Trapped in the Problem-Focus: Finding the Way Forward in Coaching

Coaching is a powerful tool for helping clients navigate challenges, gain clarity, and move towards their goals. 

But sometimes, even the most skilled coaches can find themselves—and their clients—trapped in a cycle of problem-focus. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the details of the issues at hand, circling the problem without ever really moving towards a solution. When both coach and client become overly focused on the problem, sessions can feel stagnant and repetitive, with little progress made. 

Conversations can become a revolving door of “what’s wrong,” leaving both parties feeling stuck and frustrated. 

While exploring the problem is a crucial part of coaching, staying there too long can overshadow the client’s potential, their desires, and the possibilities that lie ahead.

Supervision plays a vital role in breaking free from this problem-focused mindset. 

By bringing attention back to the client—their strengths, ambitions, and potential—supervision helps coaches refocus on what’s possible, guiding the coaching conversation towards action, solutions, and meaningful change.

The Problem with Problem-Focus

Problem-focus in coaching can creep in almost unnoticed. 

What starts as an exploration of the client’s challenges can slowly evolve into a session that feels more like analysing the problem from every angle than working towards a resolution. 

While problem exploration is important, it’s the shift to possibility and action that creates momentum and drives the coaching forward.

Signs that coaching has become problem-focused include:

• Endless analysis: Sessions revolve around dissecting the problem in detail without making a clear shift towards exploring solutions.
• Repetitive conversations: The same issues are discussed repeatedly, with little progress or new insights emerging.
• Emotional fatigue: Both coach and client may feel drained by the constant focus on what’s wrong, leaving little energy for envisioning what could be different.
• Stalled progress: Goals feel distant or unclear, and the client struggles to see a path forward, feeling stuck in their current situation.

This problem-focused approach can become a cycle that’s hard to break. The more attention is placed on the problem, the less space there is for exploring potential solutions or future possibilities. 

For coaches, it’s essential to recognise when the balance has tipped too far towards problem analysis and to actively redirect the conversation back to the client’s strengths, desires, and potential.

Rediscovering the Client’s Potential

One of the primary roles of supervision is to help coaches rediscover the client’s potential and bring it back into the coaching conversation. 

The shift from problem-focus to possibility-focus isn’t just about ignoring the challenges—it’s about reframing them in a way that highlights the client’s ability to navigate and overcome them.

Supervision provides a space to ask critical questions that can shift the narrative:

• What are the client’s strengths in this situation?
• How can the client’s past successes inform their approach to this current challenge?
• What possibilities are we overlooking while we’re focused on the problem?

By rediscovering the client’s potential, coaches can help their clients see beyond their immediate difficulties, opening up a pathway to action and progress.

Shifting the Focus to Desire and Possibility

In every coaching session, there’s an opportunity to shift the focus from what’s wrong to what’s possible. 

While it’s important to acknowledge the problem, the key is to connect it to the client’s deeper desires and aspirations. What do they really want? What’s the vision that lies beyond the immediate challenge?

Supervision can support coaches in making this shift by exploring questions like:

• What does the client ultimately want to achieve beyond solving this problem?
• How does this problem connect to the client’s bigger picture or long-term goals?
• What small steps can the client take to start moving towards a solution right now?

When the focus is placed on desire and possibility, the conversation becomes forward-looking and energising. The client is no longer trapped in the narrative of their problem but instead begins to see themselves as capable of change and progress.

Using Supervision to Break Free from the Problem-Focus

Supervision isn’t just about addressing technical aspects of coaching; it’s a reflective space where coaches can examine their own tendencies, biases, and habits that might be contributing to a problem-focused dynamic. 

It allows coaches to step back, see the bigger picture, and reconnect with the client’s potential.

Some strategies supervision can explore include:

• Reframing questions: Shifting from problem-oriented questions to those that focus on the client’s strengths, past successes, and future possibilities.
• Interrupting the cycle: Recognising when conversations have become repetitive and using supervision as a space to practice redirecting towards solutions.
• Reconnecting with the client’s why: Bringing the focus back to what truly matters to the client—why they are pursuing change in the first place.

Supervision acts as a mirror, helping coaches see where they might be reinforcing a problem-focus and guiding them towards a more solution-oriented approach.

Celebrating Progress, No Matter How Small

A key element of moving away from problem-focus is celebrating progress, even when it feels small or incremental. 

It’s easy to overlook the steps that clients are taking when the problem still feels large, but recognising progress helps build momentum and confidence.

Encourage clients to acknowledge their achievements, however modest they may seem, and use these moments as springboards for further action. 

Celebrating progress doesn’t mean ignoring the problem—it means recognising the client’s efforts and capabilities in working through it.

Conclusion: Finding a New Focus in Coaching

It’s natural for both coaches and clients to find themselves circling the problem, but it’s important not to stay there. 

Supervision provides the opportunity to reset the focus, bringing the client’s potential, desires, and possibilities back to the forefront of the conversation.

As coaches, our role is not just to help clients see their challenges but to support them in envisioning what’s possible beyond those challenges. 

By shifting from problem-focus to possibility-focus, we can create coaching conversations that are dynamic, forward-moving, and deeply impactful.

Let’s use the power of supervision to keep our coaching fresh, energised, and always focused on the possibilities that lie ahead.