COACHING
The view changes
everything.
Every leader hits a point where trying harder stops working. The problem isn't effort — it's altitude. Some things can only be seen from above the cloud.
WHAT IS ONTOLOGICAL COACHING?
Coaching that works at the level of
who you are.
You're capable. You're experienced. And yet — the result you're reaching for isn't coming. Not for lack of effort. Not for lack of intelligence.
So what's in the way?
Every leader operates as an observer — and what we observe shapes what we believe is possible, and what we do. Our language, our emotional state, even how we carry ourselves: these determine what options are open to us.
Change the observer, and you change what's possible.
This is the foundation of ontological coaching.
Most leadership support works at the level of actions — better strategies, stronger skills. Ontological coaching works one level upstream: at the level of the observer producing those actions. It's distinct from consulting, which brings answers; from mentoring, which brings experience; and from therapy, which looks to the past. Coaching is forward-looking, client-led, and grounded in one belief: that you already have more inside you than you can currently access.
Some things can only be seen from above the cloud.
WORKING WITH ME
You lead. I follow.
My job is to follow you, not to lead you somewhere I've decided you should go. We begin with a clear contract — what you want to achieve and what success looks like. That's our compass throughout.
I hold the space, not the solution.
My job isn't to solve your problems. It's to sit with you in them — holding the emotion in the room alongside the challenge, without collapsing one into the other.
Both matter. Both deserve attention.
I bring full attention to what's in the room.
What you say, how you say it, what shifts in you as we talk — all of it carries information. My job is to notice, reflect, and ask what that might mean for you.
Insight is just the beginning.
When new awareness arrives, I don't consider that the end of the work. Insight without new practice rarely sticks. So we build together: new habits, new ways of showing up that make the change real and lasting.
“Maya has created a safe space for me to open up and discuss underlying feelings in a way I’m not always comfortable doing. She builds a strong sense of trust from the get-go. ”
— Former Coaching ClientHOW WE WORK TOGETHER
Two program shapes.
One starting point.
Every engagement begins with Above the Inversion — a dedicated intake session and goal-setting process that establishes what you're working toward, what success looks like, and how we'll know when we're getting there. This sits before the program begins and is included in both.
Focused
(6 sessions)
For leaders with a specific challenge or goal in mind. Enough space to do the real work; designed to move with purpose.
Intensive
(10 sessions)
For leaders ready to go deeper. More room to explore, more time to build new practice, more sustained support across the arc of the change.
Between sessions I’m reachable directly. If something can’t wait, we’ll find the time.
Your Questions, Answered
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If there's a result you're not getting — and you've ruled out lack of effort or lack of knowledge as the reason — coaching is probably worth exploring. The best candidates for coaching are people who are already capable and already trying, but sense that something in the way they're seeing the situation is part of what's keeping them stuck.
If you're not sure, a chemistry call will tell us both.
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A 20-minute conversation and if it goes well, you'll probably feel it working before it's over.
From the moment we meet, I'll be coaching. You share what you're working on, we explore it together, and by the end we'll both have a sense of whether this is the right fit.
No agenda, no obligation — just an honest conversation about what's possible.
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Online, via Zoom. Sessions are 60 minutes, and work best when you're somewhere you can speak freely and without interruption. Some clients prefer to walk — if that works for you, it works for me.
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Typically every two to three weeks. Enough space between sessions for reflection and new practice to take root; close enough together to maintain momentum.
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Nothing about the content of our sessions. What's said in coaching stays in coaching.
Where a sponsor is involved, we'll meet together at the start of the engagement — coachee, sponsor, and me — to agree on the goals for the coaching, what success looks like, and how we'll communicate progress, without compromising the confidentiality of the sessions themselves.
Your coaching is yours.
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Probably — but it matters less than you might think. A coach doesn't need to know your industry to know how to help you think more clearly about it.
What I bring is deep experience of high-performance environments, and the ability to hold a space where good thinking can happen. The content expertise is yours.
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I can't guarantee outcomes — no honest coach can. What I can tell you is that the research on coaching is robust, and that the clients who get the most from it tend to share one quality: they come willing to be honest, including with themselves. The chemistry call is where we both make that assessment.
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Honesty and a commitment to yourself above everything. Coaching isn't something that happens to you — it's something you do, with support. The more openly you engage, the more the work will move.
Between sessions I'll ask you to notice things, try things, and reflect on what's shifting. That's where the real change happens — not in the hour with me, but in the rest of your life.