The Coaching Crowd® Podcast with Jo Wheatley & Zoe Hawkins

What if the real advantage of coaching isn't what you do… but who you become?
This episode opened up a powerful question that sits at the heart of coaching.
What does coaching really make possible?
Because for many people, coaching is still misunderstood. It can be seen as a skill, a tool, or something you add to your professional toolkit.
But what we explored in this conversation is something much deeper.
Coaching is not only something you do. It is something that changes how you think, how you relate, and how you live.
We began by exploring the leadership advantage.
In a world where organisations are navigating uncertainty, complexity, and constant change, the demand for emotionally intelligent leaders has never been higher. And yet, these qualities are difficult to demonstrate on a CV.
Coaching bridges that gap.
It equips leaders with the ability to:
Build trust quickly
Communicate with emotional awareness
Motivate and inspire through uncertainty
Navigate complexity with clarity
For us, coaching is no longer optional in leadership. It is essential.
But the advantages do not stop there.
We talked about the ability to hold multiple perspectives.
Coaching develops a kind of mental agility. The ability to step into someone else's world, understand their viewpoint, and then step back into your own with clarity. That flexibility transforms relationships. It creates collaboration instead of conflict. It builds connection instead of resistance.
And then there is resilience.
One of the most profound shifts that coaching creates is how quickly you can move through challenge. Instead of staying stuck in one perspective, you develop the ability to reframe, to adapt, and to respond with intention.
It gives you access to a deeper internal resource.
A steadiness that you can return to, even when life feels uncertain.
We also reflected on how coaching shapes identity.
There is something powerful about understanding who you are, what you stand for, and how you want to show up in the world. Coaching strengthens that internal anchor, allowing you to navigate life with greater confidence and clarity.
And then something unexpected emerged in the conversation.
The relational advantage.
Through coaching, you begin to notice the impact you have on others in a much deeper way. Whether that is in leadership, friendships, or even parenting, the way you listen, respond, and engage changes.
It creates more conscious, more meaningful relationships.
We shared personal reflections on how coaching has influenced the way we show up with our children. From helping them understand their thoughts and emotions, to creating space for curiosity and ownership, coaching extends far beyond professional settings.
It becomes a way of being.
Another key shift we explored is around judgement and curiosity.
Coaching increases your awareness of how often we default to judgement. And in doing so, it offers an alternative. A shift towards curiosity, acceptance, and understanding.
That shift is freeing.
It reduces the mental load of constantly evaluating others and redirects your focus inward, towards your own values, choices, and growth.
And yet, we were honest about something important.
There is a flip side.
With greater awareness comes greater complexity.
There are moments where seeing multiple perspectives can feel overwhelming. Where your mind wants to explore every angle, every layer, every system at play.
And that requires something else.
Choice.
The ability to decide where to focus your attention.
The ability to resource yourself.
The ability to step back when needed.
Because ultimately, coaching gives you options.
And perhaps that is the greatest advantage of all.
The ability to choose how you think, how you respond, and how you live.
 
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction to the coaching advantage
00:34 – Leadership advantage in modern workplaces
02:19 – Developing multiple perspectives
04:38 – Resilience and navigating challenges
05:02 – Coaching influence in parenting and relationships
08:30 – Ownership, accountability, and self-awareness
10:50 – Finding learning and meaning in everyday moments
11:24 – Judgement vs curiosity
13:50 – Values, identity, and conscious decision-making
14:13 – The power of pause and awareness
15:33 – The complexity and downsides of coaching awareness
16:39 – Navigating multiple perspectives in a complex world
18:30 – Choice, energy, and self-management
19:02 – Gratitude and recognising the coaching advantage
 
Key Lessons Learned:
Coaching enhances leadership through emotional intelligence and adaptability
The ability to hold multiple perspectives strengthens relationships and collaboration
Coaching builds resilience by enabling faster reframing and recovery
Greater self-awareness leads to stronger identity and decision-making
Coaching improves relationships through deeper understanding and presence
Curiosity replaces judgement, reducing mental strain and increasing connection
Awareness brings complexity, requiring conscious energy management
The greatest advantage of coaching is the power of choice
 
