What Kind of Coach Are You?

Coaching Through the Heroine’s Journey and the Archetypes

You know that coaching your people is an important part of being a leader.

But in practice, it can be surprisingly difficult.

Someone comes to you with a problem and you immediately know what she should do. You start giving advice. You become more directive. You try to solve the problem for her.

And that is understandable.

Many of us learned leadership from leaders who did exactly that.

But there is another way.

You don’t have to have all the answers.

As a leader and coach, your role can be to help people discover their own answers — by asking better questions, listening more deeply and helping them understand the story they are living.

Because every woman on your team is on a journey.

And every challenge at work can become part of a larger story.

What Story Is She Living Now?

A team member comes to you saying:

“I don’t know what to do.”

Your instinct may be to tell her.

But what if you asked:

“What story are you living right now?”

What is really happening?

What challenge are you facing?

What are you afraid of?

What are you trying to prove?

What is holding you back?

Which archetype are you inhabiting?

Are you the Innocent, wanting to believe everything will work out?

The Orphan, feeling alone or unsupported?

The Warrior, determined to overcome the obstacle?

The Caregiver, putting everyone else’s needs before your own?

The Seeker, searching for a different path?

The Lover, deeply connected to people and what matters to you?

The Destroyer, ready to let go of something that no longer serves you?

The Creator, imagining possibilities that others do not yet see?

The Ruler, taking responsibility and creating order?

The Magician, seeing connections and possibilities others have missed?

The Sage, searching for understanding and truth?

Or the Fool, willing to step into the unknown and begin again?

The Heroine’s Journey gives you a powerful framework for exploring these questions.

Instead of immediately providing solutions, you learn to become a guide.

Help Women Discover the Power of Their Story

As a leader, you want the women in your team to develop their full potential.

You want to create a culture in which people feel seen, valued and psychologically safe.

You want them to recognise their blind spots, challenge limiting beliefs and take responsibility for their own development.

But you cannot create that simply by telling people what to do.

You create development by asking questions, listening, challenging, inspiring and supporting.

The goal is not to create employees who depend on you for every answer.

The goal is to help women become the heroines of their own journeys.

That means giving them enough support to feel safe — and enough space to discover their own next step.

Become a Coach, Not Just a Problem Solver

During this two-day experience, you will explore the fundamental principles of coaching and apply them to real situations from your own leadership practice.

You will experiment with different coaching approaches and discover what kind of coach you naturally are.

More importantly, you will learn when to step forward as a leader — and when to step back and allow someone else to find her way.

You will learn how to:

• Ask better questions instead of immediately giving advice.
• Listen for the story behind the problem, not just the problem itself.
• Recognise archetypes and the patterns they reveal.
• Identify blind spots and limiting beliefs that may be holding someone back.
• Create psychological safety so people feel able to speak honestly.
• Develop curiosity and suspend your own assumptions and judgements.
• Build trust so people become more willing to explore what is really happening.
• Encourage autonomy by helping people discover their own solutions.
• Move between coaching and leadership without losing clarity about your role.
• Help people find their next step on their own Heroine’s Journey.

The Archetypes of the Coach

Great coaching is not about having one perfect coaching style.

It is about knowing which role the situation requires.

Sometimes you need to be the Mentor — offering perspective and wisdom.

Sometimes the Warrior — challenging someone to face what needs to be faced.

Sometimes the Caregiver — creating the safety needed for someone to explore honestly.

Sometimes the Sage — helping someone see a situation differently.

Sometimes the Creator — opening up possibilities when someone feels stuck.

And sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is step back.

The Heroine’s Journey reminds us that the heroine ultimately has to make the journey herself.

The coach cannot walk the journey for her.

Your task is to help her find the courage, clarity and confidence to take the next step.

From Telling to Asking

One of the biggest shifts in becoming a coaching leader is moving from:

“Here is what you should do.”

to:

“What do you think you should do?”

From:

“Let me solve this for you.”

to:

“What have you already tried?”

From:

“This is your problem.”

to:

“What is this situation teaching you?”

And ultimately:

“What story do you want to create next?”

This is the shift from directing people to developing people.

The Power of Your Story as a Leader

Coaching others also requires you to understand your own story.

What kind of leader are you?

Which archetypes do you naturally inhabit?

When do you become overly directive?

When do you find it difficult to let go?

What happens when someone does not follow your advice?

What happens when you feel responsible for everyone else’s success?

And what story are you telling yourself about what a “good leader” should be?

Your own leadership story influences every coaching conversation you have.

That is why this experience is not only about learning coaching techniques.

It is about becoming more conscious of the leader and coach you are becoming.

And ultimately, it is about discovering:

What Story Are You Living Now?

For Whom?

This experience is for women leaders, managers and team leads who want to move beyond a predominantly directive leadership style and develop a more coaching-oriented way of leading.

It is particularly relevant if you recognise yourself in questions such as:

Do I give advice too quickly?

Do I sometimes solve problems that my team members could solve themselves?

Do I find it difficult to listen without judging?

How can I challenge someone without taking away her autonomy?

How can I create enough safety for people to be honest with me?

How do I balance being a coach with being the person who ultimately has to make decisions and assess performance?

How can I help the women I lead recognise their own strengths and possibilities?

If you want to help people grow rather than simply tell them what to do, this experience is for you.

Is Coaching Through the Heroine’s Journey Right for You?

You do not need to become a different kind of leader overnight.

The Heroine’s Journey starts with awareness.

What story are you living now as a leader?

What kind of coach do you want to become?

And perhaps most importantly:

What story could the women in your team create if you gave them the space to become the heroines of their own journeys?

Practical Information

Price: €1,295 excl. VAT
Language: English
Duration: 2 separate days, 9:30–17:00
Participants: Minimum 5, maximum 15
Level: No prior coaching experience required
Homework: No mandatory homework. You will be encouraged to experiment with the coaching approaches and apply them directly in your work.

Location

We start from The Social Hub Rome

A dynamic environment where people from different backgrounds, professions and generations meet — a fitting setting for exploring leadership, human behaviour and the stories we bring into our work.

Dates

2026

• 13 & 14 November

2027

• 22 & 23 January
• 18 & 19 March
• 19 & 20 May
• 23 & 24 June
• 9 & 10 September
• 12 & 13 November

Your Guide

Peter de Kuster is the founder of The Hero’s Journey and The Heroine’s Journey.

For more than a decade, he has collected thousands of stories from professionals and entrepreneurs and explored how people create, change and reinvent their lives and careers.

His approach combines storytelling, the Heroine’s Journey, archetypes and the power of personal stories to help leaders and professionals understand the stories they are living and create the next chapter.

For Peter, the Heroine’s Journey is not a theory about women.

It is a practical way of looking at the human journey through stories, challenges, archetypes, choices and transformation.

The stages and archetypes are the same as in the Hero’s Journey.

The difference is the perspective: the Heroine’s Journey is an invitation for women to recognise themselves as the protagonists of their own stories.

As a coach, you do not need to write the story for someone else.

You help her discover that she can write it herself.

Peter de Kuster
peterdekuster2023@gmail.com
06 19 22 45

Ready to Become a Different Kind of Coach?

What story are you living now as a leader?

And what could happen if you stopped being the person with all the answers — and became the person who helps other women discover their own?

Join us in Rome and discover the power of coaching through the Heroine’s Journey.

The Heroine’s Journey.
The Power of Your Story.
What Story Are You Living Now?