In one of my first team coaching workshops, I was pulled aside by the CEO moments before I was about to begin and made privy to a very sensitive piece of information; a member of the board of directors, who was part of this team workshop, had just returned to work after having a very public breakdown. I was not …

Many practitioners struggle with the eighth ICF Core Competency, which calls on them to “create awareness.”

Erik de Haan’s (2008) research into “The inherent conflicts arising in the professional development of coaches” encourages us, as coaches, to become “simultaneously thicker and thinner skinned.” Through his research with 60 coaches, he examined 69 critical moments, that is, “turning points” and “dilemmas” (p. 529), moments when coaches “did not quite know what to do” (p. 529). Through analysis, …

One thing that has become quite apparent to me as a coaching relationship develops is learning where the comfort zone is for my client and subsequently how to ask the right questions to move him outside of his comfort zone and to enhance thought. I frequently ask questions or create scenarios that encourage my client to look at a different …