Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast

This episode is part of our 'A Day in the Life' series, where we talk to coaches about their real lives and businesses. In this insightful episode, host Maxine Bell talks to Kate Jenkinson, creative executive coach, business poet, and founder of Next Step HR and the Business in Poetry conference. Kate shares her unconventional career path, from biologist, HR professional, to the coach and business poet she is today. She highlights how emotional intelligence and creative expression aren't "nice to haves" in business, but essential tools for genuine human connection that create better outcomes for all.
 
Kate discusses the surprising overlap between poetry, neurodiversity, and leadership. She talks candidly about her own neurodivergent journey and how it's shaped the way she sees patterns, people, and possibility - often before anyone else in the room does. As a coach she, highlights the value of curiosity, creativity, presence and silence in coaching and development. Kate talks about her passion for poetry and poetic intelligence, and how it has evolved into the publication of her poetry, as well as the Poetry in Business conference. She shares her vision for supporting poets wanting to create a career path within businesses and organisations, and helping organisations understand how poetry can boost wellbeing, connection, and innovation. This is a conversation demonstrating what happens when you stop compartmentalising your creativity and uniqueness and start bringing all of yourself to work.
 
You will learn:
 
·       Creativity isn't a special skill – it's innate. It shows up in how you solve problems, connect with people, and see the world.
·       Emotions and poetry belong in the workplace, bringing more humanity, connection and effective leadership.
·       Seeing the world differently is a superpower, bringing new ideas, perspectives and innovation.
 
'Post-pandemic, there's a real trauma that people are experiencing and go back to creativity and poetry. We know that these are practices that give people hope, that help people express how they're feeling.'
 
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For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel_day-in-the-life-of-coaches-coaching-neurodiversity-poetry-in-business

In this final episode of our Coaching Men series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Al Kennedy, a coach who works exclusively with men navigating midlife. Al's own path from graphic designer and business owner to full-time coach grew out of his personal midlife questioning, and it's given him a grounded, deeply caring approach to holding space for other men. He talks about midlife not as a crisis to be fixed, but as a genuine threshold: a rite of passage that Western culture rarely marks or supports, even though many other cultures have rituals for exactly this kind of transition.
 
Al shares how he creates the safe, intentional spaces men so rarely get: three-day walking pilgrimages he calls "Long Walks," regular men's circles, and creative practices like journaling and poetry. Nature isn't just scenery for him — it's an active part of the work, slowing men down, reconnecting them to their bodies, and mirroring the internal shifts they're going through. He's also thoughtful about accessibility, adapting his methods for online coaching and for men with disabilities or health concerns, so the work stays open to more people, not fewer.
 
What comes through most in this conversation is Al's warmth toward the men he works with. He pushes back gently on the idea that men are naturally closed off, describing emotional armour as often "just a couple of millimetres deep" — meaning that with the right conditions, openness comes surprisingly fast. It's a fitting, hopeful note to end the series on: a reminder that community, care, and simply being asked "how are you, really?" can be quietly transformative.
 
You will learn:
·       Midlife is a threshold, a rite of passage — approached with intention, it can lead to real renewal rather than just crisis.
·       Safe, intentional spaces give men rare permission to slow down and explore without needing to "fix" anything.
·       Men's emotional armour is often thin and nature, genuine connection and deep listening can unlock vulnerability faster than we assume.
 
"It's too easy just to say that men aren't showing up in the right way; we have to provide different types of spaces for men to be able to surface the things that they're really holding down."
 
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us bring you more valuable content.
 
For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-coaching-men-nature-pilgramage-masculinity-midlife

In episode 5 of our Coaching Men series, host Rob Lawrence talks to Cassandra Andrews, author of Unlearning Masculinity: Redefining Success for High Achieving Men over 40, to explore why so many successful men—CEOs, founders, and elite athletes among them—feel trapped even after ticking every box of conventional success. Cassandra unpacks the identity crises, purpose gaps, and feelings of entrapment that often surface in midlife, tracing them back to an outdated masculine blueprint that prizes stoicism and winning over vulnerability. Rather than rejecting masculinity altogether, she makes the case for relearning what it means to be a man beyond those rigid rules. Her work starts with a vision, rather than goals: a more personal picture of where a client actually wants to be, rather that what they feel expected to chase.
 
