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The Coaching Method · August 25 · 35 min

The Coaching Method - Curiosity Changes Everything

Most people think coaching is about talking things through, giving advice, or offering motivation. Lena Gustafsson makes the case for something much more rigorous: a structured space where people can think more clearly, challenge their assumptions, and create meaningful change. If you have ever wondered what professional, ICF-accredited coaching actually looks like - or why some coaching feels transformative while other coaching feels vague - this conversation offers a clear and practical perspective. Host Olga Kuvshinova Shahzeidi sits down with Lena, an ICF-accredited coach with more than 24 years of experience, to explore what coaching looks like when it is grounded in standards, boundaries, and curiosity. Lena explains why coaching is a distinct method rather than a catch-all term, and why credibility and professional standards matter in an industry where anyone can call themselves a coach. In this episode, you’ll discover: why Lena believes coaching needs clearer standards, regulation, and credentialing how coaching differs from advice, mentoring, training, and consulting what ACC, PCC, and MCC credentials tell you about a coach’s training and experience why clients often arrive wanting to solve issues around work, stress, or time management - only to uncover deeper questions about their lives how the idea of “good enough” can become a powerful framework when career, family, energy, and ambition are all competing for attention Lena also shares why she is cautious about putting people into personality-type boxes. Instead, she works with metaphors, stories, feedback, and the client’s own lived experience. The goal is not to label who someone is, but to help them notice the patterns they bring to different challenges, opportunities, and stages of life. For anyone balancing career growth with family life, questioning whether coaching could help them make better decisions, or simply wanting to understand what professional coaching is actually designed to do, this episode offers a grounded look behind the curtain. By the end of the conversation, coaching emerges not as a performance or a source of ready-made answers, but as a space for clarity, honesty, courage, and possibility - where the coach helps you think better without taking over the thinking for you.

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Most people think coaching is about talking things through, giving advice, or offering motivation. Lena Gustafsson makes the case for something much more rigorous: a structured space where people can think more clearly, challenge their assumptions, and create meaningful change.

If you have ever wondered what professional, ICF-accredited coaching actually looks like - or why some coaching feels transformative while other coaching feels vague - this conversation offers a clear and practical perspective.

Host Olga Kuvshinova Shahzeidi sits down with Lena, an ICF-accredited coach with more than 24 years of experience, to explore what coaching looks like when it is grounded in standards, boundaries, and curiosity.

Lena explains why coaching is a distinct method rather than a catch-all term, and why credibility and professional standards matter in an industry where anyone can call themselves a coach.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

  • why Lena believes coaching needs clearer standards, regulation, and credentialing
  • how coaching differs from advice, mentoring, training, and consulting
  • what ACC, PCC, and MCC credentials tell you about a coach’s training and experience
  • why clients often arrive wanting to solve issues around work, stress, or time management - only to uncover deeper questions about their lives
  • how the idea of “good enough” can become a powerful framework when career, family, energy, and ambition are all competing for attention

Lena also shares why she is cautious about putting people into personality-type boxes. Instead, she works with metaphors, stories, feedback, and the client’s own lived experience. The goal is not to label who someone is, but to help them notice the patterns they bring to different challenges, opportunities, and stages of life.

For anyone balancing career growth with family life, questioning whether coaching could help them make better decisions, or simply wanting to understand what professional coaching is actually designed to do, this episode offers a grounded look behind the curtain.

By the end of the conversation, coaching emerges not as a performance or a source of ready-made answers, but as a space for clarity, honesty, courage, and possibility - where the coach helps you think better without taking over the thinking for you.

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