Keywords:
Coaching advantage, Benefits of coaching training, Coaching skills for leadership, Emotional intelligence in leadership, Coaching for resilience, Coaching mindset and self-awareness, Personal development through coaching, Coaching impact on relationships, Coaching skills in everyday life, Why coaching matters,
 
Links & Resources:
IG Company website: https://www.igcompany.com 
Coaching course quiz: https://www.mycoachingcourse.com

If people don't know you exist, how can they ever choose to work with you?
This episode felt like a necessary conversation. One that many coaches avoid, delay, or quietly struggle with.
We explored why personal brand matters for coaches, and more importantly, what it really means beyond the noise of marketing jargon.
Because for many, the idea of "personal branding" feels uncomfortable. It can feel like self-promotion, like performance, or like stepping into a space that doesn't quite fit with the values of coaching.
And yet, the reality is simple.
If people don't know you exist, they cannot work with you.
What we reflected on in this episode is that personal brand is not something you create. It is something you reveal.
It is how people experience you.
It is what you stand for.
It is the consistency between what you say and how you show up.
When someone chooses a coach, they are not only choosing a skillset. They are choosing a person.
They are asking:
Do I feel safe with this person?
Do our values align?
Do I trust how they think and how they work?
And personal brand is the bridge that helps answer those questions.
We shared openly how, in the early days, we didn't think about personal brand at all. We believed that being a coach was enough. That our work would speak for itself.
But over time, we learned something critical.
Clarity creates trust. Consistency builds credibility. Visibility creates opportunity.
And personal brand sits at the centre of all three.
What became clear as we talked was that authenticity is the foundation of everything.
We never sat down and decided what our brand would be. We didn't curate a persona or engineer an identity. What you hear on this podcast is who we are in real life. The depth, the curiosity, the challenge, the care. It runs through everything we do.
That consistency allows people to understand what it feels like to work with us before they ever step into a room.
And that is where personal brand becomes powerful.
We also spoke about the discomfort that comes with visibility.
There is a moment every coach faces where sharing your voice feels exposing. Where putting your thoughts out into the world feels permanent. Where fear shows up.
And yet, growth sits on the other side of that.
Personal branding is not about feeling comfortable. It is about being willing to be seen anyway.
Over time, it becomes easier. Your voice becomes clearer. Your confidence builds. And what once felt like exposure starts to feel like expression.
Another important shift we explored is this:
You already have a personal brand.
Whether you are intentional about it or not, people are forming perceptions based on how they experience you. The choice is whether you actively shape that experience or leave it to chance.
And when you begin to take ownership of it, something changes.
You start to see what makes you distinct.
You recognise the patterns in how people describe you.
You begin to build something that feels aligned, not forced.
For us, investing in our brand marked a turning point.
It was not only about how others saw us. It was about how we saw ourselves.
It moved us from hoping things would work, to deciding that we believed in what we were building.
And that shift created momentum.
This episode is a reminder that personal brand is not about becoming someone else.
It is about standing more fully in who you already are.
 
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction to personal branding in coaching
00:43 – What personal brand really means
02:09 – How people experience you as a coach
04:35 – Clarity, consistency, and credibility
06:01 – Authenticity and real-life alignment
08:19 – Why you cannot fake your brand
09:38 – Consistency builds trust over time
12:28 – Visibility and the fear of being seen
15:14 – Recognising what makes you unique
17:37 – Brand evolution and growth over time
20:05 – You already have a brand
21:58 – Investing in your brand and business growth
24:49 – Evolving your brand as you grow
27:43 – Why visibility is essential for success
 
Key Lessons Learned:
Personal brand is about authenticity, not performance
Visibility is essential for attracting coaching clients
Consistency builds trust and strengthens credibility
You already have a personal brand, whether intentional or not
Discomfort around visibility is part of growth
Your brand should reflect your values, beliefs, and coaching style
Testimonials can reveal powerful insights about your brand
Investing in your brand can transform your confidence and business growth
 
