As the field of professional coaching continues to grow, so do the interpretations of what coaching is meant to achieve. Many practitioners begin their journey believing coaching is about helping others solve problems or make better decisions. Yet those who go deeper soon discover something more profound — coaching is not about doing more; it is about holding better.
At its highest expression, coaching is a disciplined way of engaging in thinking — a structured, awareness-based process that allows people to see themselves and their world with new clarity. When we hold the space for awareness rather than control the direction of the conversation, we create conditions where genuine change becomes possible.
Coach Masters Academy refers to this as the discipline of holding the transformational space. It is a way of practising coaching that honours human capacity for meaning-making, self-reflection, and growth. Whether you are a beginning coach, a leader using coaching as a way of leading, or a practitioner refining your skills, this discipline becomes the anchor that keeps your conversations deep, focused, and transformative.
Within this discipline, three foundational practices sustain the integrity and impact of awareness-based coaching: Trusting the Process, Practising Deep Curiosity, and Engaging Bold Inquiry.
Every beginning coach encounters moments of doubt — the silence that feels too long, the uncertainty about what to ask next, the temptation to offer advice. These are not signs of failure; they are the thresholds where learning begins.
Trusting the process means believing that the client’s awareness — not your expertise — is the driving force behind change. The discipline lies in staying with what is unfolding, rather than rescuing the conversation with solutions.
When you trust the process, you learn to listen beyond content and attend to the client’s thinking. You create a space where awareness can expand naturally, giving rise to insight that is internally coherent and self-authored.
Reflective Practice.
Professional Development.
The ICF defines coaching as: “Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.”
One dictionary definition of ‘process’ is, “a systematic series of actions directed to some end.” The ICF coaching competencies represent the systematic series of actions of the “thought-provoking and creative process that inspires…” and the ‘end’ to which these actions are directed is, “…to maximise their personal and professional potential.”
Within the coaching process defined by the coaching competencies, a professional Coach:
Throughout the entire coaching process, the client is capable and resourceful, and the Coach fully believes this to be true, interacting with the client accordingly. There is complete trust in the client to make informed choices.
Curiosity is the heart of transformational coaching. But not all curiosity is equal. Early in the journey, curiosity can be driven by the need to understand or find answers. As your capacity matures, curiosity becomes purer — free from attachment to outcome, anchored in wonder and respect for the client’s meaning-making process.
Practising deep curiosity means setting aside what you know, what you expect, and even what you want to hear. It is about being with the client’s experience, not interpreting it.
For coaching leaders, this discipline transforms conversations within teams. Instead of evaluating performance, leaders begin to inquire into how people think, learn, and make sense of what matters to them. This shift from assessment to awareness deepens engagement and responsibility.
Reflective Practice:
Professional Development
One of the more common statements we hear from coaches is, “My clients expect me to know and to tell them what I know.” When you enter into a relationship with a client with this premise as an expectation, you enter into a consulting relationship —a relationship based on you as an expert, rather than an equal peer, not a coaching one. Remember, the definition of coaching describes a “thought-provoking and creative process.”
What is thought-provoking or creative about telling someone what is already known?
Referring again to the core coaching competencies, it states that “the coach is comfortable not knowing, as one of the best states to expand awareness in.” “The coach evidences a complete curiosity that is undiluted by a need to perform,” and “the coach’s questions are fully based in curiosity and the coach does not ask questions to which the coach knows the answer.”
Cultivating a state of copious curiosity means a willingness to TRULY not know; to set aside everything you think you know and learn the science of inquiry to draw out what the client knows. This precludes asking leading questions, those to which you are attached or know the answer; in other words, there are no conditions on the questions you pose, nor a preconceived outcome expected.
Change happens when both the coach and the client are willing to enter the unknown. Bold inquiry is not about being confrontational; it is about having the courage to name what is sensed but not yet said.
In awareness-based coaching, boldness is guided by reverence. You are not challenging the client; you are inviting them to see more of their own truth. This requires a steady presence and the humility to let meaning unfold at its own pace.
For beginning coaches, developing this comfort with discomfort takes time and effort. For coaching leaders, it means modelling transparency and authenticity — demonstrating that clarity often emerges only after staying with uncertainty.
Reflective Practice:
The discipline of holding the transformational space is not about following steps; it is about cultivating presence. Each of these practices — trusting, being curious, and engaging boldly — is not a technique but a way of thinking and being. Together, they enable awareness to emerge, clarity to deepen, and meaningful action to follow naturally.
For new coaches, this discipline builds confidence and structure. For experienced practitioners, it sharpens precision and depth. For leaders, it transforms everyday conversations into spaces of reflection and growth.
When we hold the space with this level of attentiveness, coaching becomes more than a skill — it becomes a human technology for change. We begin to see that transformation is not something we deliver; it is something we enable through the way we think, listen, and stay.
The growth of professional coaching worldwide generates a diverse understanding among coaching clients about what coaching is and what it isn’t. We believe that for clients to fully experience the impact of coaching as defined by the ICF, Coaches are required to take a firmer stance on the power of the transformational coaching approach.
As you engage in your next coaching or leadership conversation:
Notice when you begin to rely on expertise rather than awareness.
Observe how curiosity shifts the quality of connection.
Experiment with trusting silence and uncertainty.
Transformation begins not when we know what to do, but when we allow thinking itself to change.
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