When All You Have Is a Hammer: Staying Open and Flexible in Coaching

There’s an old saying rooted in Gestalt psychology:

“When all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail.” 

It’s a cautionary tale for anyone in a helping profession, including coaches. As humans, we naturally gravitate toward what’s familiar—our preferred models, tools, and approaches—and before long, we risk using them indiscriminately. When this happens, every client’s challenge starts to look like a problem our favourite tool can fix.

But coaching isn’t about applying the same solution to every situation. It’s about staying open and flexible, adapting to the unique needs, experiences, and goals of each client. 

Coaches who fall into the “hammer-and-nail” mindset risk missing the nuance and complexity of their clients’ stories. They may lean too heavily on familiar frameworks, losing sight of other possibilities that could create deeper insights and breakthroughs.

Supervision provides a space to step back and reflect on these tendencies. It helps coaches notice when they’re reaching for the same tools too often, gently challenging them to expand their approach and grow in their practice.

The Hammer-and-Nail Trap

Familiarity feels safe. When a coach has success with a particular model or method, it’s natural to want to use it again. And again. And again. But over-reliance on a single approach can limit the richness and depth of the coaching process. It can lead to:

Tunnel vision: Seeing every client’s situation through the lens of one model or technique, rather than exploring alternative perspectives.

Missed opportunities: Overlooking other tools or methods that might be more effective for a specific client or situation.

Client frustration: When the coaching doesn’t fully address their unique needs, clients may feel misunderstood or disengaged.

For example, a coach deeply trained in a strengths-based approach might always steer the conversation toward a client’s positive attributes, even when the client wants to explore their vulnerabilities. 

Similarly, a coach who favours goal-setting models might focus too heavily on action plans, neglecting the client’s need to reflect or process emotions.

This isn’t about abandoning what works—it’s about recognising when a broader, more flexible approach is needed.

Eye 4: Exploring the Coach’s Tendencies

Eye 4 of the 7-Eyed Model focuses on the coach’s internal experience, making it an ideal lens for exploring why coaches might gravitate toward certain tools or methods. Supervision encourages reflection on these tendencies, helping coaches understand what’s driving their choices.

Questions to explore in supervision might include:

• Which tools or approaches do you find yourself using most often? Why?
• Are there moments when you feel compelled to use a specific model, even if it doesn’t fully fit the situation?
• What assumptions are you making about what “should” work for the client?

By examining these patterns, supervision helps coaches become more intentional in their practice, ensuring that their choices are guided by the client’s needs rather than their own habits or preferences.

Eye 1: The Client’s Experience of Being “Hammered”

From the client’s perspective, over-reliance on a single tool or approach can feel limiting or even frustrating. Eye 1 focuses on the client’s experience, inviting the coach to consider how their preferred methods might be impacting the client.

Clients may feel:

Pigeonholed: As if their unique challenges are being forced to fit into a pre-determined framework.

Unheard: When the coaching doesn’t fully engage with the complexity of their experience, clients may feel that their voice isn’t truly being understood.

Disengaged: If the tools or techniques being used don’t resonate, clients may lose motivation or interest in the coaching process.

Supervision can help coaches step into their client’s shoes and ask:

• How might the client be experiencing this approach?
• What signs suggest the client is fully engaged—or disengaged—with the coaching process?
• How can I adapt my approach to better meet the client where they are?

This reflection helps coaches reconnect with their client’s unique needs, ensuring that the coaching remains responsive and impactful.

Eye 2: Expanding the Coach’s Toolbox

Eye 2 focuses on the tools and interventions used in coaching. When all you have is a hammer, it’s time to expand your toolbox. 

Supervision provides a space for coaches to experiment with new models, explore alternative approaches, and develop greater flexibility in their practice.

Some ways to expand the coaching toolbox include:

Exploring new frameworks: Introducing different coaching models that complement or contrast with the coach’s usual approach.

Adopting curiosity: Using open-ended questions and reflective dialogue to explore what might work best for the client in the moment.

Practising situational flexibility: Learning to adapt techniques based on the client’s immediate needs, rather than defaulting to familiar tools.

Supervisors can guide coaches through this process, encouraging them to try new approaches and helping them evaluate their effectiveness in different contexts.

Eye 5: The Supervisor’s Role in Breaking Patterns

Eye 5 explores the relationship between the coach and supervisor, offering a space to notice and address the coach’s patterns. Just as a coach might rely too heavily on a single tool with a client, the same dynamic can play out in supervision. For example, a coach might repeatedly bring similar issues to supervision, expecting the same type of guidance or feedback.

Supervisors can notice these patterns and ask:

• Are we revisiting the same themes in supervision? What might that tell us about your coaching practice?
• How can I challenge you to think differently or try a new approach?
• What might you need from me to feel confident exploring outside your comfort zone?

By gently challenging the coach’s reliance on familiar patterns, supervisors can model the very flexibility they are encouraging in the coach’s practice.

Eye 6: The Supervisor’s Sense of the Coach

Eye 6 focuses on the supervisor’s internal experience of the coach, offering valuable insights into how the coach approaches their work. If the supervisor feels a sense of repetition or predictability in the coach’s reflections, it may indicate that the coach is leaning too heavily on certain methods or tools.

The supervisor might reflect:

• Do I notice a tendency for the coach to frame every issue through the same lens?
• Am I feeling like I need to “hammer” my feedback in a certain way?
• How can I use my experience of the coach to help them broaden their perspective?

These reflections allow the supervisor to act as a mirror, helping the coach see their tendencies and explore new possibilities.

Conclusion: From Hammer to Toolbox

The saying “When all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail” is a reminder that coaching is not about one-size-fits-all solutions. It’s about meeting each client where they are, adapting to their unique needs, and drawing on a rich and varied toolbox of approaches.

Supervision is the space where coaches can reflect on their tendencies, expand their repertoire, and develop the flexibility to respond authentically and effectively to every client. By moving beyond the hammer-and-nail mindset, coaches can create richer, more impactful coaching experiences—ones that honour the complexity and individuality of the people they serve.

So, the next time you reach for your hammer, pause and ask: Is this what the client truly needs? Or is it time to pick up a new tool?