What does it really mean to build a coaching culture, and why are so many leaders trying to make this shift?
In many organizations, leaders are expected to move quickly, solve problems, and provide direction. Over time, this can create bottlenecks, limit team capacity, and reinforce a pattern where people rely on leaders for answers rather than developing their own thinking. While this approach can feel efficient in the moment, it often comes at the cost of long-term effectiveness and growth.
A coaching approach offers a different path. Instead of centering leadership on having the right answers, it shifts the focus to asking better questions, building trust, and creating the conditions for others to think, contribute, and take ownership. When this approach becomes part of how an organization operates, it can lead to stronger decision-making, increased accountability, and more adaptive, resilient teams.
In this conversation, Laridae’s Danielle Rocheleau is joined by Julia Bubrin, Zanele Nkosi, and Valentina Kibedi to explore what coaching is, how it shows up in organizations, and what changes when leaders begin to adopt a coaching mindset in their day-to-day work.
Together, they unpack the mindset shifts, challenges, and opportunities involved in building a coaching culture, from increasing accountability to navigating resistance, letting go of control, and supporting teams to step more fully into their roles. They also explore common misconceptions about coaching, including the idea that it is “soft,” and instead highlight how it can strengthen performance, improve collaboration, and enable more distributed leadership across an organization.
Throughout the conversation, they draw on their experience working with leaders across sectors to share practical reflections on what it actually looks like to make this shift, and what can get in the way along the way.
Whether you are new to coaching or already beginning to integrate it into your leadership practice, this conversation offers grounded insights to help you reflect on how you lead, how your team operates, and where there may be opportunities to shift.
Watch the full conversation in the video below, or read the transcript that follows.
Note: The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability while staying as close as possible to the original conversation.
Introductions
Danielle Rocheleau: Welcome. If you’re here today, I imagine you’re interested in learning more about building coaching cultures.
My name is Danielle Rocheleau. I’m the CEO at Laridae, and I’m joined by my colleagues Julia Bubrin, Zanele Nkosi, and Valentina Kibedi. Each of them brings deep experience as a coach in different environments. Today, we’re going to explore what coaching is and what it means to build a coaching culture.
Before we get started, a bit about Laridae. We support mission-driven organizations to shift their cultures for greater impact. We work with leaders at all levels to build clarity and develop the skills needed to bring strategy to life.
I’ll invite each of you to briefly introduce yourselves. Julia, we’ll start with you.
Julia Bubrin: Thanks, Danielle. As Danielle mentioned, I’m a Professional Certified Coach accredited through the International Coach Federation, and I’m a learning consultant with Laridae.
Much of my work focuses on management training and, more recently, coach training. What I really enjoy is supporting leaders to have meaningful conversations, especially in moments that feel emotionally charged or challenging. It’s about helping people move through those situations in a way that strengthens relationships and builds respect.
I work with leaders at all levels and at different stages in their careers. For me, coaching is really about how we bring our full selves to work.
Zanele Nkosi: Hi everyone. I’m an accredited ICF coach, and I’ve been working in executive coaching, leadership development, and facilitation for about 16 years.
What I’m most passionate about right now is how individual change within a system or organization leads to broader, systemic change. That includes how people engage with one another, how decisions are made, and how we create more inclusive and psychologically safe environments.
I really love this work of coaching and supporting those kinds of shifts in individuals and organizations.
Valentina Kibedi: Hi everyone. I’m the Director of Services at Laridae, and I’ve been coaching both formally and informally for many years.
When I think about where that started, it actually goes back to my early experiences in athletics, where I first developed a love for coaching. I’ve carried that forward into my work in professional development.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with leaders and managers across different sectors and around the world. What I love most is seeing people unlock something that might seem like a small shift, but ends up having a significant ripple effect on their work and the people around them.
What is coaching?
Danielle Rocheleau: Thank you all. We’re going to dig right in. We’ve each spoken to this idea of coaching. What is coaching?
