Tenderness, Mutuality, & Bravery in Coaching Relationships

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Guest Resources

Website – Calendly

Website – Advanced Diploma

275: Tenderness, Mutuality, Bravery: Redefining Coaching Relationships with Ian Mitchell

In this Episode

Host Helena Clayton is joined by coach, supervisor and coach trainer, Ian Mitchell for a rich and thoughtful conversation about the place of love in coaching. Ian shares his journey from the financial sector into coaching and supervision, alongside insights from his research into spirituality and love in leadership. Together, they explore what it means to bring love, intimacy, and tenderness consciously into coaching relationships, and why these qualities matter in work with leaders and coaches, particularly in our troubled world where the desire for meaning and purpose, over performance is growing.

The discussion centres on the lived experience of coaching rather than technique — highlighting mutuality between coach and client, the courage required to stay present with vulnerability, and the role of porous boundaries in enabling genuine human connection. Drawing on influences such as Martin Buber, adult development theory, and therapeutic perspectives, Helena and Ian reflect on how a coach’s inner world, reflexivity, and willingness to engage with shadow shape the depth and impact of coaching conversations.

You Will Learn

The role of love, intimacy, and tenderness in shaping our coaching stance
How love is expressed through a coach’s action logics and developmental capacity
About mutuality between coach and client and establishing porous boundaries

Guest Bio

Working within the Coach Development Practice at Harthill, Ian Mitchell offers Coach Supervision, Mentoring and Training via small reflexive groups and on a one-to-one basis. With his long-term collaborator, Siân Lumsden, he leads the global faculty team for Harthill’s annual Advanced Diploma in Integrative Coaching. As a member of AC’s Global Leadership Team Ian Chairs our European Hub team and loves meeting our members. If you do too, his Calendly link is in the resources section.