’m coming to a milestone in a huge project that has kept me absorbed for most of the year. I’m writing a book. It’s a book that sets out the NEEDS framework (a framework that helps coaching supervisors intentionally choose their interventions to meet their supervisees’ needs) that emerged over several years of research into coaching supervision. I have enlisted 17 coaching supervisors to write case studies that help bring the framework to life. It has been a mammoth task thus far in writing half the book and editing the contributions that make up the other half. I’m at the point where the manuscript is nearing readiness for submission to the publisher. Woohoo!

Let’s name the elephant in the coaching room: supervision sounds like surveillance. Its etymology - ‘super’ (above) + ‘vidēre’ (to see) - evokes control, oversight and judgment. No wonder coaches sometimes shy away. The term conjures memories of being watched, corrected or found wanting. But what if the discomfort isn’t just semantic? What if it’s covering something else?

In the coaching profession, we often ask clients to reflect on their values, goals and impact. But how often do we turn that lens on ourselves, not just as coaches, but as leaders in relational practice?

Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (2000) offer a provocative question: Why should anyone be led by you? Their research suggests that followers (or clients, in our case) judge leadership through three lenses: vision, consistency and care. Crucially, these are perceptions, or felt experiences. Clients want to know where you’re taking them, whether you authentically ‘walk your talk’ and if you genuinely care.

This is the final post about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll offer some reflective questions to help you identify your coaching derailers and how to work on achieving balance in your coaching behaviours.

This is the 11^th in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore a coach’s use of themselves as an instrument of change, show why embodied presence is so important for effective coaching, and how to get the balance right for yourself.

This is the tenth in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore goal focus in coaching, show why goal awareness and alignment is so important for effective coaching, and how to get the balance right for yourself.

This is the ninth in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore the use of empathy in coaching, show why empathising authentically and congruently is so important for effective coaching, and how to get the balance right for yourself.

This is the eighth in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore the use of imagination in coaching, show why balancing creativity with purpose is so important for effective coaching, and how to cultivate it for yourself.

This is the seventh in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore ethics in coaching, show why balancing coaching theory and practice is so important for effective coaching, and how to cultivate it for yourself.

This is the sixth post in a series of 12 about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore coaching with ease, show why balancing being in flow with focused attention is so important for effective coaching, and how to cultivate it for yourself.

This is the fifth in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore trust and show why trust isn’t blind; it’s intentionally built. I’ll set out why striking the balance between the naivety of blind trust and the cynicism that arises when a coachee has no accountability for change is so important for effective coaching, and how to achieve this balance for yourself.

This is the fourth in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore awareness and action. passion for coaching, show why coaching between dispassion and dazzle is so important for effective coaching, and how to cultivate it for yourself.

This is the third in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore passion for coaching, show why coaching between dispassion and dazzle is so important for effective coaching, and how to cultivate it for yourself.

This is the second in a series of 12 posts about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect.

Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore presence and show why attuning your presence is critical to connect with your coachee, and how to cultivate it for yourself.

Over the next 12 weeks, I’ll be posting a little more about why coaches fail. Being a great coach is about getting the balance just right between not enough and too much, the so-called Goldilocks Effect. Coaches might underplay or overplay certain behaviours and derail the chances of successfully helping their clients reach their goals. Great coaches manage to strike a balance between these extremes and get it just right.

Today, I’ll explore self-belief, or ‘confident humility’, and show why getting the confidence balancing act is so important for effective coaching, and how to cultivate it for yourself.

Pete Shotton’s We All Count (2016) (see diagram) was written about education; however, it offers a compelling lens for examining power dynamics in coaching, particularly the relationship between professional bodies and individual coaches. His reframing of Transactional Analysis life positions - especially the ‘I count / I don’t count’ and ‘You count / You don’t count’ axes - helps illuminate how authority and compliance are maintained (see status quo line), and how dialogue can become a tool for emancipation (‘I count/you count’).

A recent study put an AI coaching agent to the test, using ICF-trained assessors and the Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) to evaluate a real coaching session with a human client. Out of 43 manager-led coaching sessions, the AI demonstrated behaviours consistent with ACC and PCC-level competencies. While it showed promising competence in foundational skills, it struggled with relational depth and regulation - areas where human coaches still hold the edge.

In today’s fast-paced world, neurodivergent individuals are often navigating professional and personal spaces not designed with their minds in mind. Conventional coaching models can unintentionally exclude the very strengths and nuances that make your ND client’s perspective powerful.

Your goal is to create a coaching space that doesn’t just accommodate neurodivergence but celebrates it. A space where masking isn’t necessary, communication styles are honoured, and authentic growth is the priority.

I am very proud to announce I have just received my certificate for neurodivergent inclusive coaching from triple-accredited coach training organisation In Good Company. Wow, what a fabulous course that was!

I’ve been offering coaching supervision for over five years now. The business has grown steadily since launch. By the end of 2024, I had built up a roster of 23 individual supervisees and six supervision groups, whom I see regularly (between four and eight times per year). My clients are a mix of solo coaching practitioners, partnerships, training organisations, and corporates. It’s not huge, but it keeps me usefully occupied.

There is no agreed-upon framework for coaching capability. Competency frameworks developed by professional bodies go some way to address this; however, these have been repeatedly criticised by industry commentators.

Bachkirova and Lawton Smith (2015) set out four arguments that capture these criticisms some ten years ago: