What To Look For in A Coaching Relationship
The inner urge to grow and change is your innate nature - to actualise the unique, individual expression of who you really are… who You came to this life to BE.
Recognise and honour that your desire for coaching and personal growth is vitally important. Desire is imbued with the power of creation, and the commitment you make by signing up for a program creates a vibration that emanates out into the universe.
In other words, committing to your desire helps bring momentum, circumstances, and resources to support the attainment of your goals.
Now that you are ready to take this powerful next step in your journey, it's helpful to know what qualities to look out for in your coaching partnership.
First off, it's useful to note what you are signing up for: Coaching offers a carefully designed, consistent process of enhancing your personal and/or professional growth through planned education, self-inquiry, and accessing your inner wisdom.
A skilful coach holds space for two primary reasons – to listen dynamically, and to ask powerful questions - that allow you to see things from a new, higher perspective.
Listening:
The presence of a skilled other enables you to be listened to accurately and neutrally, without judgment or self- recrimination.
Questioning:
The level of sophisticated dialogue which takes place elevates your growth, sheds light on new perspectives, and moves you to a higher level of living.
A Formula for Creating Lasting Change:
Important considerations and best practices when looking for Effective Coaching
As you approach any new endeavour, there are specific steps, strategies, and practices to maximise your efficacy and success:
First, when you have a goal, it is essential to have a map to get there.
Second, find a guide whom you resonate with, who can show you how to navigate the inner and outer terrain of your life.
Third, ensure that you have a supportive container in place as you begin to put into practice your new way of Being.
A skillful coach will provide all 3 as you embark on your journey.
Here are 4 Key Considerations to Bear in Mind:
1. Accountability
Perhaps the most significant challenge people have is the difficulty of being consistent with new habits, practices, and ways of being without external accountability.
Given this challenge, it is imperative to look for a coach who keeps you accountable during your process.
Having a set appointment time helps to ground your commitment to something bigger and more profound than a wish to change. Time with your coach should provide the focused, planned, and dedicated work that will enable you to see results.
2. Time Specificity
Determine a specific timeframe for the duration of your coaching and evaluate your progress.
When starting out, it is best to establish a timeframe to assess your progress. During this pre-planned evaluation, you can make changes or decide the initiative is not working and develop a new approach. However, it is crucial to stick with it for a pre-determined time to gain sufficient momentum to evaluate your progress.
It is common to get overwhelmed trying to change too much too fast.
Starting small, measuring progress, and sticking to a pre-determined timeframe with your coach will help ensure your success.
3. Sustainability
The essential element to personal growth is not just behaviour change.
Without changing your inner world of thought, perception, and beliefs, the outward change (behaviour) won't stick. Hence, it is vital that your coach partners with you to facilitate transformational shifts from the inside first, before working with you to design external action steps. Only then will the results you desire stick.
4. Relationship
One of the central components of the coaching process is the coach-coachee relationship.
We are social and relational beings by nature. Therefore, engaging in a helpful, supportive relationship to inspire continued action will make your coaching process much more enjoyable and effective.
A skilful coach will engage actively with you to customise a unique process to suit your needs, so as to ensure that you remain stimulated and challenged.
She will honour the emergence of the radiant, authentic You by allowing your voice to fully express itself. There may be blocks and resistance inside you that need to be presenced and processed.
If the relationship is not strong, you will likely disengage.
Thus, what makes the coaching relationship so rich and impactful is that people grow and change in relationships more than in isolation.
Working with Irene over the past six months has been nothing short of transformative. From the very beginning, she created an incredibly safe and sacred container where I could simply be myself. There was never a sense of pressure or performance. I felt fully seen, deeply heard, and unconditionally supported every step of the way.
What sets Irene apart is the way she holds space - gently, powerfully, and with deep presence. Every session felt like being wrapped in a cocoon, where I didn’t have to prove anything or rush toward an outcome. That allowed me to peel back vulnerable layers and discover more of my true self. Her presence isn’t loud or forceful, it’s a bright, clean, guiding light. Like a firefly illuminating the next step in the dark, she lights the path without ever telling or pushing you to go somewhere. It’s subtle, intuitive, and deeply effective.
Irene is not just a coach; she is a guide in the truest sense. She met me where I was every time, adapting her insights, tools, and teachings to exactly what I needed in the moment. Whether we were exploring my birth chart or working through leadership challenges, her approach was always nuanced and integrated. What could have been a surface-level experience instead became a rich, layered journey of self-awareness and growth.
