The Coaching industry has grown and evolved since MF’s earliest days. If you were to compare the sector now to then you would see many differences. One of the most visible would be specialising or ‘niching’. In an organisational setting in the late 90’s the terms Business Coach or Executive Coach stood almost alone, sometimes joined by Leadership Coach. The picture is a very different one now with a plethora of other Coach titles used. Examples include Retirement Coach, Transition Coach and C-Level Coach to name just three.

Whilst a qualified and experienced Coach can effectively work across sectors and a variety of contexts, this niching can be useful for coaches allowing them to specialise in a particular area and play to strengths. It can also support potential clients in navigating Coach offerings and services.

At Management Futures our expert coaches support people through the full spectrum of circumstance. Many though, have a favourite topic area, or background in a particular field. We asked some of them to reflect on a particular niche and offer up three thought-provoking questions:

Where does the topic of career sit?  My approach is to place it in the sphere of ‘working life’. Once we have defined the end goal - whether seeking promotion, adapting to a new role, desire to change direction,  redundancy, etc, I begin with an exploration of the ‘who’ of the person. This pause to reflect is of course the foundation for developing greater self- awareness and professional growth. It informs the inquiry that follows – what, how, where and when.

A client may arrive with the idea you will provide career ‘advice’ and hence clear contracting is important!   They are pleasantly surprised at the clarity gained by reconnecting with their core values, identifying what gives them purpose, boosting confidence by realising their strengths and celebrating their achievements.  I would be rich if I had a penny for the countless clients who say, ‘if only I had this support earlier in my career’.

There is a role, where required, to provide hacks / tips on self- marketing and /or interview skills practice.  Last, but not least, we explore the best ways to build and grow connections and relationship. It is surprising how many clients do not understand the importance of gaining a positive network of allies and champions that can support their career development.

Questions to ask:

• What aspect of your work is getting you out of bed each morning?
• How much of yourself do you bring to work?
• What is the biggest obstacle to your progress right now?  

As the urgency of climate change intensifies, it is becoming increasingly vital for leaders to incorporate sustainability into their strategic agendas. The role of coaching is to foster conversations that inspire a shift in mindset, align values with sustainable practices, and drive bold, impactful changes. In this context, coaching transcends personal achievement; it is about guiding individuals and organisations to contribute positively to the world. 

Questions to ask:

• How are your current business practices contributing to or mitigating the impacts of climate change, and what bold steps can you take to enhance your organisation’s sustainability?
• In what ways can you leverage your influence to create a culture of environmental responsibility and cooperation within your organisation and beyond?
• What long-term legacy and impact do you want your leadership to leave, and what immediate actions can you take to ensure this legacy is realised?
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As an Executive Coach, I have worked with several clients who occupy positions on boards at a variety of organisations such as charities, clubs, sports governing bodies and financial investment companies. Many of the same themes tend to arise during our sessions. These include (but are not limited to) - pressure to create successful strategic direction, having their voice heard, resolving conflict in relationships, and increasing diversity of people and ideas. These themes appear again in my work with some organisations around teamwork, performance, culture and collaboration. I am also on two boards myself and witness first hand some of the challenges that face directors and trustees.

Diversity at boards is one of the most regular themes, high on the agenda and particularly important when aiming to represent the needs of organisations with unique agendas.

Questions to ask:

• Are we appropriately representing the full diversity and needs of our stakeholders?
• How often are we looking at our approach with a critical eye on being equal, diverse and inclusive?
• What more could we do to encourage diversity in our organisation?
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Entrepreneurs may build their own entity or grow it within a larger enterprise. In coaching we typically encounter some factors which aren’t unique to entrepreneurs but may be particularly present for them. For instance, much of an entrepreneur’s identity may be derived from their work and its purpose. Entrepreneurs sometimes continue to feel responsible for every area of the operation, retaining oversight and involvement as it grows. They may be concerned about legacy when they leave or retire, or when the entity is acquired. They may no longer be working at their original passion, now preoccupied with investors, people management or production. 

Questions to ask:

• What’s changed since you started?
• What needs to emerge in your leadership?
• If it all stopped tomorrow, how would you respond?
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Coaching conversations support people to make sustainable changes in personal and professional life. Health Coaching has a strong evidence base behind it for its effectiveness in improving health outcomes and wellbeing. When it’s used in a consultation between a health professional and a client, it can have a powerful and lasting impact. 

In this setting, there is a paradigm shift from the more traditional giving advice and fixing and solving issues, to coaching a patient to identify and achieve their own goals within the framework of their illness.  In addition, as Coaching for Health puts the responsibility with the patient, it is an important skill in aiding sustainable practice, so providing coaching for clinicians’ health too.

Questions to ask:

• If you are a health professional, what do you know about your client/patient’s goals in relation to their issue?
• Using your experience as a resource, when you are making a lifestyle change, how do you stop yourself from making that change?
• Again, thinking about your own experience, what was the most helpful consultation with a health professional you have had, and what did that person do?
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"People will forget what you say, people will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel" Maya Angelou

Image and impact coaching helps people raise their self-awareness about how they impact others and get clear on what they want to be known for. It goes way beyond refining your appearance - it helps you identify your strengths, core values and aspirations and work through any self-limiting beliefs that may be holding you back. You will gain clarity on what you want your personal brand to be and learn the skills and behaviours on how to communicate it with confidence and authenticity. Ultimately, it helps you enhance your visibility, build meaningful relationships, and achieve your personal and professional goals.