The conversation turns to Cassandra's coaching methodology, which draws on NLP, timeline therapy, and motivational mapping to help clients build self-awareness and understand how their motivations have shifted from external validation to internal fulfilment. She also shares the thinking behind her intimate group dinners—safe spaces that give high-achieving men permission to open up honestly with peers, often for the first time. Rob and Cassandra close on what she sees as the real prize of this work: not more success, but emotional freedom, autonomy, and choice.
 
You will learn:
·       Winning isn't the same as fulfilment: many high-achieving men over 40 are feeling trapped despite external success.
·       Self-awareness, including understanding shifting motivations is key to creating the life a client really wants, rather than what he thinks he should want.  
·       How Cassandra's work helps men find emotional freedom, autonomy and choice.
 
 
"When a woman tells a coach, "I've never told anyone this before," she means apart from her mother, her sister, her best friend. When a man says it, those words have never left his lips."
 
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us bring you more valuable content.
 
For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-coaching-men-unlearning-masculinity-high-achievers

In episode 5 of our Coaching Men podcast series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Sam Adams, a coach specialising in healthy masculinity. Drawing from his background in regenerative farming and chaplaincy across Africa, Sam explains how masculinity and femininity exist as complementary energies within everyone. He discusses the shame and confusion many men face today, often rooted in unspoken social expectations, and the reason why so many struggle to ask for help or express what they truly feel.
Central to Sam's philosophy is a single powerful word: permission. He invites men to give themselves permission to feel, to rest, to be uncertain, and to step away from the silent shame to have everything figured out. Sam also draws on the natural world to guide this inner work, using the rhythm of the seasons as a metaphor for life:  summer as a time for action and growth, winter as a time for reflection and renewal. His coaching weaves together nature, spirituality, and emotional courage to offer a genuinely holistic path forward.
Sam reframes the idea of strength, by sharing the root meaning of the word 'courage' is 'heart;' Sam reframes that true strength lies not in fearlessness, but in the willingness to be open and vulnerable. It's a reframe that sits at the heart of everything he does. He also discusses the relevance of spirituality in men's lives and its connection to masculinity and shares strategies for achieving balance and setting boundaries in life. Listen and enjoy this warm, honest conversation.
 
 
 
You will learn
·       Giving yourself permission to feel, rest, and be uncertain is often the first and most powerful step toward growth.
·       Nature's rhythms offer a roadmap to a life of both action and ambition, and stillness and reflection.  
·       True strength lies not in fearlessness but in the willingness to be vulnerable and open.
 
'The emphasis is on liberating yourself by connecting with your own freedom and the masculinity and the femininity within.'
 
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us bring you more valuable content.
 
For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-coaching-men-liberating-masculinity-spirituality

In episode 4 of our Coaching Men series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Jess Spiers, a coach who specialises in supporting men in their 40s and 50s who appear successful but feel trapped, unfulfilled, or burned out. Jess shares how a 20-year career in digital content ultimately led her to coaching and why she made men's mental health her focus. It's a candid conversation about a quiet struggle that many men are navigating alone.
 
Jess discusses the emotional barriers that so often stop men from seeking support, and how coaching creates a safe, non-judgmental space for clients to explore their values, challenge limiting beliefs, and begin to understand their emotions without judgement. As a trained Emotions Coaching Practitioner, Jess makes a compelling case that working with your emotions isn't soft or fluffy — it's one of the most practical tools available for gaining clarity and moving forward.
 
Jess shares some of the tools she uses, with real life examples that demonstrate their success. The episode closes with an important reframe feeling stuck doesn't always require a dramatic life overhaul. Often, the most meaningful change comes from small, intentional shifts that bring your work and life back into alignment with what truly matters to you. Jess also shares details about her new podcast, Successful on Paper, and leaves listeners with a simple but powerful reminder to be kinder to yourself when seeking help.
 
You will learn:
 
·       What emotions prevent men from asking for help
·       The power of emotional awareness for transformation and change
·       Change doesn't have to mean starting over. Small, intentional adjustments that realign your life with your core values can be far more transformative than a dramatic leap into the unknown.
 
'Men find it quite difficult to reach out and ask for help, so I thought, "You know what? If they're going to do that, that support needs to exist, and I want to be a part of that.'
 
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us bring you more valuable content.
 
For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-coaching-men-emotions-values-mental-health