Hidden Costs of Coaching - Part 3
In part 1 of this series, I wrote about isolation and how working alone can quietly slow your development. That often leads to uncertainty, and with it, decision fatigue, referenced in part 2.
What comes next if that cycle isn’t interrupted….Stagnation.
Again, not the obvious kind where everything is falling apart. I’m talking about the one where you’re busy, committed, showing up every day… but if you zoom out over six months, not much has really changed in how you think or operate.
A coach I worked with recently described this feeling as "feeling lost” within her role.
She wasn’t struggling in the traditional sense. Her sessions were well planned. Athletes were improving. She was organised, consistent, and reliable. From the outside, everything looked like it was working.
But when we started digging a little deeper, she said,“I feel like I’m doing a lot… but not really moving forward.”
We spoke about what her weeks actually looked like. They were full. Planning, coaching, reviewing, adjusting, communicating. There was very little space left in the day. Each week rolled into the next, and before long, it felt like a constant cycle of delivery. She also returned home, lacking energy, and began to question her purpose in the role she felt was a “dream job”.
She was living in a hamster wheel of repetitive daily actions.
There was always something to do for the athletes in front of her. Sessions to plan. Problems to solve. Details to refine. But very little time to pause and look inward at her own development, to step back and ask whether her thinking was evolving or simply repeating.
That’s the reality for many coaches.
Environments are built around optimising athlete outcomes, which is exactly how it should be. But in doing so, the coach's development can often become secondary. You get very good at delivering for others, while your own progression quietly slows in the background.
This is where stagnation becomes difficult to recognise. Because nothing is obviously wrong. Athletes are still improving. Sessions still run smoothly. Feedback is generally positive. You’re seen as dependable, someone who can be trusted to get the job done.
But underneath that, your thinking can plateau. As a result, careers can begin to sit still, not because of a lack of effort, but because progression isn’t being clearly demonstrated. Without external challenge or structured reflection, it becomes difficult to demonstrate how your thinking has evolved, which makes it harder to position yourself for the next opportunity.
Promotions, new roles, and increased responsibility often require more than just consistency. They require visible development.
Now, is this evident in every performance environment? No, of course not. Those with resources, adequate staffing, and great leaders do an excellent job of preventing stagnation. Solutions exist, such as:
Simple rota-based systems to allow staff time off to recover and reenergise - as opposed to working 6-7-day weeks, 50 weeks a year…
A clear development plan for individuals, with allocated time off/away from the environment to dedicate time to developing new skills - as opposed to asking staff to develop in their own time…
A mentor system where line managers reflect more organically with coaches consistently. Coach observations, program reviews and a review of presentation skills are just a few examples - as opposed to leaving staff to carry on with no feedback after important tasks
Without solutions like this, it’s easy to feel like you’re ready for more, but unable to show it in a way that others recognise.
There is also a less visible cost. When your weeks are full, and your thinking isn’t progressing, the work can start to feel heavier than it should. Decisions take more energy. Small problems linger longer. The mental load builds gradually, and it’s something you carry with you beyond the working day. Ultimately, mental and/or physical burnout becomes a real possibility.
The patterns described above show up across different areas of performance.
In S&C, it can look like running similar structures year after year. Small changes around the edges, but the same underlying approach. The programme evolves, but the reasoning behind it doesn’t shift in the same way.
Working with data, it can look like collecting more information without improving how it’s used. External systems become more detailed, but internal workflows and decisions don’t become clearer or faster.
In the context of soft skills, it often goes unnoticed for a long time. Communication habits, leadership behaviours, and ways of interacting with athletes and staff become consistent, but not necessarily more effective. Without feedback, it’s difficult to understand how messages are landing, how relationships are being built, or how influence is being developed. Over time, coaches can repeat the same patterns in how they communicate and lead, without realising there are more effective ways to operate.
In rehab, it can mean following familiar progressions without fully challenging whether they are the most appropriate for the individual case. Stuck in a cycle of “its how we did it last time”…
And in youth development, it often shows up as adding more because you feel a need to progress what you are doing to validate your own progression, rather than refining what matters. Trying to do enough to show your value, instead of doing the right things well for the young athlete in front of you..
Different contexts. Same outcome. You’re working hard. But your thinking isn’t moving at the same speed.
One of the biggest misconceptions in coaching is that time in the role guarantees progression when it really doesn’t. I had a personal rule working in elite sport. If I went 3 years without any progression (financially and in terms of responsibility), it was time to move on.
Time is a simple metric to keep sight of. More importantly, the impact of that time is something I encourage all practitioners to be self-aware of...
In the right environment, or with the right support, the same time can actually amplify and evolve whatever process you’re using. If that process includes reflection, feedback, and challenge, time becomes a powerful tool for development.
If it doesn’t, time can simply reinforce what you already do. When we spoke about what shifted for that coach, it wasn’t a dramatic change. It was much more subtle than that.
By seeking mentorship with us, she engaged in regular conversations and was constructively challenged in her thinking.
As a result, she started to notice patterns she hadn’t seen before. Decisions that once felt complex became simpler. Areas where she had been overthinking became clearer. All this became possible because she took control.
The hidden cost of coaching is that we naturally follow others' lead, especially in high-paced performance environments. But sometimes that lead isn’t right for you. So prioritising your own development becomes a critical factor you have to control yourself.
So it’s worth taking a step back and asking yourself a few honest questions.
Where in your coaching are you repeating rather than evolving?
When was the last time you created space to focus on your own development, not just your athletes?
And if you’re honest, are you progressing… or just keeping the wheel turning?
Did this resonate with you? We have our group mentorship programs starting in April - whether your skill gaps are in Rehab, Soft Skills, S&C, Data, or LTAD, we have ways we can help. Enrol here for April Cohorts.
