My Coaching Practice - What I Do And How I Do It

Are you a Head of Product, Product Team Lead, or CPO looking for someone to support you as you set about developing a strong product organization? Look no further. I can help you to become the confident and self-aware product leader you want to be.

My Background

After working as a full-time product leader for several years, I began my coaching journey in 2013. I started out by taking on interim product leadership roles and coaching product teams and trios to build up their product discovery practices as a product discovery coach. This included consulting on the topics of agile/digital transformation, moving towards empowered product teams, and becoming a product-led organization.

I loved helping my clients build great products and form high-performing product organizations by focusing on the personal growth of each product manager. So I started to do a lot of 1:1 coaching with PMs. And during this process, I developed my toolkit for coaching product people. My first publication on this topic is a deck of self-coaching cards for product people, #52questions.

Over time, I realized that I could make the most impact and feel most empowered by my work if I focused on helping product leaders (Heads of Product, VPs of Product, etc.) who manage product people. I published my book, STRONG Product People: A Complete Guide to Developing Great Product Managers, in January 2021. And I’ve been solely coaching product leads in 1:1 or group settings ever since.

If you are interested in numbers: At the time of writing (the end of 2022), I’ve worked with 130 coachees in a 1:1 setting and another 160 in group coaching settings.

My Approach to Product Coaching

The people who get the most out of working with me have already invested some serious time and effort into their own self-development. They have a good sense of the areas they want to focus on and just need a little extra guidance and are ready to bring their whole self, be open, vulnerable, and honest in our sessions.

I expect my coachees to bring the topics and questions that they would like to focus on. You will be the driver of our conversations and you will take full responsibility for your experience and your circumstances. Similarly, I’m not here to provide you with the answers or do the work for you. My job is to prompt you to reflect and come up with your own solutions. That’s because I know you are the expert for your situation and much better at finding the necessary solution yourself.

Just like when you learn a musical instrument, you will need to practice on your own outside of our sessions. I’ll expect you to commit to doing your homework so we can accomplish as much as possible during our time together. Read more on this topic in How to Make the Most of Your Coaching Sessions. 

So if you’re looking for someone to create your strategy or design your OKRs, that’s not me.

However, if these are topics you’re struggling with and you’d like someone to bounce ideas off of, that’s exactly what I’m here for.

Whether you’re trying to apply some concepts you’ve learned, want to determine the best framework for your situation, or need help overcoming office politics, I’m here to offer support, but it is on you to do the heavy lifting. To get a better sense of the product coaching landscape (and better understand where I fit in), see How to Decide What Type of Product Coach Is Right for You.  

And if you are just beginning your professional development journey as a product leader, I recommend starting with some of the excellent free and low-cost resources that are out there before investing in coaching with me. Read more on this topic in How the Learning Menu Concept Can Help Develop Your Product Team.

Oh, and, one final point that’s worth highlighting: The product people who benefit most from my coaching are already familiar with state-of-the-art product management concepts. You already understand that product discovery is a vital part of your job, that teams work best when they’re empowered and cross-functional, and you’re well-versed in agile working practices. If this doesn’t sound like you or your organization is not committed to working in this manner, my coaching is probably not the best fit.

What to expect as a result?

That’s hard to say. One of my coachees once said: “I started this coaching with a clear goal in mind, and we haven’t had a single session on that topic, but I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve achieved.” So the result is most likely something you haven’t even considered.

Every session will be different, but in the end—and this is my personal goal—you will be more self-aware, more confident in your leadership style, clearer about what good looks like when it comes to the people you work with, and personally more fulfilled.