Julia Bubrin: I can kick us off here. I really liked how we each spoke in our introductions about the ways we’ve used this skill set and applied it in different contexts, because even that shows the breadth and range of coaching.
But I also like this question, Danielle, because I think it’s important for people to understand what this thing is that everyone talks about. It’s a word that’s out there, but what does it actually mean? It’s kind of become this thing that managers and leaders say, “Yeah, I’m coaching.”
At its core, coaching comes down to partnering with an individual to create meaningful outcomes and actions. That partnering piece is really critical.
As coaches, we ask questions and share reflections, but we are not directing the solutions. We’re helping to direct thinking, but the solutions come from the individual.
Zanele Nkosi:
Yeah, to add to that, I love what you said about the person’s inner world.
I also think of coaching as a catalyst between a person’s inner world and their external experience, and how they align those two. Coaching allows for that reflection, exploration, and development of possibilities between those spaces.
It provides that partnership for a deeper level of thinking and helps people explore how to be the best they can be within those contexts.
Valentina Kibedi: I agree with what both of you have said.
This is a question I feel like I could answer in so many different ways at different phases of my life. But one of the things that sticks out for me is that, at its root, coaching is about seeing people as capable.
Julia, you always say, instead of “hold people accountable,” we can “hold people capable.” I find that really powerful, and it completely changes the way a leader leads when they start from that place.
Coaching is a shift from the expectation that you have to have the answers to asking how you can help answers emerge from the person.
When you think about the ripple effect that can have, it’s massive. You’re moving from “I have to have the answers, I have to give advice” to “how am I being a catalyst for others to do that?”
That’s a big shift, especially because many of us were brought up in systems where you have to get the right answer. Coaching turns that on its head.
Danielle Rocheleau: Yeah, excellent.
I’m hearing from each of you that there’s an element of individual exploration. Coaching is really about creating an environment that allows for that exploration and for individuals to understand how they are capable of moving through whatever challenge they’re facing.
Valentina, you brought in this idea of what I’ll call the myth of management, where people feel like they have to have all the answers. This is really shifting that conversation and allowing others to come up with those answers in a more intentional way.
Valentina Kibedi: Yeah, and I think sometimes people who aren’t familiar with coaching assume it’s very feelings-based, or that it might open up topics that aren’t relevant.
But it’s not therapy. It’s very future-focused and growth-oriented. It can help unlock barriers, but it’s not about diving into everything in someone’s personal life.
It’s also not mentoring. It’s not about saying, “Here’s how I did it, so you should do it this way.”
What’s powerful about coaching is that you don’t need to be the technical expert in what someone is working through. That’s especially important for leaders who are supporting people across different domains.
Julia Bubrin: Yeah, there’s a piece here that I’m really appreciating about the relationship between the individual and the organization.
As we move into talking about coaching culture, I think it’s important to remember that culture doesn’t exist outside of people. It’s activated by individuals, and it’s experienced by individuals within organizations.
When I see coaching in action, especially this idea of holding people capable, it really changes how someone chooses to show up. There’s a level of intention in how we show up for each other and with each other.
Zanele Nkosi: And building on that, I think about leaders as part of a system.
If we start to develop our own awareness and how we manage ourselves, the impact is much greater across the organization.
For me, coaching is very much about curiosity. It’s about being open, even to the possibility of being wrong, and asking, “What’s really happening here?”
As leaders, we can think about whether we are bringing chaos or calm into situations, and how we create space for reflection and better thinking.
Coaching is about asking questions that open up new ways of seeing things, rather than telling people what to do.
Julia Bubrin: Yeah, oh, I love that.
And something that I want to sort of follow a thread there that I think is really important when we’re talking about coaching cultures is this idea of systems.
For me, a question that has really driven a lot of my coaching practice more recently is: how are we coaching ethically within systems?
People are working within organizational systems, social systems, political systems. And yes, we are holding people capable, and I really like what you said, Zanele, about people being experts in their own lives.
But coaches also challenge existing norms. Coaches are there to push thinking and to hold people to their values.