Questions to ask:

• What do you think people say about you when you are not in the room?
• How well is this aligned with how you perceive yourself?
• What would you like to develop/do differently to have the impact and influence you wish for?

New Parent Coaching helps prepare employees who are about to become parents.  It covers the period before, during and after the birth or adoption of their baby, giving parents-to-be support to tackle the new demands placed on them, while maintaining their confidence, performance and enjoyment of work.

Typically this would be a series of one-to-one coaching sessions with an expert coach, tailored to meet individual circumstances and needs. It usually involves around four sessions: the first a few weeks before the individual’s maternity or parental leave begins; the second a month or two before their return to work; and the third and fourth once they are back in their role, and can be adjusted to suit the individual.

Individualised coaching during this period ensures that new/expectant parents are enabled to effectively plan ahead for their absence while on maternity or parental leave and are helped with retaining confidence while going through a major identity shift. We have seen how this helps new parents to plan for their return to work and focus on the key priorities (at home and work) and supports the establishment of the ideal work / life integration for each individual.

Questions to ask:

• New parents, particularly new mothers, leaving the workforce is one of the major areas of ‘brain-drain’.  What support do you offer your key talent during this significant life transition?
• 75% of mothers go back to work after their first baby, but 50% drop out of the workforce completely after the arrival of a second child.  How can you ensure you retain this key experience and maintain gender balance in senior roles?
• How committed are you to having women in senior leadership?  Investing in coaching now will ensure they’re more likely to be with you at Board level.  What will your next step be?
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The importance of developing resilience, at the level of individual, team and organisation has been highlighted by the COVID crisis and the huge, unexpected shifts in society it brought in its wake. As a formally trained Resilience Practitioner, the definition I subscribe to is the one from https://resiliencedynamic.com - “Resilience is our ability to adapt and our capacity for change”.

It is my practice to explore resilience in all coaching programmes whether with an individual or team. However, there are times that resilience needs to be the main focus of the coaching assignment. When assessing a client’s objectives, we have a duty of care to meet them where they are at. For example, a client may be experiencing burn out – exhausted and no longer able to get satisfaction from their work. In these circumstances  I offer a programme with a focus on building resilience in service of sustainable performance and over all wellbeing. We explore the key enablers to resilience (being present, maximising energy, learning, having purpose). Together we identify where things are out of balance. The light bulb moment often comes when we explore the key barriers to resilience (those behaviours that most of us identify with to a greater or lesser extent) i.e. weak or no boundaries; capacity expectations that are too high and a “Do It Yourself” mindset.

All of the above is explored in a container of compassion. As a big fan of Kristen Neff’s work on self -compassion (https://self-compassion.org), I find that when feeling this vulnerable the client benefits from understanding that their inner resources of self -acceptance and compassion are a bedrock for personal and professional growth.

Questions to Ask:

• What is providing you with meaning?
• How often do you call on support from others?
• What do you do daily to refresh yourself?

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My niche is sports performance coaching. I spend much of my time as an Exec Coach, working to help senior leaders be their best - my lens on that being informed by a belief and fascination in their potential and helping them unlocking possibility. My avenue into sports coaching was a ‘happy accident’. I was working with a Managing Director to help him with confidence and assertiveness while leading his Exec team. After a few sessions, in passing he reported that his golf handicap was coming down at speed. He was taking his strategies for the boardroom out onto the golf course.

He introduced me to the Pro at his club who had a professional player on his books who hadn’t ‘made the cut’ for months. After three sessions he went from not making the cut to placing third – and within the top 10 for his next few tournaments. He soon after qualified for the European Tour. The rest is history…and to date I have worked with elite athletes in many disciplines.

My coaching in the performance world is centred around the study of ‘what works’: How we think, feel and what we do, when we are at our best – how we experience ourselves, what resources we use and what can we learn from that version of us. At times our mind can be tuned into the version of ourselves we don’t want to be. My work lies in switching my client’s mindset (be them athlete or leader) to being the version of themselves who will actually achieve the outcomes they truly want.

Questions to Ask:

• Can you think of a time when you have been your best? Can you tell me about that time, as if you were there?
• When you are at your best, what are you capable of and what do you draw on from with you to be able to do that?
• If we were taking advice from your high performing self, what would that be?

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The word wellbeing is one of those overused buzz words right now. Many organisations know it is an issue, but they struggle to find ways of really building wellbeing into their day-to-day life. The problem in many cases is that, if you want to improve the well-being of your staff, then you yourself have to change. Because the biggest driver of well-being is the mindset and behaviour of senior leadership.

Questions to Ask:

• What do you actually mean by wellbeing – are you using one of the well-researched models in this area?
• How clear are you about what happens if you don’t attend to this matter?
• How might you be blocking the well-being of your people?

My core niche is business coaching, and one day at the Glastonbury Festival, I was struck by how hard it was for artists and crew to operate within the music business specifically, and the pressures that come with that lifestyle. At that moment, I realised that what I would truly love to do is bring together my two passions in life: music and coaching, supported by my many years of commercial and finance experience.

At first glance, business coaching and having a music industry specialism might seem very different. The reality is that it’s an industry where the vast majority are self-employed people working out how to run a viable business while also dealing with behavioural and motivational challenges that greatly benefit from coaching. Specifically, the safe space for all types of discussion that coaching provides is one that I find works incredibly well.

Questions to ask:

• What is your definition of success?
• What really is the dream here?
• Let’s imagine you have a friend called Steve and coincidentally he is in the same situation as you, what advice would you give Steve?