When Coaching Loses Its Edge

These days, everyone’s a coach.
A quick online course. A certificate. A few posts on social media. Done.

Some call themselves life coaches. Others, executive coaches.
And yes, many of them genuinely want to help.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Most coaching today is unfocused, unstructured—and ultimately, unhelpful.

I’m not saying all coaching is broken.
There are world-class coaching programs out there.
There are coaches who genuinely know how to challenge thinking and elevate performance.

But I’ve seen far too many leaders walk out of coaching conversations with a head full of questions—
And no tools, no strategies, no edge.
They feel “seen,” but not stretched.

Questions Are Good—But Not Enough

The coaching industry loves powerful questions.
And rightly so. The right question can open new perspectives.

But if your coaching conversation ends with,
“What will you do next?”
—and no better frameworks, processes, or strategic anchors than when it started—
Then what exactly did you gain?

↳ Coaching should clarify action, not just explore emotion.
↳ Coaching should align with strategy, not drift into abstraction.
↳ Coaching should equip, not just empathize.

This isn’t therapy. This is leadership.
And leaders need more than insight—they need firepower.

The Strategy Question Comes First

Before we coach someone through a challenge, we have to ask:
What’s the strategy?

Because without strategy, every challenge looks personal.
Every block feels internal.
And every session becomes about confidence or mindset, when the real issue is alignment.

A leader might say:

“I feel stuck in decision-making.”

But if we stop there—if we only explore their limiting beliefs—we miss the deeper truth.

Maybe the strategy isn’t clear.
Maybe roles aren’t defined.
Maybe the metrics are misaligned.

↳ And no amount of mindset work can fix a broken model.

Coaching That Elevates—Not Just Listens

The goal of real coaching isn’t to help leaders feel better.
It’s to help them lead better.

That means:

• Challenging their assumptions—with context.
• Equipping them with new tools—not just new thoughts.
• Building strategic clarity—not just emotional insight.

It means knowing the business.
Understanding performance.
Connecting individual growth with organizational goals.

It means this:
You don’t coach in a vacuum. You coach with purpose.

One Organization’s Wake-Up Call

I once worked with a company that had a dozen internal coaches.
They’d gone through certification. They were doing regular sessions. The process looked solid.

But performance wasn’t moving.

Leaders were talking. Reflecting. Journaling.
But still stuck in the same issues month after month.

So we stepped back.
We asked: What are we coaching toward?
The answer was vague.

No wonder it wasn’t working.

We restructured the coaching program—
↳ Anchored it to strategy.
↳ Defined specific leadership shifts.
↳ Equipped coaches with tactical tools and performance frameworks.

And within months, we didn’t just see more clarity.
We saw momentum.

Because now, coaching was driving the business forward—not just keeping people company.

How I Help

As a strategy coach, I go beyond the questions.
I connect coaching with where the organization actually needs to go.

We don’t coach just for awareness.
We coach for alignment. For growth. For performance.

I help you build coaching programs that:

• Clarify strategic direction
• Equip leaders with real-world tools
• Drive measurable change—not just internal insight

So leaders don’t just find answers.
They level up.

If your coaching program feels like it’s floating, not building—
If your leaders are talking, but not transforming—
Then maybe it’s time to start with a different question:

Where are we going—and what kind of leader does that future demand?

Let’s coach toward that future—together.