COACHING SKILLS

WHAT SKILLS MUST A COACH HAVE?

1. Demonstrates Ethical Practice
— Understand and consistently apply coaching ethics, professional standards, confidentiality and appropriate boundaries.

2. Embodies a Coaching Mindset
— Remain open, curious, flexible and client-centred while continually reflecting, learning and developing as a coach.

3. Establishes and Maintains Agreements
— Partner with clients to clarify desired outcomes, expectations and how you will work together.

4. Cultivates Trust and Safety
— Create a respectful, empathetic and non-judgmental environment where clients feel safe to explore openly.

5. Maintains Presence
— Remain fully conscious, attentive, flexible and responsive to what emerges within the coaching conversation.

6. Listens Actively
— Listen deeply to what is said and unsaid, noticing meaning, emotions, patterns and shifts in the client.

7. Evokes Awareness
— Use questions, observations, silence and reflection to help clients discover new insights, perspectives and possibilities.

8. Facilitates Client Growth
— Partner with clients to transform awareness and learning into meaningful choices, actions and sustained growth.

FROM COMPETENCY TO EMBODIMENT

Knowing a coaching competency is different from being able to demonstrate it naturally and effortlessly. At InnerMost Shift, we call this Interactional Excellence—when coaching skills become an integrated way of interacting rather than techniques that need to be consciously applied.

This is why we develop coaches beyond competence across…

SKILL     PRESENCE      DEPTH

Competence builds a coach | Presence earns trust | Depth creates transformation.