Coaching has a reputation problem
In tech, it shows up in two options: a bonus for the C-suite, or a quiet red flag — something HR arranges when a manager runs out of patience.
For a long time, that was my mental model too.
Then I started training as a coach. One article I came across last month (Regaining engagement: Why coaching is no longer a luxury for executives) put it in a way I couldn't ignore: what looks like indifference is often unprocessed stress. And stress, left alone, becomes disengagement.
I see this pattern constantly in tech environments — engineers who comply perfectly and contribute nothing beyond the ticket.
From an engineering background, I used to think performance was a systems problem. Fix the process, fix the output. But systems are built by people whose inner state is sometimes completely ignored.
Coaching, in this context, is not just talk. It is infrastructure — a structured space to restore agency and the capacity to make conscious choices when pressure becomes the new normal.
What is the actual cost of leaving that pressure with nowhere to go?