That also requires a lot of self-awareness and self-regulation as a coach. We’re listening not just to the other person, but also to our own reactions, our own biases, and how we make sense of what we’re hearing.
So part of the role is to bring that into awareness and to support the person in understanding what is happening in the system they’re operating in, and what they can actually move forward with in that context.
What does a healthy coaching culture feel like, and what changes as an organization shifts toward that?
Danielle Rocheleau: One thing that’s coming up for me is that we’ve talked about coaching as an individual experience, and now we’re bringing that into an organizational context through building a coaching culture.
Many people understand coaching as something external, like working one-on-one with a coach. But what we’re talking about is bringing it into the organization and making it part of how we engage with each other.
So what would you suggest a healthy coaching culture feels like within an organization, and what actually changes as an organization shifts toward that?
Julia Bubrin: The biggest thing for me is curiosity.
Zanele, you brought up that word earlier, and for me it really is the core of coaching. The biggest impact I see is that people are more curious.
As a result, people can make mistakes and fail without feeling like there are career repercussions or punishments, or that it’s not psychologically safe.
There’s a sense that their leader will meet that moment with curiosity, through questions, and that they’ll be partnering together to find a solution and a way forward.
Valentina Kibedi: I agree with that, and I also want to push back on it a bit, because I think this is where some resistance comes up for people.
There’s a perception that coaching cultures are soft, or that they move away from things that are essential in running an organization, like performance management or holding people accountable.
And I think that’s a misunderstanding.
Coaching cultures, when done well, actually increase accountability. They are anything but soft or lenient. There are still moments where there are real consequences, and where we have to manage performance in meaningful ways.
So coaching doesn’t mean we’re not holding people accountable. It doesn’t mean it’s just okay to make mistakes because we’re all learning.
And I think that’s an important distinction, especially for leaders who are wondering how to implement this in a healthy way.
What actually shifts is that leadership becomes more distributed. There’s a better ability to diagnose what kind of challenges are happening and how to respond to them.
I think a lot about the difference between technical challenges and adaptive challenges, and how often those are misdiagnosed.
Sometimes we think we’re dealing with a technical issue, like skills or performance, when it’s actually an adaptive challenge about how people are relating to the work, to each other, or to the culture.
One of the questions I’ve seen great coaches ask is: can your team think without you in the room?
Coaching cultures enable that. They support independence and interdependence, without over-reliance on the leader, and they help teams navigate those more complex, ambiguous challenges.
Danielle Rocheleau: Zanele, what are your thoughts? What would you add?
Zanele Nkosi: Quite a few things.
I think the point you raised, Valentina, is exactly where people get concerned. When we talk about psychological safety, there’s often a fear that accountability will drop or that performance standards will decrease.
But actually, the opposite is true.
When people are given more agency, when there is curiosity, and when people feel they can speak up and challenge, you’re actually strengthening accountability.
Everyone in the room has the potential to step into leadership, because everyone is able to ask questions, contribute, and take ownership.
And when we start to look at this from a systems perspective, we can begin to see patterns more clearly.
If behaviors are repeating, if things aren’t changing, we can ask: what is being reinforced in this system? What is causing things to stay the same?
A coaching culture creates the space to explore those questions and understand what is really happening beneath the surface.
Valentina Kibedi: I was just going to say, go there. Always go there.
I’m a strong believer that if you’re wondering whether to go there, the answer is yes.
Danielle Rocheleau: There are a lot of interesting nuances coming through this conversation.
What I’m hearing is that, as a leader, this is about shifting your orientation to curiosity, creating space for exploration, and allowing people to come up with their own solutions. It becomes a powerful development tool in a leader’s toolkit.
What are the biggest barriers to building a coaching culture?
Danielle Rocheleau: What would you say the biggest barriers are for organizations, or even individual leaders, when they’re shifting to building a coaching culture?
Julia Bubrin: Yeah, I’ll answer this question, and also connect it a bit to the previous one.
