A Fresh Start for Coaches: The Missing Layer That Makes Transformation Stick by Dr Steve Jeffs

January has a particular kind of energy.

Not the frantic new year, new you noise —
but something quieter.

A moment where you can feel what’s possible if you choose to raise your standard…
and stop carrying last year’s patterns into the work ahead.

If you’re a coach, you may recognise that feeling.

You’re capable.
You’ve done the training.
You can hold space, ask strong questions, and create real insight in the room.

And yet, even with all of that, an uncomfortable question can sit just beneath the surface:

Why does coaching sometimes still feel messier than it should?

Why do some engagements unfold with coherence and momentum,
while others drift, stall, or fade without real completion?

Why do beginnings feel uncertain, discovery feel rushed,
or endings quietly taper without the work ever being fully named or integrated?

For a long time, the profession has offered a familiar answer:

More skill.
More tools.
More techniques.
More models.

But over years of coaching — and mentoring, supervising, and supporting other coaches — a different pattern became impossible to ignore.

These challenges showed up with brand new coaches and highly experienced ones.

It wasn’t a lack of skill.

It was something else.

Not because coaches weren’t good —
but because most of us were never taught how to design and lead a coaching journey, rather than simply deliver sessions.

A coaching session is a moment in time.
Transformation unfolds across time.

And anything that unfolds across time needs something to hold it.

When that holding structure isn’t consciously designed, a few predictable things tend to happen.

We load the first conversation with pressure — trying to prove value rather than establish orientation.
We rush discovery — attempting to gather everything early instead of allowing understanding to mature over time.
We default to session-by-session topic selection — letting urgency define the work rather than intention.
And we avoid completion — or allow the coaching to taper — so the transformation is never fully named, integrated, or anchored.

If you recognise yourself here, it doesn’t mean you’re doing coaching wrong.

It usually means you were trained in coaching skills,
but not in coaching delivery.

And here was the epiphany that changed how I see the whole profession:

A great coaching session doesn’t guarantee transformation.
The journey is what holds the coaching magic.

When a journey is designed — even lightly, even flexibly — something fundamental shifts.

Structure stops feeling like restriction
and starts feeling like relief.

Relief from improvising the entire engagement.
Relief from carrying the cognitive load alone.
Relief that allows presence, creativity, and responsiveness to return —
because the container is finally doing its job.

This is also where confidence steadies.

Not as something you have to generate,
but as a by-product of clarity: knowing where you are in the journey, what this phase is for, and why the next step matters.

This insight is what sits underneath the six-part article series we’ve been sharing.

Each article gently shifts a belief many coaches hold — not by arguing with it, but by revealing what’s been missing:

1. Why Great Coaching Sessions Don’t Guarantee Transformation
   → introduces doubt in the idea that sessions alone are enough
2. When Coaching Skills Stop Being the Problem
   → removes personal blame and skill inadequacy
3. Why Structure Doesn’t Limit Coaching — It Frees It
   → reframes structure as an ally, not a constraint
4. Why Rushing Discovery Slows Down Transformation
   → introduces time, sequencing, and phases
5. Why So Many Coaching Engagements End Without Meaningful Completion
   → exposes the cost of undefined endings
6. What Changes When the Journey Holds the Coaching Magic
   → names the true mechanism: the journey itself

Read in sequence, they form a single picture.
Each piece stands alone, but together they reveal the same underlying shift — from coaching as sessions, to coaching as a journey.

What becomes possible when coaching is guided as a journey —
rather than delivered as a series of disconnected sessions.

And if, as you read, you find yourself thinking:

Yes. This is the piece I’ve been missing.

Then you may want to explore Beyond Sessions.

Beyond Sessions exists as a live practice space for coaches who are ready to work at a shared professional standard — learning how to design, hold, and complete coaching journeys without losing presence, style, or humanity.

There’s no urgency here.

For now, I’d simply invite you to start with the first article:

Why Great Coaching Sessions Don’t Guarantee Transformation

Sometimes recognition is the beginning of a much calmer — and more coherent — way of working.

Contributing Author:

Dr Steve Jeffs is a Master Certified Coach (MCC), business and organisational psychologist, and leadership transformation expert with over 20 years of global experience. Before becoming a full-time coach, Steve led large-scale leadership assessment and development programs, organisational change initiatives, and cultural transformation projects across the Middle East, working with government bodies, multinationals, and high-growth businesses. His early career as a registered psychologist and management consultant continues to shape his pragmatic, systems-oriented approach to coaching and leadership.

Today, Steve serves as Director of Coaching at The Coaching Tools Company, where he brings together his expertise in psychology, strategy, and personal development to create practical, impactful tools for coaches and leaders alike. He is also the Co-Founder of The Guiding Matrix, a company dedicated to helping coaches grow sustainable businesses while expanding their leadership capacity.

With over 5,000 coaching hours, Steve has worked with executives and teams in more than 20 countries, including in the UK, UAE, KSA, USA, Egypt, South Africa, and the Philippines. His coaching clients include leaders from organisations such as HSBC, Siemens, Roche Diagnostics, STC, Etisalat, Sanofi, and Dubai Holding. As one of the first MCCs in the Middle East, Steve has also trained and mentored over 1,000 coaches globally and continues to supervise coaches through their credentialing journeys.

Steve is a multi-award-winning coach, recognised globally for his work on leadership and innovation—including honours from the World Innovation Congress and CHRO Asia. He is co-author of Stuck No More: Practical Self-Coaching for Everyday Problems and Shift Up: Strength Strategies for Optimal Living, and is the creator of multiple strengths-based assessments and coaching tools, including the StrengthsMultiplier™. With a Doctorate in Leadership and a Master's in Organisational Psychology, Steve blends deep psychological insight with practical coaching to help individuals, teams, and organisations thrive.

Originally from Australia, Steve now lives in the UK having worked in the UAE for over a decade, bringing both global perspective and deep regional understanding to his work. When not coaching or creating tools, you’ll likely find him exploring deep caves or shipwrecks—he’s a certified technical diver and cave explorer who brings the same spirit of curiosity and courage to his coaching and leadership work.

Learn more about Steve & see all their articles here >>