Coaching is a process designed to help individuals achieve their professional goals, where the coach guides the coachee to tap into their own knowledge and understand what is getting in the way. It relies on thought-provoking questions and reflection, rather than direct advice, to improve performance.

Coaching is not consulting, nor is it a training course, both of which rely on advice-giving. And unlike therapy, coaching does not address mental health.

Coaching is for anyone responsible for their organization's or program's risk and safety management plan, including program directors, risk managers, and senior and executive leaders. People in these roles face common challenges, like influencing across organizational levels, carrying significant responsibility with limited authority, and managing competing demands.

Many safety leaders have outdoor leadership backgrounds, which provide a strong foundation for senior leadership roles. Coaching builds on those foundations by developing the organizational leadership skills needed to navigate internal dynamics, expand influence and impact, and create meaningful change. Coaching supports both established leaders and those new to safety leadership roles.

At the fundamental level, training and consulting rely on the transmission of knowledge from one party to another. Training is a directive process where the instructor shares knowledge and teaches skills. Consulting is about advice-giving. Although there is a time and place for both, and there are methods to help students and clients start thinking about applying new information to their own settings, neither are focused on individual development, enhancing self-awareness, or follow-through in reaching the client's own goals. Rather than giving information or solutions, coaching facilitates discovery of the client's own answers. It's a developmental process that builds skills and confidence through reflection, testing ideas in practice, and navigating the complexities of your specific context.

 In group coaching, like the Safety Leadership Program, participants engage in structured discussions, share experiences with peers facing similar challenges, and learn from each other's contexts and from themselves by sharing aloud. The cohort model provides connection, reduces isolation, and builds shared language and approaches to safety leadership while allowing individuals to apply insights to their specific situations.

The Safety Leadership Program also uses 1:1 coaching, where the focus is entirely on the participant's goals and challenges, specific to their work context. Readings and discussions from the group sessions might inform or inspire the participant's goals or approaches to their goals, and one-on-one time with the coach helps to work out exact goals, plans, and follow-through steps.

This combination of group and 1:1 coaching is an effective way to put safety science into practice and be more effective at work.

Coaching helps address common challenges such as limited authority, isolation, and being misunderstood in the role. Participants gain clarity, confidence, and tools to lead safety work more effectively.

Organizations benefit through improved communication across departments, better alignment between leadership, management, and staff, and more sustainable leadership capacity.

Coaching sessions focus on your specific goals within the circumstances you face. If this sounds like a relationship you would benefit from but aren't sure what is possible yet, that's okay. Early sessions focus on identifying what matters most and where coaching can have the greatest effect.

Individual coaching engagements typically last six months, with one session each month and support between meetings. Group coaching programs combine live sessions with individual coaching and run for six to eight weeks. Participants complete light preparation activities between sessions.

 Coaching works best when participants are open, engaged, and willing to test new approaches in their own context. Reach out to discuss which format best suits your situation and goals.

Many organizations cover coaching through professional development or leadership budgets. Participants can register individually or request direct invoicing to the organization. If approval is needed, a short proposal can be provided to describe the program and its alignment with leadership and organizational goals.

When coaching is sponsored by an organization, goals are agreed upon together, but coaching conversations remain confidential. This approach builds trust while allowing sponsors to receive general updates about progress, without details of specific discussions.

Coaching supports both emerging and established safety leaders. If you're new to risk management (you’re a recent student or you’re an experienced leader and taking on a safety leadership role), coaching helps you build your approach, develop organizational leadership skills, and navigate the transition into greater responsibility. Many participants use coaching to establish strong foundations early in their leadership journey.

Yes. Our approach draws on career coaching alongside executive and leadership coaching methods. This means coaching addresses both your current role and your longer-term professional direction. Sessions can explore questions about career trajectory, leadership identity, and how to make intentional choices about your development.

Coaching strengthens the capabilities that matter for leadership roles: strategic thinking, communication, influence, and the ability to navigate complexity. Participants often become more effective in their current role and better positioned for future opportunities. The skills developed—clarity, presence, and the ability to lead across organizational levels—transfer to other leadership contexts.