Keywords:
Personal brand for coaches, Why personal branding matters in coaching, Coaching business growth, Coach visibility and marketing, Authentic personal branding, Coaching identity and brand, How to attract coaching clients, Coaching marketing strategies, Building trust as a coach, Coaching business development,
 
Links & Resources:
IG Company website: https://www.igcompany.com 
Coaching course quiz: https://www.mycoachingcourse.com

What happens when you slow down enough to truly see yourself as a coach?
This episode felt like one of those conversations where we didn't set out with a script, yet uncovered something far more meaningful along the way.
We opened up about how coaching supervision training changed us, not only as practitioners, but as people. What stood out immediately was how difficult it is to articulate the impact. The changes are subtle, yet undeniably profound.
As we reflected on our experiences, one theme kept surfacing: slowing down.
Not only slowing down how we speak, but how we think, how we show up, and how we hold space. Through supervision training, we both experienced a shift away from doing more, towards creating more space. And within that space, something powerful happens. Insight deepens. Awareness expands. Coaching becomes less about performance and more about presence.
We also explored the discomfort that comes with this level of growth.
There were moments of resistance, emotional reactions, and even questioning everything we thought we knew about coaching. At times, it felt like a stripping back of identity. Not only refining our coaching practice, but re-evaluating who we are within it.
And yet, this is where the real transformation happens.
Through deep reflection, supervision training helped us:
Develop a stronger internal compass
Challenge traditional coaching norms
Build confidence in our own voice as coaches
Embrace uncertainty rather than resist it
One of the most powerful shifts was around identity.
Moving from "how do I coach?" to "who am I as a coach?"
That shift changes everything.
We also spoke about how supervision introduces you to a completely different level of awareness. From ethical sensitivity and power dynamics, to the relational field between coach and client. You begin to notice what is happening beneath the surface. Not only what is said, but what is felt, what is unsaid, and what is emerging in the space between.
For us, coaching supervision training elevated our practice into something deeper. More intuitive. More reflective. More human.
It also normalised something many coaches quietly struggle with: imposter syndrome.
Rather than eliminating it, supervision helps you understand it, sit with it, and move through it. Over time, that discomfort becomes a signal for growth rather than something to avoid.
And perhaps one of the most unexpected outcomes was how much it expanded our curiosity. From somatic awareness to energetics, to exploring intuition within coaching, supervision training opened doors we hadn't even realised were there.
This episode is not only a reflection on our journey, but also an invitation.
If you are a coach who values depth, reflection, and growth, then coaching supervision training might not only change your practice, it might change you.
 
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction and why we're talking about supervision training
00:49 – Why coaching supervision changes you in subtle but powerful ways
01:46 – The importance of slowing down in coaching
03:22 – Resistance and questioning everything you've learned
04:22 – Emotional reactions and identity shifts
06:42 – Becoming a different version of yourself as a coach
08:00 – Learning alongside experienced coaches and building confidence
09:30 – Imposter syndrome and finding your own voice
11:48 – Developing your internal compass as a coach
14:06 – Ethical awareness and deeper coaching conversations
16:32 – Coaching at a more advanced and intuitive level
17:28 – Energetics, intuition, and expanding beyond traditional coaching
18:59 – Introducing our coaching supervision diploma
 
Key Lessons Learned:
Slowing down creates space for deeper insight and more meaningful coaching conversations
Coaching supervision training develops your identity, not only your skillset
Discomfort and emotional reactions are part of the growth process
Supervision strengthens your internal compass and confidence as a coach
Reflective practice enhances long-term sustainability in coaching
Exposure to other experienced coaches normalises imperfection
Ethical awareness and relational depth significantly improve coaching quality
Supervision expands your curiosity into areas such as intuition and energetics
 
Keywords:
Coaching supervision training, Coaching supervision benefits, How to become a better coach, Reflective coaching practice, Coaching identity development, Coaching supervision course, Professional coach development, Imposter syndrome in coaching, Advanced coaching skills, Coaching supervision diploma
 