I’m having a bit of a meta moment, and I think this is actually a really great example of what a coaching culture looks like.
In our last conversation, what I really appreciated is that there wasn’t a fear of repercussions when Valentina challenged my perspective. That’s what I meant earlier about there not being that fear.
Even the word “soft” is interesting, because my instinct is, why don’t we have those kinds of conversations? It doesn’t mean they’re easy. It doesn’t mean they don’t take courage.
In a coaching culture, there’s space to challenge with care and respect.
And on the receiving end of that, instead of shutting down, there’s an opportunity to be curious. To ask, what’s happening for me right now?
What I find is that we actually get to more clarity and better outcomes because we’re bringing in different perspectives and we’re willing to challenge each other.
Those conversations can still be hard. They’re courageous conversations. But they’re done with care, and they lead to stronger outcomes.
Danielle Rocheleau: Yeah, thanks Julia. That’s a great example. So building on that, what are some of the biggest barriers that come up when leaders try to apply a coaching approach?
Valentina Kibedi: A couple of things come up right away, because I hear them all the time, and I’ve experienced them myself.
One of the biggest is simply, “I don’t have time.”
It can feel like coaching takes more time, especially compared to just being directive and giving someone the answer. But it actually becomes a time opener and unlocker.
I’ve seen situations where a manager makes one small shift and unlocks hours of time in their week. And that’s just for them, not even considering the impact on their team.
So while it may take a bit more time upfront, it creates more time over the long term by reducing over-reliance on the leader.
The other big barrier is ego.
It can feel like you’re letting go of control, or even letting go of part of your role. That’s a significant internal shift, and it can create resistance, especially when you scale that across an organization.
Danielle Rocheleau: What’s interesting about that is that many leaders actually want that relief. They want to free up time or hand things off. But when it comes to actually doing it, there’s that internal tension of, “Isn’t this my role? Shouldn’t I be the one giving direction?”
Valentina Kibedi: Exactly.
And there are legitimate concerns wrapped up in that, like the possibility of increased risk when you distribute decision-making.
There can also be a perception that you’re creating a permissive culture.
But it’s not the same.
If those concerns are coming up, they’re worth exploring more deeply, because those fears don’t actually play out when coaching cultures are implemented well.
There are ways to do this that fit within an organization’s culture and actually increase effectiveness overall.
Zanele Nkosi: For me, it connects closely to what Valentina said around control.
There’s often a sense that you’re giving something up, and what replaces that is trust.
It’s about recognizing that the system, the team, or the organization does not depend entirely on you.
One way to work through that is to take it slowly. Notice where resistance is coming up and allow yourself to adjust over time.
There’s also something around power and positionality.
If others are contributing more, making decisions, or stepping into leadership, it can raise questions about your role and your status.
Danielle Rocheleau: One thing I would add from my own experience is presence. Leaders are moving from one thing to the next. Our brains are constantly shifting context. So when we enter a conversation that requires coaching, it can be difficult to slow down.
Final reflections: what’s the one takeaway?
Danielle Rocheleau: So I have one final question for you: What is the one thing you hope folks take away from our conversation?
Zanele Nkosi: For me, it’s the possibility of creating a coaching culture yourself.
Julia Bubrin: For me, along with what Zanele said, it’s about being curious. When something is challenging or feels hard, ask yourself a question. Be curious. Ask others a question, or just take a moment.
Valentina Kibedi: Most professionals I interact with are looking for how they can be a force multiplier and unlock the next level of effectiveness.
Developing your coaching skills, not just on the surface level of “ask more questions,” but really embodying a coaching approach in your leadership style, is an untapped strategy.
If you’re looking to be more effective and to have an outsized impact on your organization, embodying that coaching approach can become your advantage.
Danielle Rocheleau: Excellent. I imagine we could have spent an entire session on each of these questions. There’s a lot of nuance in what we’ve talked about today.
If you’re interested in exploring this further, please reach out to any one of us. We’d be happy to continue the conversation.