Shifts in Contemporary Executive Coaching:

There has been a noticeable shift in the coaching environment—particularly among experienced practitioners and thought leaders—away from performativity and rigid goal-setting. While goals still have value, coaching is evolving toward approaches that are more developmental, emergent, and holistic.

Here’s what this shift looks like:

From Performativity to Presence and Wholeness

Performativity—defined by external metrics, deliverables, and “doing more”—is being questioned, especially in high-burnout environments. Coaches and clients are increasingly turning toward:

  • Being over doing: Focusing on identity, values, and presence.
  • Self-awareness and integration: Encouraging clients to connect with their internal experience, not just external success.
  • Relational depth: Building trust, emotional honesty, and deeper interpersonal insight.

From Fixed Goals to Emergent Outcomes

Traditional SMART goals are being replaced or supplemented with:

  • Direction over destination: Clarifying intention and direction rather than fixating on specific endpoints.
  • Emergent coaching: Allowing insights and next steps to unfold through the coaching relationship rather than being overly predefined.
  • Developmental focus: Supporting long-term personal or leadership growth, not just short-term achievements.

What It’s Becoming: Post-Performativity Coaching

The new wave includes:

  1. Vertical Development: Helping clients evolve how they make sense of the world, not just what they do in it.
  2. Somatic and Embodied Coaching: Incorporating body intelligence, nervous system regulation, and presence practices.
  3. Narrative & Existential Coaching: Exploring the client’s deeper life stories, meaning, and purpose.
  4. Systemic Awareness: Recognizing how identity, culture, and organizational dynamics shape behaviour.

Why This Matters

In a VUCA/BANI world, many leaders and teams are tired of high-performance rhetoric. They seek:

  • Authenticity
  • Resilience
  • Sustainable impact
  • Inner alignment

The coaching industry is responding by redefining success, not as constant achievement, but as coherence, contribution, and conscious leadership.