Join Cheryl Close for a free coaching for coaches workshop

 

Your client brings the problem. But is the problem really where the coaching is?

 

October 27th, 3- 4:30 pm Central

 

Join Cheryl Close for a live, interactive coaching conversation:

October 27th at 3:00-4:30 pm Central

 

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Your client brings the problem. But is the problem really where the coaching is?

 

Clients rarely arrive saying, “I’d like to explore who I’m being in relation to this situation.”

 

They arrive with something much more tangible - a difficult boss, a decision they can’t make, a career that no longer fits, a conversation they keep avoiding.

 

In other words, they bring us the WHAT.

 

And the what matters. It gives us the context, helps us understand what’s at stake, and gives the client somewhere very real to begin.

But it can also be incredibly easy to get caught there.

 

We explore the situation, consider options, and ask what the client might do next. The conversation may be useful — but somewhere along the way, we can find ourselves coaching the problem rather than the person experiencing it.

 

Because underneath what is happening is another layer worth getting curious about: How is this person seeing the situation? What are they assuming? What aren’t they seeing? And what might this reveal about how they think, choose, lead, or respond?

 

The WHAT gives us the material. The WHO gives us somewhere deeper to go.

 

On October 27, we’ll explore how to move between the two — using what the client brings as a doorway into who they are within it.

The what isn't the problem ...

This isn’t about dismissing the client’s story or trying to drag every conversation into some profound exploration of identity.

The what gives us incredibly useful information.

 

The trick is not getting stuck there.

 

The situation can become the doorway through which we begin to understand the person experiencing it.

And when that happens, coaching can move from helping someone solve this problem ... to helping them see something about themselves that may change how they approach many problems that come after it.

 

That’s the difference between solving what’s in front of the client — and developing the person sitting in front of you.

 

 

Join Cheryl Close for a live, interactive coaching conversation:

October 27th at 3:00-4:30 pm Central

 

✔︎ This session is for coaches at every stage who want to look more closely at what happens in real coaching conversations — including those moments when you realize you may have spent the last twenty minutes coaching the organizational restructure instead of the human being sitting in front of you.

 

✔︎ Expect real examples, practical exploration, questions to experiment with, and plenty of opportunities to notice your own coaching habits.

 

✔︎  No perfect coaching required. Just bring your curiosity.

 

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Cheryl Close, M.Ed., MCC, is an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Master Certified Coach with more than eighteen years' experience coaching leaders, professionals, and coaches around the world.

 

For the past eight years, Cheryl has specialized in mentor coaching, supporting more than one hundred coaches as they prepared for their ACC, PCC, and MCC credentials.

 

Before becoming a coach, Cheryl was a classroom teacher and school principal—an experience that continues to shape the way she mentors today.

 

Her approach is practical, encouraging, and deeply developmental. Rather than simply assessing competencies, Cheryl helps coaches understand what excellent coaching sounds like, feels like, and looks like in practice.

 

She teaches on ICF Level 1 and Level 2 coach training programmes and facilitates mentor coaching, performance evaluation preparation, and written exam preparation for coaches working towards their ACC and PCC credentials.

 

Above all, Cheryl creates a learning environment where coaches feel safe to be challenged, supported, and encouraged to grow. Her mentor coaching groups are intentionally small, highly interactive, and always judgement-free—because the best learning happens when coaches feel confident enough to be curious.