Coaching at the Edge of Capacity with Sarah Dembitz (Hybrid)

Description

Our Psychology Distilled events cover the full sweep of psychology, from Freud, to leadership, to neuroscience. Each session is self-contained, so you can attend the individual topics that particularly grab you and still gain a comprehensive yet compressed coverage of the discipline of psychology as it relates to coaching practice.

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Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

Your coaching clients continue to perform well while carrying sustained pressure, so much so that from the outside, very little looks wrong. They are meeting expectations, progressing in their roles, and staying accountable. Yet, something underneath may be starting to shift. Their energy is less stable, recovery is reduced, and their decisions can feel heavier than they should. These changes are often subtle and not explicitly named in coaching conversations – yet begin to influence how clients think and respond.

This can create a challenge for coaches. The work stays focused on goals, behaviour and outcomes, while the conditions supporting those outcomes are under strain.

In this session

Experienced coach Sarah Dembitz will explore how this challenge shows up in practice, without moving outside the boundaries of coaching. Learn how to recognise early signals to respond appropriately and understand how a client’s readiness for change varies across different aspects of their lives – so that you can adjust the coaching conversation accordingly.

Alongside case study scenarios, attendees will explore the Transtheoretical Model (TTM); developed by psychologists James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente, the TTM model describes behaviour change as a series of stages rather than a single decisive moment. In this session, coaches will learn how to use it as a way of listening: recognising where a client actually is and matching their approach to that stage.

Participants will leave with:

• The ability to spot the early signs that a client is running on reduced capacity, across physical, emotional, mental and social domains, before they name it
• A practical way of gauging readiness for change, using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) as a way of listening, and of noticing how readiness differs across areas of a client’s life
• The confidence to match coaching pace and approach to that readiness, rather than moving too quickly to action
• A sharper ear for when performance is holding but capacity is not, and for when a conversation needs to go beneath goals and behaviour
• Non-directive language to open and hold conversations about health and capacity, while staying within coaching scope
• Clear boundaries: knowing the signals that it is time to refer on, and how to raise it with a client
• Hands-on practice with anonymised scenarios and paired coaching, rehearsing stage-appropriate language in real time

Gain more confidence in your coaching approach to help you and your coaching clients more readily recognise early signs of working at the edges of capacity.

About Sarah Dembitz

Sarah is an experienced coach, bringing over two decades experience in high-responsibility environments, including leadership roles as a founder & CEO, Executive Director at UN Women UK, and Team Lead at the OECD. Her coaching approach is structured and evidence-based, integrating physical, behavioural and habit-change principles.