Links & Resources:
Supervision Training: https://www.igcompany.com/supervisiontraining
IG Company website: https://www.igcompany.com 
Coaching course quiz: https://www.mycoachingcourse.com

Is staying neutral as a coach always the right thing to do, or can it quietly cause more harm than good?
In this episode, we found ourselves deep in reflection while developing our coaching supervision training, questioning something many coaches are taught early on: neutrality. It is often positioned as a gold standard in coaching, yet as we explored it more deeply, we realised the reality is far more nuanced.
We began by unpacking what neutrality actually means in coaching. For us, it has always been about creating a clean space where clients can explore their own thoughts, beliefs, and decisions without influence. We are trained to avoid imposing our views, resisting the urge to label ideas as good or bad. That foundation remains important. Yet as we talked, it became clear that neutrality is not always straightforward or even helpful.
Through our conversation, we explored the tension between being non-judgmental and being responsible. We reflected on moments in our own coaching where staying completely neutral could have led to avoidance. Avoidance of challenge. Avoidance of difficult conversations. Avoidance of responsibility.
One example we discussed was working with leaders whose behaviours may unintentionally create toxic dynamics. In those moments, remaining passive can allow harmful patterns to continue unchecked. Instead, we explored how curiosity, thoughtful questioning, and sometimes stepping slightly beyond neutrality can help clients see the true impact of their actions.
We also reflected on the role of rapport and contracting. The depth of challenge we bring as coaches often depends on the relationship we have built and the expectations we have set. Some clients want to be stretched. Others need space first. There is no one-size approach, and this is where coaching becomes more art than formula.
A key theme that emerged for us was the idea of responsible neutrality. Neutrality that is not detached from ethics or awareness. Neutrality that does not ignore systemic issues such as power, culture, or discrimination. Because choosing not to challenge can unintentionally reinforce harmful systems.
We also shared moments where stepping slightly outside neutrality created powerful breakthroughs. Whether it was expressing surprise, offering an observation, or gently pushing a client to stretch further, these small shifts can create significant impact when grounded in trust and intention.
Ultimately, this episode is not about rejecting neutrality. It is about evolving beyond a rigid interpretation of it. Coaching is not a rule book. It is a practice that requires awareness, reflection, and continuous learning.
We left this conversation recognising that great coaching sits in the tension between discipline and intuition, between structure and flexibility, and between neutrality and courageous challenge.
And perhaps the real question is not whether neutrality is toxic, but whether we are using it consciously.
 
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and the question of neutrality
01:02 What neutrality means in coaching practice
02:35 When neutrality supports curiosity and openness
04:52 When neutrality becomes avoidance or passivity
07:23 Real coaching example of challenging leadership behaviour
09:07 The role of contracting and client expectations
11:02 Reflecting on your own coaching approach
13:52 Stretching clients beyond surface-level actions
15:25 Systemic impact and ethical responsibility in coaching
17:23 Real example of stepping outside neutrality
18:57 Introducing the concept of responsible neutrality
20:48 The complexity and contradictions of coaching
22:15 Learning when to be neutral and when not to
24:18 Final reflections and invitation to continue the conversation
 
Key Lessons Learned:
Neutrality in coaching is a foundational principle, but it is not always sufficient on its own
Passive neutrality can lead to avoidance of challenge and reduced coaching impact
Responsible coaching requires balancing support with meaningful challenge
Contracting and rapport play a critical role in determining how far to stretch a client
Coaches must remain aware of systemic issues and the impact of silence
Small, intentional shifts away from neutrality can create powerful breakthroughs
Coaching is both a discipline and an art, requiring judgment, reflection, and adaptability
Supervision and peer discussions are essential for navigating complex coaching decisions
 
Keywords:
Neutrality in coaching, Coaching ethics, Coaching supervision, Leadership coaching, Coaching skills, Non-judgmental coaching, Coaching challenges, Professional coaching development, Systemic coaching, Coaching conversations,
 