Even when I was familiar with certain practices or tools, the way Irene facilitated them made all the difference. She empowered me to apply what I learned in my own life with confidence. Her intuitive understanding of timing and pacing - whether it was planting seeds or nurturing sparks -, enabled me to experience breakthroughs in ways that felt organic and aligned.
Today, I feel more whole, grounded, and clearer than I have in a very long time. I’ve embraced parts of myself I had unknowingly hidden. I’ve stopped overthinking and started choosing from a place of inner truth and personal values. There’s a quiet confidence in me now, a knowing that I get to decide what comes next - not from fear, but from deep alignment.
If you’re a conscious woman looking to grow into your next level of leadership, embodiment, or authenticity, I cannot recommend Irene highly enough. Her coaching is a sacred invitation to come home to yourself."
- P. Klusman, School Principal, the USA
Now that you understand the key requirements when looking for a coach, it's time to consider your next action step!
If you would like to commit to your growth, and desire to embody your radiant, authentic Light, book a call now to see if we are a good match!
Hear what my coaching clients have to say:
"When my world as I knew it collapsed, and I entered the darkest phase in my life, I found support in coaching with Irene. As someone trained in law and academia, I have an analytical and logical mind, so her approach was new to me, but I was open. I had reached my bottom after going it alone for so long, and I was finally ready to receive support.
As the sessions unfolded, Irene helped unlock doors inside of me that I hadn’t even realised were there. I was entering uncharted waters, but Irene empowered me to find the strength within and make peace with my inner demons. She introduced me to guided visualisations and energy practices, and I learnt so much about myself. Of these, the most life-changing exercise for me was Ho’oponopono, because it turned out that I had to learn how to forgive all parts of me in order to truly love myself.
I hadn’t realised that I had carried so much self-judgment and shame inside of me. Irene’s firm, yet gentle, guidance enabled me to shift my perspective, and resolve the conflicts I had with myself. My greatest take-away was finally realising that it is not selfish to choose myself first, that “if I don’t take care of myself; I cannot take care of others.”
After these months of coaching support, I feel reborn. I hadn’t thought it was possible but now, I look forward to new beginnings. As I prepare to take a giant leap into the new year with a new me, I know that I have the tools I need, and that I will thrive. I am eternally grateful to Irene for her gracious presence in my life at a time when I needed this breakthrough."
– Niksungla, College Professor and CEO of NGO, India
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"Growing up in a society that is highly achievement-oriented, I was a go-getter, always on schedule and on task. I am scientifically trained as a medical doctor, and very disciplined in left-brain, rational thinking. So when I had an awakening and wanted to explore my intuitive abilities, I felt lost and overwhelmed. When disruptions in my personal life shook me, I didn’t know where to begin, and felt that I had nothing to fall back on. I found all the scientific knowledge that I’d received to be limited in scope.
I had sought out mediums, tried guided meditations, and underwent past life regressions. But these felt like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and I needed help to piece them together. In searching for the right support, I knew that I could trust Irene to help me. In her sharing, it became clear that she knew how I felt, where I was coming from, and what I needed to guide me on my next steps.
The coaching sessions I had with Irene were very different from my experience with other practitioners. I had initially found it hard to conceptualise all the psychic downloads I was receiving, and needed not just information or knowledge, but a systematic means to make sense of my awakening consciousness. It was like going back to school again, and this is where Irene’s strengths as a teacher really came through.
By supporting me with clear objectives, practical steps, and a structured approach, I soon had concrete, evidence-based processes to grow in confidence and trust. In short, Irene was able to clear my confusion, as she showed me how logical reasoning and inspired intuition could work hand in hand to enhance my perception of things. The results I received gave me the answers and affirmation I was looking for. With her support, I began to practice resting on my innate intuitive abilities instead of relying on external sources for answers.
I most appreciate how Irene empowered me by meeting me where I was at. I no longer feel disoriented, and have a solid base with which to make changes in my life. I like how I am able to apply techniques I’ve learnt to my every day life. Best of all, I now feel a renewed sense of aliveness. I am experiencing more light-heartedness and joy in my heart - which is priceless -, and am excited to see what the future holds!"
- J Chu, Doctor, Singapore
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"We need to forget what we think we are, so that we can really become what we are."
~ Paolo Coelho
