How to Improve Your Coaching Skills Between Client Sessions

You finished a coaching session. It went okay, maybe even well. But there's a nagging feeling: was that a powerful question, or did I just lead the client? Did I really listen, or was I already planning my next response?

The problem is, you might not find out until your next supervision session. And that could be weeks away.

The feedback gap in coaching

Most professions that demand high-level interpersonal skill have built-in practice loops. Athletes watch film. Musicians rehearse daily. Surgeons practise on simulators before they operate.

Coaches? We read books. We attend webinars. We wait for supervision.

The competency frameworks (ICF and others) paint a clear picture of what good coaching looks like: active listening, evoking awareness, coaching presence. But knowing what to aim for and actually practising it are different things, and a typical coaching schedule offers surprisingly few chances to practise with feedback attached.

What deliberate practice looks like for coaches

Anders Ericsson's research on deliberate practice found that improvement comes from a few ingredients:

1. Repetition - doing the thing frequently, not just reading about it
2. Feedback - knowing what worked and what you missed, close to the moment
3. Challenge - practising at the edge of your ability, outside your comfort zone
4. Variety - facing different people and topics so your skills generalise

Client work alone struggles to supply these. Clients don't give you competency feedback, your client mix changes slowly, and a rough patch in your calendar can mean weeks without a single session. Coaches tell us the rust comes fast: a few quiet weeks and the confidence dips with the skill.

Here's what practising coaches actually do about it, roughly in order of effort.

Reflect on your real sessions

The cheapest feedback source is the session you just did. Many coaches keep a short reflection habit: immediately afterwards, note what you did well, where you struggled, and what you'd do differently. If you have transcripts or (with your client's consent) recordings, reviewing them catches things you missed live - interruptions, leading questions, emotions you talked past. It's uncomfortable. That's rather the point.

Focus on one thing at a time

Working on "being a better coach" is too big to practise. Working on one competency for a week isn't. Coaches who improve fast tend to pick a single edge - say, sitting with silence instead of filling it - and watch for it everywhere, in coaching and out of it.

The centrepiece: regular peer practice

Reflection tells you what to work on. Only live practice lets you work on it, and this is where reciprocal peer practice earns its place as the core habit.

A standing session with another coach, taking turns, gives you every ingredient Ericsson names. Reps on a schedule you control, rather than whenever client work happens to allow. Honest feedback, because two coaches at the end of a session can talk about the craft in a way no client ever will. Real challenge, especially if your partner trained in a different programme - they don't share your script, and their topics will stretch you. And variety, because a directory of coaches from different countries and modalities beats rotating through the same three classmates.

There's a bookkeeping bonus too: balanced reciprocal peer coaching counts toward ICF paid-hour requirements. If you're credential-chasing, your improvement habit and your hours count are the same activity.

The compound effect

The coaches who improve fastest aren't the ones with the most certificates. They're the ones with the most feedback loops per month. One client session a week plus monthly supervision is about five loops a month. Add a weekly peer session with honest debriefs and a reflection habit, and you've tripled it - without spending anything.

Coaching is a skill. Like any skill, it responds to practice. The question isn't whether to practise more, it's where the practice will come from.

Robin is a free practice-partner platform where coaches find each other, schedule sessions, call, and log their hours - all in one private space. Join free and set up a standing practice session.