Links & Resources:
IG Company website: https://www.igcompany.com 
Coaching course quiz: https://www.mycoachingcourse.com

What if the most powerful tool you bring to coaching isn't your questions, but your energy?
In this episode, we open up a conversation that sits at the intersection of awareness, presence, and depth in coaching practice. We explore something that is often felt but rarely named: the energetics of coaching.
As we recorded this conversation, we found ourselves reflecting on how often energy operates in the background of our work, shaping outcomes without us consciously engaging with it. Coaching is not only about techniques or frameworks. It is about the unseen exchange that happens between coach and client in every moment.
We explore what it means to accept that we each carry an energetic field, and how that field both influences and is influenced by the people we work with. From the moment we enter a coaching space, whether virtual or in person, there is a meeting of energy. That meeting can either be intentional and supportive, or unconscious and potentially disruptive.
During our discussion, we reflected on how awareness of energy is not always natural for everyone. Some people instinctively feel it, while others are less connected to it. Yet as coaches, developing this awareness becomes a critical part of our effectiveness and sustainability.
We explored how preparing for a coaching session goes beyond reviewing notes or setting an intention. It involves checking in with your own energy, understanding what you are carrying, and creating clarity around what belongs to you and what does not. This becomes essential when navigating moments such as frustration, where the key question is whether that experience is yours or something emerging from the client's world.
One of the most powerful insights in this conversation was how energy can be used as data within a coaching session. When we notice shifts in our own internal state, we can bring curiosity rather than judgement. This opens up a deeper level of coaching, where clients feel seen and understood in ways that go beyond words.
We also touched on practices such as somatic awareness and the exploration of energy within the body. Questions like where a feeling is experienced physically can unlock new insights and create space for meaningful breakthroughs. For some clients, this may extend into concepts such as chakras or energy centres, offering alternative ways to understand blocks and patterns.
As the conversation unfolded, we found ourselves reflecting on the importance of energetic boundaries. Without them, it becomes easy to absorb and carry what is not ours, leading to feelings of heaviness or depletion. This is where self-awareness and self-care intersect with coaching mastery. Supporting clients effectively requires us to also restore and manage our own energy.
We also explored the idea that coaching is both a science and an art. While there are models and methodologies that guide us, the energetics of coaching sit firmly within the art. It is the nuance, the presence, and the subtle shifts that create transformative experiences for clients.
This episode is an invitation to expand your perspective. Whether you already resonate with the concept of energy or are approaching it with curiosity, there is an opportunity here to deepen your practice and explore a new dimension of coaching.
 
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to the energetics of coaching
02:00 Understanding energy in coaching relationships
04:00 Accepting and working with your energetic field
06:30 Preparing your energy before coaching sessions
08:30 Distinguishing your energy from your client's
11:00 Using energy as an entry point in coaching conversations
13:00 Exploring chakras and alternative perspectives
15:30 Somatic coaching and energy in the body
17:00 Energy, self-care, and compassion fatigue
19:00 Energetic boundaries and releasing what is not yours
21:00 Coaching as both art and science
 
Key Lessons Learned:
Energy is always present in coaching, whether consciously recognised or not
Awareness of your own energy is foundational to effective coaching practice
Distinguishing between your energy and your client's is a critical coaching skill
Energy can be used as valuable data to deepen coaching conversations
Preparing and restoring your energy supports both performance and sustainability
Somatic awareness can unlock deeper insights for clients
Energetic boundaries protect against burnout and emotional overload
Coaching mastery involves both structured methods and intuitive awareness
 
Keywords:
Energetics of coaching, Coaching presence, Emotional intelligence in coaching, Somatic coaching, Coaching self-awareness, Coaching energy management, Coaching techniques for deeper conversations, Coach burnout and self-care, Coaching skills development, Energy in coaching relationships,
 
Links & Resources:
IG Company website: https://www.igcompany.com 
Coaching course quiz: https://www.mycoachingcourse.com