This article examines a simple but pivotal question for any professional or aspiring practitioner: is a clear, well defined goal necessary for Coaching to be effective? It distills multiple perspectives from experienced coaches and offers practical guidance for working when the client arrives without a goal. Readers will gain clarity on when goal-free sessions are still Coaching, how to hold ethical boundaries, and concrete tools to turn vague intentions into meaningful progress. The guidance is intended to help coaches decide their own stance and give them immediate, practical options to try in session. We’ve distilled the wisdom in this article from the following podcast episode of Talking about Coaching:
Table of contents
- Before We Dive In – A Word of Caution
- Why goals feel essential to Coaching
- When Coaching without a goal still counts
- How to work with vague agendas: practical tools
- Ethical and commercial considerations for coaches
- Three practical approaches a coach can use right now
- Reflection prompts for coaches
- Conclusion: A balanced view on goals and Coaching
- ATTRIBUTION
- A NOTE FROM THE “AUTHOR”
Before We Dive In – A Word of Caution
Before you read on, please note that this article is an AI-generated summary of the above podcast episode. While prompted carefully, it’s possible that some views may be misrepresented and/or information incorrect. If you find any errors please report them to us by emailing report (a) existentialcoaching.net . If you find something that seems odd, untrue, or difficult to believe, my encouragement is for you to go to the source and listen to the episode to get the full context. If it turns out to be false or misrepresented, kindly let us know! Due to the volume of information and limited team resources, we can’t check all AI-generated articles for accuracy, but decided that these are good enough, and hence valuable resources.
Why goals feel essential to Coaching
The starting point for many coaches is straightforward. Goals provide an anchor. A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. That structure makes the coach’s work easier. When a goal is clear, the coach can link every question, insight, and action step to progress toward that future state. That reduces uncertainty about the purpose of the session and it makes outcomes easier to communicate to potential clients.
One coach in the discussion observed that clear goals are also easier to sell. Goal-oriented Coaching maps well to commercial promises. If a client wants to double income, grow a practice, or improve a skill in six months, Coaching packages can be positioned around that promise. It is natural for coaches to prefer an outcome they can reasonably estimate and for clients to prefer paying for something concrete.
That said, attachment to goals can create blind spots. A number of experienced coaches warned against goal addiction. Moving from one target to the next without noticing who the person is between goals can leave life feeling empty. Coaches who only chase outcomes risk neglecting the deeper questions about being and meaning that sit behind many client concerns.
Quote as a hook
“You are the agenda.”
That sentence captures a shift in how some coaches think about Coaching. When the client is the agenda, the focus is on who the client wants to be rather than only on what they want to accomplish. This shifts the work from the chess board to the chess player.
When Coaching without a goal still counts
There is no single, universal definition of Coaching. The profession is unregulated and practices vary. Some coaches insist that Coaching must move a client toward a specific future state. Others are comfortable holding an open-ended, exploratory container where the purpose emerges along the way.
Three practical distinctions help decide whether a session without a fixed goal is still Coaching:
- Intended movement: Even vague sessions often aim to increase awareness, reduce suffering, or change a pattern. If the work orbits around movement in the client’s life, it can be framed as Coaching.
- Clarity for the client: If the client understands and agrees to the exploratory format, the relationship is ethical and contractual expectations are clear. The absence of a SMART goal does not make the work invalid, provided both coach and client know what they are committing to.
- Coach capability: Some coaches choose not to call very open existential conversations Coaching because they do not want to imply performance guarantees that they cannot offer. That is a valid professional choice.
Yannick and colleagues suggested that Coaches can consciously choose the frame they work within and make that clear. For some practitioners their work is primarily performance and outcome focused. For others it is existential or transformational, oriented to meaning, identity and being. Either approach can be Coaching if the coach is trained and transparent about their scope.
Practical example from practice
One coach described having a life coach who “had no agenda” in the conventional sense but created huge transformation by centring the person. Over time the client’s shifts in identity and presence produced measurable results in other areas of life. In these cases the goal was implicit and emergent: becoming a different kind of person. The client provided what was needed session to session. That was Coaching, though not defined by a SMART outcome at the outset.
How to work with vague agendas: practical tools
When a client arrives without a clear outcome, the session need not become aimless. Here are pragmatic tools coaches can use immediately.
Wheel of Life
The wheel of life is a practical diagnostic that helps a client see which areas of life are out of balance. Coaches can ask the client to rate categories such as health, relationships, career and finances. These ratings often reveal a clear starting point even when the client cannot name a goal. One coach in the conversation recommended the wheel of life as an effective way to translate an unclear “something” into tangible focus areas.
