DREIESKIVA​|Roald Kvam

Over the past 30 years, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside individuals, teams, and organizations as they navigate change, shape their culture, build capacity, and pursue long-term, sustainable growth.

I believe in people! I love everything in and between humans.

And am constantly seeking to learn more – and understand how we can take care and challenge each other better. Henry Kimsey-House, Karen Kimsey-House, Philip Sandahl and Laura Whitworth gives us an interesting framework in the book «Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives». This is a foundational text in the coaching profession, widely regarded as a seminal work that introduced and popularized the Co-Active Coaching model.

The central premise of Co-Active Coaching is that clients are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole.

This core belief stands in contrast to approaches where the coach is seen as the expert providing solutions. Instead, the Co-Active coach acts as a facilitator, partnering with the client to help them access their own inner wisdom, insights, and capabilities. The «Co-Active» name itself emphasizes this partnership: the «Co» signifies the client’s active role in setting the agenda and driving their own journey, while the «Active» refers to the coach’s dynamic engagement, presence, and powerful questioning.

Let’s explore…

---

The Co-Active coaching model

The book thoroughly outlines the four cornerstones of the model:

1. Fulfilling lives: Coaching helps clients align with their values and purpose to create a life of meaning and satisfaction.
2. A coaching relationship: Emphasizes the equal partnership, trust, and safety within the coaching dynamic.
3. Focus on the whole person: Coaching addresses all aspects of a person’s life—work, relationships, well-being, personal growth—recognizing their interconnectedness.
4. Evoking transformation: The aim is not just problem-solving but profound, lasting change from within.

Core coaching skills

The authors detail essential coaching skills such as:

• Listening: Moving beyond simply hearing words to deep, intuitive listening that uncovers underlying emotions, beliefs, and desires.
• Curiosity: Asking powerful, open-ended questions that provoke thought, challenge assumptions, and lead to new awareness.
• Intuition: Using the coach’s own gut feelings and insights as data in the coaching conversation, always checking in with the client.
• Self-management: The coach’s ability to be fully present, manage their own reactions, and stay focused on the client.
• Forwarding the action & deepening the learning: Techniques to help clients commit to actionable steps and reflect on their learning.

The power of being, doing, and becoming

The book explores the interplay between what clients do (actions), who they are (values, beliefs, identity), and who they are becoming (their aspirations and future self). Coaching, in this model, facilitates growth across all these dimensions.

Ethical considerations and professionalism

It stresses the importance of ethical guidelines, professional boundaries, and the continuous development of the coach.

---

«Co-Active Coaching» is more than a how-to guide; it’s a philosophical framework that empowers coaches to create profound and lasting transformations in their clients’ lives by fostering self-discovery, responsibility, and the realization of their inherent potential. It serves as a foundational text for both aspiring and experienced coaches seeking to understand the depth and breadth of human-centered coaching.