As we reach the close of another year, I want to thank you for being part of Unleash Your Coaching Talents. Your engagement, curiosity and commitment to growth make this community such a joy to nurture.

I wish you a peaceful and restorative festive break, and a happy, prosperous New Year filled with possibility and connection.

Starting out as a coach is exciting, yet it can also feel daunting. You’re building your practice, finding your voice, and navigating the challenges of confidentiality, boundaries and ethics. At times, you may wonder: Am I doing this right?

That’s where coaching supervision becomes your greatest ally.

This free webinar is designed especially for coaches in training or those who have just qualified and are launching their practice. It will show you how coaching supervision provides a safe, reflective space to explore dilemmas, strengthen your coaching identity and grow into the practitioner you aspire to be.

Coaching often begins as a calling, inspired by service, growth, and human connection. Yet for many, it must also become a sustainable livelihood. Passion alone doesn’t pay the bills, and in today’s crowded marketplace, coaches need to know how to attract clients. Competitive advantage is about choosing a strategy that delivers both impact and income, helping coaches thrive while remaining true to their purpose.

The coach's strategy clock (see picture) is inspired by how businesses think about competitive advantage (see Exploring Corporate Strategy, G. Johnson, K. Scholes & R. Whittington, 2006, Prentice Hall).

In a market with many providers of coaching services, prospective clients choose which offering to accept based on their perception of value-for-money, a combination of price and perceived benefit. The eight numbered zones and the central zone represent possible positions for your coaching strategy.

There is a common understanding among experienced practitioners that professional values are less relevant to practice than the professional bodies might wish. We choose to abide by others' codes when they align with our personal values. However, we are our values, that is, they are an expression of our needs. So, there appears to be a hierarchy, whereby some values are more important than others. Intuitively, this makes sense.

Whether you earn £8k or £60k per year from coaching, I have an affordable coaching supervision plan for you. Perhaps now is the time to invest in coaching supervision to become a better, safer coach, so your clients receive better, safer coaching.

Some people don’t like the word ‘intervention’ because it’s used in therapy, addiction and manoeuvres by the government or the military. However, an intervention is an ‘intentional action taken to change a situation, to improve it or prevent it from getting worse’ (Cambridge Dictionary).

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.