The chess player, not the chess board
The metaphor “coach the chess player not the chess board” reminds coaches to focus on the person behind the goal. Working on presence, habits, identity and mindset often produces more reliable long term results than only optimizing external circumstances.
Goal line and soul line
Another framework mentioned in the discussion contrasts a goal line with a soul line. The goal line is task oriented. The soul line is about being and inner alignment. Coaches can ask whether the client wants to work on the goal line, the soul line, or both. This helps clients name the terrain of their work and clarifies what success might look like even if it is not expressed in narrow SMART terms.
Make goals emergent
Being willing to begin without a SMART goal but with an agreed process can be powerful. Coaches can contract explicitly for exploration: they agree to meet, to notice patterns, and to create a measurable micro-goal after two or three sessions. This preserves curiosity while giving a path toward clarity.
Ethical and commercial considerations for coaches
Working without a specific goal increases uncertainty about outcomes. Coaches must be transparent with clients about that uncertainty. Ethical practice requires that clients know what to expect and how the work will proceed.
Consider these practical guidelines:
- Set the contract: If a coach chooses an exploratory mode, the coaching contract should state this and explain what the client can expect over a defined number of sessions.
- Manage promises: Avoid guaranteeing outcomes when there is no specific goal. Instead, outline the kinds of value the client is likely to experience such as increased awareness or clarity.
- Match capability to depth: Coaches with limited training should avoid overstepping into therapeutic territory when sessions become existential. Referral to therapy or supervision is good practice when needed.
- Be explicit about commercial terms: Clients who prefer measurable improvement will choose goal-focused Coaching. Be honest about the differences and price models that suit each approach.
Three practical approaches a coach can use right now
Below are three concrete ways to work with clients who arrive without a clear goal. Each approach preserves Coaching integrity while offering structure.
- Exploratory contract then anchor: Agree to a short exploratory period (three sessions). Use tools like the wheel of life and reflective inquiry to identify a theme. Then co-create a SMART micro-goal and pivot to outcome-focused work.
- Person-as-goal approach: Define progress in terms of being. The client chooses qualities they want to cultivate such as greater groundedness, resilience or presence. Track progress through self-report measures and behavioral experiments rather than fixed external targets.
- Hybrid cycles: Alternate phases of exploration with focused sprints. For example, have six sessions where two are open inquiry and the next four are dedicated to a specific experiment or habit change. This keeps momentum and honors depth.
Practical takeaways
- Transparency is essential: Make the coaching frame explicit. If you want to work goal-free, say so and explain how progress will be noticed.
- Start simple: Use the wheel of life or a single reflective metric to turn vagueness into a starting point.
- Protect boundaries: Know when an existential conversation requires supervision or referral to therapy.
- Be flexible with outcomes: Care about future change while being willing to let the shape of that future adjust as new information appears.
Reflection prompts for coaches
- What levels of ambiguity do you tolerate in your practice and with which clients?
- Do you prefer working with clearly defined goals or with emergent agendas? Why?
- How do you explain the difference between coaching, mentoring, consulting and therapy to prospective clients?
- What tools could you add to your toolkit to make exploratory work more structured and ethical?
Conclusion: A balanced view on goals and Coaching
Goals play a central role in many coaching engagements. They provide an anchor, make coaching easier to sell, and allow the coach to measure progress. Yet equating Coaching only with narrow SMART targets misses the richness of human change. When a client brings no explicit goal, Coaching can still be highly valuable if the coach frames the work clearly and uses practical tools to create movement.
In the end the choice is the coach’s. Coaches can be performance specialists who help people meet specific targets. They can be existential guides who focus on being. They can also combine both approaches in hybrid practice. The most ethical and effective coaches make these preferences explicit and ensure clients know what they are signing up for. That clarity protects both the client and the coach and preserves Coaching as a practice that helps people grow, discover, and act.
1) ATTRIBUTION
Talking about Coaching is a podcast by coaches for coaches. It does what it says on the tin: We talk about coaching. We, that is Yannick, Siawash and Nicki. We love coaching, collectively got a tonne of experience, knowledge and charm; and we all felt it was time to give something back to our wonderful coaching community. Whether you’re a life coach, work with organisations or practice any other form of coaching, you can ask us anything and we’ll discuss it for and with you so you can learn, grow and develop your practice and business skills!
2) A NOTE FROM THE “AUTHOR”:
I hope you enjoyed this article. If any of it resonates, make it swing! Start a conversation with someone about what came up for you, or let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you! And please keep in mind that, while I’ve personally engineered the prompt for these articles and everything that’s written will be based on the above video, this content is AI-generated, so the general guidance is to go to the source and listen to the podcast.
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This article was created from the video Can I coach clients without setting a goal? Talking About Coaching- Episode 21 with the help of AI.