Editor's Picks
Curated by our editorial team — the best of Coaching Life.
Beyond Models, Markers and Powerful Questions: What Coaching Mastery Really Requires
After more than two decades in coaching, thousands of hours in the coaching chair, and many more spent mentoring, assessing and educating coaches, I have become increasingly convinced of something that may sound slightly provocative: We can teach people the mechanics of coaching relatively quickly. Developing a coach is something else entirely.
Why LEGO Serious Play Is the Creative Problem Solving Tool Managers Didn’t Know They Needed - Part 1 of 2
I first stumbled across LEGO Serious Play about a decade ago. At the time, my initial reaction was admittedly light-hearted: imagine having a tax-deductible LEGO collection. I laughed, parked the idea, and moved on. It wasn’t until years later, while leading a major national reform, that LEGO Serious Play re-entered my world in a far more meaningful way.
Coaching Life Podcast Set to Give Every Coach a Voice
Our new audio series will spotlight the stories behind coaching, explore the issues shaping the profession, and give coaches a stronger voice across Australia’s life, employment, corporate, community and sporting sectors.
Coaching the Constructive Conflict Mindset
We spend a great deal of time preparing people for difficult conversations. We give them scripts, techniques and sensible advice. Everybody knows to use "I" statements and ask open questions. Yet in thirty years of mediation and conflict coaching, I have watched capable people walk into a conflict conversation carrying all the right tools and unable to use any of them.
How You and Your Clients can Benefit from Post Traumatic Growth (PTG)
For more than 25 years, I have been helping my clients benefit from PTG, Post-Traumatic Growth. As human beings, all of us deal with traumas, both big and small.
Australian Coaches Need an AI Transition Map, Not an Automation Forecast
Australian professionals are getting two messages at once. AI capability is moving quickly into ordinary work, while nobody can give a reliable answer to the question many employees care about most: What happens to my job?
Federico Re on resilience, reinvention and the power of quiet ambition
From engineering to entrepreneurship and coaching, Federico Re has built a career on family values, creative thinking and the belief that success often begins by embracing uncertainty.
Health and Wellness Coaching: Where Does the ICF Coach Fit?
As coaching continues to grow, the lines between roles, training and accreditation are becoming increasingly blurred. Is it time for greater collaboration — and clarity?
From Resistance to Mastery: Trusting the Coaching Competencies
Many practitioners - whether newly trained or working toward advanced credentialing admit they sometimes experience the coaching competencies as limiting.
Your First Four Clients: Part 2 of 2 - Marketing
Early in my coaching career I ran towards a Recession, leaving Australia in 2010 and moving to London amid the Global Financial Crisis. Within a year I had leveraged my coaching experience and fresh energy to hit my commercial and personal goals, and I was eager to give back to the next generation of coaches.
From Goal-Setting to Sense-Making
Like me, you’ve probably started many coaching conversations with the simple question: "What would you like to achieve?"
Q&A with MCC and Coach Course Leader at ACAP University College, Mark Setch
If you’ve spent a long time in the professional coaching industry, chances are you have come across Mark Setch. Coaching Course Leader at the Australian College for Applied Professions (ACAP) University College, Mark is an MCC, clocking up thousands of hours across his career.
Your First Four Clients: Part 1 of 2 - Product
Your First Four Clients: Part 1 of 2 - Product by Jacob Aldridge, international business coach Marketing is not the most important step to winning those difficult first few coaching clients. You have to start with your Product. What is it that your clients will actually buy?
Move from Fixing to Coaching
By the end of the day, many parents and educators feel less like leaders and more like personal assistants.
A Great Coach can Coach Anywhere
Think beyond the consulting room and incorporate the benefits of coaching from anywhere.
Why AI Will Not Replace Coaching in Government Organisations and ICT Projects
The enduring value of human insight in complex public sector environments. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made significant inroads across many sectors, revolutionising processes, boosting efficiency, and providing insights at scale. In government organisations, particularly within Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects, AI’s potential to automate tasks and analyse vast datasets is undeniable.
Unconditional Positive Regard: The Cornerstone of Effective Coaching
Understanding Its History, Value, and Application in Modern Coaching Practice. Every coaching relationship is built on trust, respect, and a genuine belief in a client’s potential. One of the most powerful tools a coach can use to foster these qualities is ‘unconditional positive regard’. This article explores the meaning of unconditional positive regard, its roots in psychology, and offers practical advice for coaches striving to integrate this principle into their practice.
Coaching with Integrity: Why Coaches Must Resist the Lure of Social Media Hype and Large Group Programmes
Reaffirming the True Purpose and Ethics of the Coaching Profession In recent years, the coaching industry has witnessed a surge in social media advertisements promoting large group coaching programmes, often accompanied by promises of rapid financial success.
Recovery Coaching
ICF Australasia President – Kathy Tracey looks back on the year.
Coaching vs Consulting
I do this by telling them I’m a business coach who doesn’t believe business coaching works; how coaches who are proud they’re not consultants are setting up their clients, and their own business, for
The Times They Are A'Changing
There is an evolution going on that is affecting the business world and how we lead and manage within it.
Take Your Mark, Set… How to Build a Sustainably Successful Coaching Career
If you're an experienced coach, how would you start your coaching career all over again? Wayne Goldsmith shares the unconventional path to building a career that lasts.
Coaching Transcends the Field of Play
As Head Coach of the world champion Australian Diamonds, Lisa Alexander breaks down the five leadership principles that unite grassroots coaches and elite performers alike.