How to Keep Evolving as a Coach: Simple Practices That Make a Big Difference

How to Keep Evolving as a Coach: Simple Practices That Make a Big Difference

International Coaching Week (May 12–18) is a time to celebrate coaching and deepen our practice. Coaching is never ‘done’—it’s a continuous journey of growth, learning, and refining our skills. Just like building a strong and lasting bridge, developing as a coach requires vision, solid foundations, and ongoing maintenance. Let’s explore how to keep evolving in our coaching practice and how to support our own learning with simple, effective strategies.

Building Your Coaching Bridge

Imagine your coaching mastery as a bridge. On one side, you stand with your current skills, experiences, and knowledge. On the other side, your best coaching self—10/10 mastery, where you are fully embodying the art and science of coaching. The process of building that bridge mirrors what it takes to continuously develop as a coach.

1. Strong Foundations: Your Existing Strengths

Every bridge needs solid foundations. In coaching, this means recognising and leveraging your existing strengths. Take time to reflect:

  • What are the coaching skills and qualities you already do well? 
  • What experiences, training, and client feedback have helped shape your practice? 
  • Where do you feel most confident in your coaching? 

Anchoring yourself in what you already have provides stability for growth.

2. The Structure: Building with Ongoing Learning

Bridges aren’t built overnight, and neither is coaching mastery. The structure of your bridge is formed through continued professional development. Research consistently shows that lifelong learning is essential for maintaining coaching effectiveness. For example:

  • Studies suggest that engaging in supervision and reflective practice enhances coaching confidence and ethical decision-making. 
  • Neuroscience highlights that learning new skills and perspectives strengthens neural pathways, increasing adaptability and depth in coaching conversations. 
  • The ICF requires credentialed coaches to engage in ongoing education, reinforcing the importance of continuous learning. 

Ask yourself: What’s your next deliberate learning step? A book? A course? A new supervision group?

3. The First Steps: Small, Intentional Actions

Building a bridge starts with laying down one piece at a time. Instead of being overwhelmed by everything you could improve, focus on a small, specific next step.

  • If you want to deepen your presence in coaching, could you experiment with longer pauses? 
  • If you want to refine your questioning, could you collect and review your most powerful coaching questions? 
  • If you want to expand your approach, could you explore a new coaching model or creative tool?

    Progress happens step by step, not in giant leaps.

4. Crossing the Gaps: Overcoming Challenges

Every bridge spans a gap. In coaching development, these gaps might be:

  • Impostor syndrome or self-doubt 
  • Struggles with particular client dynamics 
  • The challenge of integrating new techniques 

Instead of seeing these as roadblocks, view them as part of the structure. What strategies—your “safety nets”—can you put in place? Coaching supervision, peer support, and reflective practice are all ways to keep yourself supported as you stretch your skills.

5. The Final Connection: Staying Future-Focused

Bridges are built with a clear destination in mind. To keep evolving, maintain a vision of the kind of coach you want to be.

  • What does 10/10 coaching look like for you? 
  • What values and qualities do you want to embody in every session? 
  • How will you know you’re growing? 

By continuously learning, reflecting, and taking small steps forward, your coaching bridge strengthens over time—helping you, and your clients, move towards greater impact.

Indie’s Coaching Wisdom: Spotting What’s Missing

Sometimes, we’re so focused on building our coaching bridge that we don’t notice what’s really needed. That’s where a wise, four-legged observer like Indie comes in.
Indie has a habit of noticing things before I do. When I’m coaching, he sometimes sits up, ears forward, as if to say, “There’s something important here.” And he’s right. Just like Indie’s intuitive listening, part of evolving as a coach is noticing what we might be missing:
A skill we’ve been avoiding developing

  • A blind spot in our coaching presence
  • A habitual way of working that might need shaking up

So, what’s your Indie moment? If you had a wise observer watching your coaching, what would they notice?

Reflection for Coaches:

  • What part of your coaching bridge feels strong? 
  • What’s one small, intentional step you can take this week to develop your coaching? 
  • How can you create “safety nets” to support your learning and growth? 
  • What would Indie notice in your coaching today? 

International Coaching Week is the perfect time to celebrate our progress while laying down the next plank in our coaching journey. Let’s keep building.

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