🟢 LIVE Solutions Academy

July 14, 2023

What happens when life happens

What happens when life does not adhere to our coaching plans -- read the explorations of Ruth Nelson-Andorf

June 2, 2023

O no! My client is going to f*** up big time! What to do?

Coaches don't give advice -- but what happens if the client is about to make a major mistake (in the coach's eye). Here are some tips.

March 17, 2023

Coaching mastery: accomplishment or achievement?

Do you achieve mastery in coaching? I don't think so! Join me for some musings around how we grow as coaches

February 10, 2023

Your perfect road to misery

Read about a surefire way to make yourself and others miserable and what you might do to prevent that

January 13, 2023

Coaches - stop being nice to each other!

Coaches are too “nice” to each other. In our eternal quest for harmony, understanding and appreciation we are avoiding debates that might clarify issues and bring the field forward.

August 5, 2022

Stretch targets for coaches

You probably have heard the analogy leadership trainers use to describe productive targets: they should be like a rubber band that is stretched just enough to create some pull.

July 22, 2022

When the coach feels like an impostor

“Impostor syndrome” is a term coined in the late 1970ies and refers to an experience of many high-achieving women. Researchers had interviewed a group of them and found

July 17, 2022

Provocations in coaching?

Can a coach be provocative in a coaching session? Is this “allowed” according to ICF or EMCC standards? In my coaching sessions with executives and also in my

July 3, 2022

Can a coach say "I" during a coaching session?

Recently, we had a very interesting discussion on the MCC assessor’s basecamp (a communication forum) about the use of “I” by the coach.

Coaching for clients in crisis situations

In 2004, I was vacationing with my family on the Maldives when the devastating Sumatra earthquake and the ensuing tsunami hit the idyllic flat little

When a coaching session is off track

As you are coaching a client, a feeling slowly creeps up: You don’t know where the session is heading. Confused as you are, you first

When a coach is a paid friend

The actor Woody Allen is said to have talked to his psychoanalyst four times a week almost all his life. Maybe it kept him functional,

3 traps in coaching chemistry calls

In one of our coaching meetup and exchange sessions, one of our friends mentioned an awkward situation in a “chemistry” call: the potential client seemed

Don’t do this when coaching in toxic environments!

If you have read some of my blogs, you know that I am not really keen on labelling anything or anyone and especially not labelling

Spotlight, starlight, daylight – 3 layers of attention

Some things about social media are brilliant, for example the fact that Tim, a friend from Singapore, recommended a book on Facebook: “Stolen Focus: Why

I am a coach, I tell you what to do!

As much as we state it in the beginning of a coaching contract, some clients continue to want us to tell them what to do.

Should coaching include a trigger warning?

Many videos, movies, books and articles these days come with a “trigger warning”. It is an announcement that serves to alert people who are sensitive

A coach is not “neutral”

I often hear: “As a coach, you have to stay neutral” or even worse: “It is important to stay detached”. As if this was even

When I am not in the state to coach…

In the ICF core competencies we read: Develops and maintains the ability to regulate one’s emotions Mentally and emotionally prepares for sessions Seeks help from

“Leading” questions

As coaches, we are careful not to ask “leading” questions (at least that is what we are asked to do according to the ICF competencies).

On top of Mount Stupid

Don’t you love the view? If you are like me, you’ve spent years and years or months and months hiking up this beautiful mountain, jumped

Reflective Practice: Developing Excellence

The Solution Focused approach concentrates on a rich description of the desired future and a description of the instances in which this future was already

Evoking a Coaching Culture

“How do you “create” a coaching culture in an organization? What can I do to “establish” a coaching culture in my organization?” These are valid

Coaching Buzzword Bingo

We had a really interesting discussion in our Coaching Supervision training the other day. Some of us had participated in a global coaching initiative with

Coaching for diversity and inclusion?

I was speaking to my colleague Lina-Maria Kotschedoff about coaching and initiatives to further diversity and inclusion. During our conversation we found that a coaching

My client has no topic!

And then? So… what is the problem with no problem? Hm… usually, I would simply say: “Ah — so then, let’s cancel the session and

Change. Minds. Now.

“Learn how to wire the brain for lasting change”, “Change minds effectively”, “Break negative thinking”, — sentences we read in marketing blurbs for coach training.

Coaching Loss and Grief

Sometimes clients come to our sessions with heavy hearts: they have just lost something or someone important to them: a job, a client or even

They could so use coaching — but don’t want to be coached!

We had a discussion in one of our ICF Onboarding class: a participant knows a person who would CLEARLY benefit from coaching, but they won’t

5 Coaching moves to help clients come to terms with unchangeable situations

In coaching, we help our clients to achieve goals, realize their potential, get better at things and we support them in discovering what is important

The BEST 1001 Coaching Questions

“1001 Powerful Questions” – buy this book, buy it now! Improve your coaching instantly! Comes with a handy set of flashcards! Whenever I see advertisements