Personally, I’ve often held the image of transformation as something irreversible—like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. A fundamental, permanent shift. By that standard, I find myself wondering: Have I ever truly enabled transformation as a coach?

Transactional, incremental, transformational or a good hour of coaching

There are times I’ve worked with teams who doubled their profits, which sounds impressive. But then they slipped back. That feels more like a transactional or temporary shift – results-based rather than identity-based. Useful? Definitely. But transformational? I’m not sure.

There are teams I’ve coached that moved from dysfunctional to cohesive. That’s certainly progress, though gains often recede between sessions, as old habits and what is termed psychic entropy creep in. My coaching process enables the team to pick up again from a better place each time. Is that transformation, or is it incremental change? I tend to see it as the latter, though I’m open to being wrong.

I first encountered the term transformation about 30 years ago when I was a participant in a company-wide transformation programme. Back then, I was a civil engineer and middle manager. A few years later, I became a leadership team coach. Was I transformed? I have made great strides though I’m still me – doing different things now and better. The company, despite the programme, continued to build roads and big sheds before being bought out by a larger firm. Again, I’m left asking: Was that really transformation?

A client once described our first coaching session as “life changing.” That felt powerful to hear. Yet he returned to subsequent sessions stressed and overwhelmed. After six months, he was clearly operating at a higher level. So perhaps that was real change – meaningful, if not radical. Was it transformational?

Here’s a familiar coaching session: your client arrives grappling with an overwhelming issue. You enable them to zoom in on something manageable in the time available. They leave clearer, lighter, empowered to move forward. That’s a valuable shift. But again, is that transformation? Or is it a good hour of coaching?

Describing our work and outcomes ethically

These reflections raise a bigger question for me: does it matter how we use the word?

I think it does—especially for coaches who are members of professional bodies like the ICF, where ethical guidelines require us to accurately represent our work and avoid overstating outcomes.

Part of the challenge may lie in how we define transformation in the first place. I’ve leaned toward the “completely changed, never the same again” definition. But when I looked it up more broadly, the common dictionary definition suggests: ‘a significant change in form, appearance, or character.’ That offers more room. Significant is still a high bar, but perhaps more attainable – and more useable than total.

That’s “definition” transformation, what about “distinction” transformation? Maybe that’s for another day!

Wider considerations and living systems

Then there’s the systems thinking perspective: change any part of a system, and the whole system is changed. We are all living systems. So maybe that one moment of clarity is a small transformation. Maybe we shouldn’t expect fireworks.

Still, I notice a tendency in the coaching world to talk about transformation as a promise. I find myself wondering what impact that has on us as practitioners. If I’m selling “transformation,” might I start looking for it in each session? Might that distract me from being fully present? And if it doesn’t happen, might I feel I’ve failed – or fear my client thinks I have or even they feel they have failed?

For me, that opens up another ethical reflection—not just about accuracy in marketing, but about the inner state from which we coach. I’d rather be real and responsive than trying to live up to a word I’ve promised. And when the impact isn’t as hoped, I’d rather have an honest conversation and work out next steps together.

Coaching is a partnership. It doesn’t need hype. It needs presence, curiosity, and care.

So maybe instead of chasing transformation it would be more useful to ask: “What changed, and how do we make sense of that together?”

That’s the inquiry I want to stay in.

Leadership Team Coach Dave Stitt works with construction industry executives and project teams enabling them to deliver remarkable results in a remarkable way.

Dave is the creator of  Coach for Results, an accessible online course teaching the basics of a coaching management style so managers can grow confidence, capability and enthusiasm in the people around them.

Read more blogs from Dave – A Personal Reflection – Becoming MCC and Letting Go Of My PCC Coaching