Good coaching is not one-size-fits-all. The methods behind Interface Coaching are drawn from tested methods, adapted to the real situations managers and supervisors face every day. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Developed by Shirzad Chamine, Positive Intelligence is a mental fitness model built on research in neuroscience, cognitive behavioral psychology, and performance science. The core idea is straightforward: how much of your potential you actually use depends on how strong your mental fitness is.
In practice, this means learning to recognize your "saboteurs" (the habitual mental patterns that undermine your performance, relationships, and wellbeing) and your "sage" capacity, the part of you that responds with clarity, calm, and creativity under pressure. For managers and supervisors, saboteurs show up constantly: the perfectionist who micromanages, the controller who struggles to delegate, the hypervigilant leader who reads threats everywhere. PQ work helps you see these patterns clearly and build new ones in their place.
This is not abstract self-improvement. The results are measurable, the exercises are daily and practical, and the change tends to stick because it is rooted in how the brain actually works.
The Predictive Index is a behavioral assessment tool that helps leaders understand how they and the people around them naturally think and work. It measures four primary behavioral drives (dominance, extraversion, patience, and formality) and maps how those drives shape someone's communication style, decision-making, and response to pressure.
In coaching, PI is most useful for managers who want to understand why their team relationships feel off, or why certain conversations keep breaking down. Once a manager can see the behavioral profile beneath the surface, they can adapt how they lead, communicate, and give feedback in a way that meets people where they actually are.
It is also useful for self-awareness. Many of the managers I work with discover for the first time why certain situations drain them or why they default to particular leadership patterns under stress.
Cognitive Coaching was developed by Arthur Costa and Robert Garmston as a non-evaluative, inquiry-based approach to professional growth. The core belief is that people have the capacity to self-direct and that the coach's role is not to give answers but to develop the thinking of the person in front of them.
In a Cognitive Coaching conversation, I am not there to tell you what to do. I am there to help you think more clearly, see your own assumptions, and arrive at solutions that are genuinely yours. This matters for managers because the most durable changes in leadership behavior come from insight, not instruction. If someone tells you to listen more, you might try it for a week. If you discover for yourself why you have not been listening, and what it costs you, the change runs deeper.
Cognitive Coaching uses three types of structured conversations: planning conversations before a challenge, reflecting conversations after, and problem-resolving conversations when something is stuck. Each type is designed to strengthen the manager's own cognitive capacity, not replace it.
No single coaching style works for every person or every moment. Situational Coaching is a flexible methodology built on the recognition that what a manager needs from a coaching relationship shifts depending on their experience, the complexity of the challenge, and where they are in their development. I work across three distinct modes and move between them based on what will actually help.
Facilitative and inquiry-driven. I listen deeply, reflect back, and ask questions that open up thinking rather than narrow it. The manager does the work. I hold the space.
Authoritative and structured when clarity is needed fast. I offer direct guidance, methods, or perspective. Particularly useful when someone is new to a role or facing a genuinely novel challenge.
Collaborative and exploratory. We work as thinking partners, building on each other's ideas. This mode suits experienced managers who want a peer-level conversation rather than a teacher or a mirror.
Professional Standards
Interface Coaching follows the ethical guidelines and core competency standards of the International Coaching Federation, the world's leading professional coaching body. This means every engagement is grounded in clear contracting, genuine confidentiality, and a commitment to the client's agenda, not the coach's. It means I maintain clear boundaries between coaching and other disciplines like therapy or consulting, and that I practice ongoing reflection on my own biases and limitations. Following ICF guidelines is a professional commitment to doing this work with integrity.
If you are curious whether coaching might help you or your team, the best next step is a free conversation. Thirty minutes, no obligation. We will talk about where you are, what is getting in the way, and whether working together makes sense.
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