Editor's Picks
Curated by our editorial team — the best of Coaching Life.
The Coaching Life Podcast Is Here: Episode 1 with Wayne Goldsmith - High Performance Coaching
Wayne Goldsmith thinks most performance leaders are solving the wrong problem. They're trying to get more OUT of people. Motivation sessions, resilience classes, offering incentives for buy-in, giving them self-help books for Christmas - that's the conventional approach to building high performance environments - let's be honest - none of it works - but we've all tried it - and usually when it's too late or almost too late. Thirty years across Olympic programs, national federations and professional organisations taught him it runs the other way. You can't force excellence. Greatness in organisations is grown from the bottom up - by connecting with, engaging and inspiring the people you work with. It's not about getting the best out of people - like you're squeezing the potential "juice" out of them! It's about giving your best to them - doing your best for them - by being selfless and by building on the foundation of three immensely important words: WE - NOT - ME! Coaching is the art of inspiring change through emotional connection - everything begins with powerful relationships focused on listening, caring, respect and empowerment. In this episode he makes the case for high-performance coaching as experience design - and what has to change on Monday morning for leaders who accept it.
Facing It Together: Coaching Resilience When Life Changes the Relationship
When illness, caregiving, financial pressure or loss reshapes a couple’s life, coaches can help clients move from individual survival to shared resilience—without turning the coaching room into therapy.
The Whistle Blows Again: Stewart Fleming and the Next Chapter of Coaching Life
From childhood commercials and fast-growing companies to a mayoral campaign, an encounter with a former Pope’s coach and a magazine built to lift an industry, Stewart Fleming has rarely taken the predictable route. Now Coaching Life is back—with a new editor-in-chief, a multimedia outlook and the Golden Whistle Awards waiting in the wings.
What does it mean to Recalculate?
We start out with all the enthusiasm in the world before the first in a string of disappointments. Someone tells us we are crazy to think we could reach a go…
From Merry-Go-Round to Meaningful Building a Coaching Practice in the Middle East — Part 3 of 3
In Parts 1, I shared how I stepped off what I called the ‘corporate merry-go-round’ and discovered coaching while living in Qatar. After travelling to Australia to train as a professional coach, it opened a possibility I had not imagined before: create a coaching ‘school’ in Doha. In Part 2, that idea became real through relationships, unexpected invitations and, eventually, my partnership with Marie Quigley and the creation of Empower World. In 2015, the work had also taken me into another community that would also become very dear to my heart. Rachel Petero, a Māori leader who had completed our training in Doha, invited me to partner with her on her programme Rise2025.
The Future of Human Development
It was in the Sydney gym where I met Fiona Taylor. She was training for the Olympics in Wind Surfing. After working with her I funded my way to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, buying a round-the-world ti...
From Merry-Go-Round to Meaningful: Building a Coaching Practice in the Middle East - Part 2 of 3
Empower World - the first coach training organisation established in Doha, Qatar, the Middle East (as far as we've been able to identify) opened its doors in 2012, and is still going today. As two women co-founders – we were and very proud of what we have been able to create - in a place where many businesses struggle to succeed without assistance.
When clients need more than insight – the power of Clinical EFT in the coaching practice
Most clients come to coaching because they feel stuck somewhere in their life. Perhaps they feel stuck in their career, their health, in relationships, maybe they’re looking for a sense of purpose, to develop their spirituality or grow their inner confidence.
Why Coaches Should Consider Adding LEGO® Serious Play® to Their Toolkit - Part 2 of 2
I first encountered LEGO Serious Play about ten years ago. What stood out was not the novelty of the materials, but the way the methodology helped people think differently, surface assumptions and talk about complex issues with more openness and clarity.
From Merry-Go-Round to Meaningful: Building a Coaching Practice in the Middle East - Part 1 of 3
I had spent years in the corporate world in Australia and then the UK - essentially moving money through business development and marketing roles, managing projects, and supporting organisations and teams to function more efficiently. I met wonderful people everywhere I went, and it paid well. And it also left me feeling deeply hollow.
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.