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Open Doors.

  • katrincharlton
  • 22 hours ago
  • 6 min read

Updated: 3 hours ago

What coaching actually asks of you, and what it can give back.

Choosing to be coached is a brave thing.


It requires something most professional environments do not reward: the willingness to slow down, look inward, and sit with the possibility that there is more to understand about yourself than your results can tell you.


If you are here, considering coaching, that willingness matters. It is not a small thing. I do not take it lightly, and I never will.


And yet there is a trap worth naming honestly, because I have seen it catch good people.

The trap is the assumption that investing in coaching is the same as being ready for it.


Booking the sessions. Showing up. Engaging thoughtfully. These things matter. But they are the beginning of the work, not the work itself. What creates real change is something quieter and more demanding: the genuine willingness to receive, reflect, and allow something to shift.


Marshall Goldsmith, one of the world's most respected executive coaches, has written at length about this. His central argument, explored in What Got You Here Won't Get You There, is that the leaders who grow are not simply the most talented or the most driven. They are the most coachable. Sara Canaday develops this further in her book Coachable, making the case that the capacity to be coached is itself a skill, one that can be cultivated, and one that makes everything else more possible.


This post is an honest account of what coaching actually is, what it is like to work with me, what I will bring, and what I will ask of you. Not to put you off. But because the people who get the most from our work together are the ones who come in clear-eyed.



Beyond Investment.

What makes coaching work has nothing to do with what you pay.

Coaching has grown significantly as a profession. And with that growth has come a quiet mythology: that hiring a good coach will, in itself, shift things. That insight is enough. That showing up to sessions is the work.


It is not.


Neuroscience is clear on this. Real, lasting behavioural change requires more than awareness. It requires new action, taken consistently, over time. Understanding something is a starting point. Applying it is what creates movement. The two are not the same thing.

The coach creates the conditions. The client does the work. Neither can substitute for the other.


Working Together.

What to expect when we work with each other, and what I bring.

I work with senior leaders, executives, and founders: people navigating significant transitions, building authority, or trying to close the gap between where they are and who they know they can be.


And if you are new to coaching, that is completely fine. Part of my job is to help you into this space: to explain how it works, what it is for, and what to expect. There is no prior experience required. Only a genuine willingness to think differently.


My background is in finance: hedge funds, business development, fundraising. I understand the world my clients live in. The pressure. The pace. The loneliness at the top. And the specific challenge of leading from the inside out when everything around you is pulling you toward performance and away from reflection.


Here is what you can expect when we work together.

I will always be on your side. That does not mean I will always agree with you. But it means I am genuinely invested in what is best for you, not in being right, not in a particular outcome, not in keeping things comfortable. I walk alongside you. Always.

A space that is structured and calm, but not soft. I will hold the space well. I will also hold you to what you say matters to you.


A science-informed approach. I draw on neuroscience, attachment theory, and adult development research. We work both at the surface, decisions, communication, strategy, and below it, patterns, beliefs, identity. Because lasting change usually requires both.


Full investment. I am completely present in our sessions. I prepare. I think about you between sessions. I am genuinely interested in your growth, not just your goals.


And one thing I will not do: I will not do the work for you. Because that would limit you. And limiting you is not something I am willing to do.


Kind Disruption.

Challenge does not have to be harsh. But it does have to be honest.

I call myself a kind disrupter. That is not just a phrase I like. It describes something I believe about how change actually happens.


I do not believe in giving clients feedback. That is not the role of a coach. What I do instead is challenge thinking. Hold up mirrors. Ask the question that has not been asked yet.


Create the conditions for you to see something you have not been able to see on your own.

Challenge for the sake of it helps no one. But honest challenge, offered with care and genuine curiosity, can shift something that years of advice-giving never touched.


That is the kind of disruption I am interested in. The kind that opens something up rather than closes it down.


Your Part.

What I ask of you is honest, specific, and sometimes uncomfortable.

I can only open the door. You have to go through it.

In my experience, the clients who create the most meaningful shifts are not always the most senior, the most experienced, or the most articulate. They are the ones who are willing to look at what is actually there.


Honesty. About what is really going on, not just the version you have rehearsed. The patterns you keep bumping into. The relationships that feel stuck. The leadership moments that did not go the way you wanted.


Willingness to be challenged. Some of what you believe about your situation will be accurate. Some will not. Coaching creates space to tell the difference.


Action between sessions. The real work does not happen in the room. It happens in the conversation you have the following week. The decision you make differently. The behaviour you choose to change.


Ownership of your results. I am responsible for the quality of our sessions. You are responsible for what you do with them.


Honest Change.

Most of us want growth without disruption. Those are not the same thing.


I want to name something honestly here, because I have felt it myself.

Sometimes the version of change we say we want is not quite the version we are prepared for. We want clarity without disruption. Growth without discomfort. Progress without letting go of anything. That is human. I understand it. But it is not how meaningful change tends to happen.


Richard Boyatzis's Intentional Change Theory tells us that lasting change requires holding both who you are now and who you are becoming, at the same time. That tension is not a sign something is wrong. It is the work.


Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset reinforces the same thing: what separates people who develop from those who plateau is not talent or circumstance. It is the belief that growth is possible, and the willingness to engage with what makes it hard.

Before Starting.

One question worth sitting with before any coaching engagement begins.

Am I ready to be coached? Or do I just like the idea of it?

There is no judgement in either answer. But being honest about it will shape everything.

One opens the diary. The other opens the door.


Go Deeper.

A few resources worth your time if this has sparked something.

Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. A rigorous and honest look at why successful people stop growing, and what coachability actually requires. Essential reading for any senior leader.

Sara Canaday, Coachable. A practical and compelling case for why the ability to be coached is itself a skill, and how to develop it. Particularly useful if you are stepping into coaching for the first time.

Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. The foundational text on why some people grow and others plateau. Rigorous, practical, and genuinely useful for anyone in a leadership role.

Richard Boyatzis, Becoming a Resonant Leader (with Annie McKee). Intentional Change Theory applied to leadership development. Grounded in decades of research and surprisingly readable.



Let's Talk

If this resonates, I would be glad to start a conversation.

If you feel ready, get in touch. And if you are not quite sure yet, get in touch anyway.

No pitch. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about where you are, where you want to get to, and whether working together makes sense.



 
 
 

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