#102🧱 Inclusive Performance Coaching: Breaking Down the Elite-Only Barrier
Why Everyone Deserves the Growth Tool Currently Reserved for Executives
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I am an ADHD and product management coach, helping you change one belief and take one action each week.
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Part 1 of the Inclusive Performance Series
🦋The Takeaways
Belief: Coaching is either for high-level executives or employees in trouble.
Reality: Performance coaching is most effective when it's accessible to everyone as a growth tool.
Action: Normalize asking for coaching by framing it as skill development, not deficit repair.
⭐️Introduction
I'm launching a new series on Inclusive Performance Coaching after wrapping up my Finding Happiness series. This series will tackle a different workplace coaching challenge each week, with one overarching goal: normalizing and improving coaching access for everyone.
I won’t be alone on this journey. I’ll be bringing in experts in HR, leadership, coaching, and neurodivergence to learn more about how to increase coaching access for people at work.
To kick off the series, I sat down with fellow Tech Atypically coaches Rupert Dallas and Michael Asaku-Yeboah to discuss reimagining workplace coaching. What we discovered challenges everything about how companies currently distribute this valuable resource.
Here's how we define inclusive performance coaching: It's coaching that adapts its language and strategies to whoever needs it—neurodivergent or neurotypical, disabled or not—while focusing on job performance.
The goal isn't just helping people hit their metrics; it's also helping them recognize when a role might not be the right fit and planning their next move accordingly.
But first, we need to dismantle some deeply ingrained assumptions about who "deserves" coaching.
**Note: The purpose of this series is not to sell our coaching services. I want to spread that idea to make it safer for everyone to ask for a coach if they have access to it. I recognize that workplaces are complex places, and being neurodivergent only makes it harder.
😵💫The Belief - Coaching Operates in Two Extremes
Most workplace coaching falls into one of two categories:
Category 1: Executive Privilege
Senior leaders get performance coaching as a standard benefit. The logic seems sound: improve a VP by 1%, and theoretically, you get that improvement across their entire team. To them, coaching is often an accelerator to their growth.
Category 2: Damage Control
For everyone, else, hearing the term coaching often means we’re underperforming and often screwed. This often includes people with neurodivergence with a declared disability. Michael explains, "Accommodations coaching targets people who've already disclosed they have a disability." The goal isn't excellence—it's bringing someone up to bare minimum expectations.
This binary system sends a clear message: coaching is either a luxury for the elite or an emergency intervention for the struggling. The massive middle ground—people performing well who want to perform better—gets ignored entirely.
The result? Most employees assume that requesting coaching signals weakness or suggests they're in trouble. So they don't ask.
🤝The Reality - The Sports Analogy Reveals Everything
"Even naturally gifted athletes hire coaches because they want to improve," Michael points out. "Sports teach us this principle perfectly."
Think about it: Serena Williams worked with coaches throughout her career. Not because she was failing, but because she wanted to dominate. The best athletes understand that coaching accelerates growth, regardless of current performance level.
Michael introduces a crucial concept: everyone has a "spiky profile." We naturally excel at some things and struggle with others. Traditional accommodation coaching only addresses the valleys, trying to bring deficits up to average. Performance coaching does something different—it elevates your peaks while managing your valleys.
"You become the subject matter expert at that point," Michael explains. "That becomes what you lead with. That becomes what everybody sees when they interact with you."
Without coaching, people get known for their struggles. With it, they get known for their strengths.
Rupert emphasizes the universal benefit: coaching "helps those who want to go from good to great" while also showing those who aren't performing well "the gap they need to overcome." It provides clarity for everyone.
🛠️The Action - Three Steps to Democratizing Coaching
1. Reframe the conversation
Stop talking about coaching as problem-solving. Start positioning it as performance optimization. When you say "I'd like some coaching on presentation skills," you're signaling a growth mindset, not admitting weakness.
Try these approaches:
Instead of "I need help with time management because I'm always behind," say "I want to optimize my productivity systems to take on more strategic work."
Rather than "I struggle with difficult conversations," frame it as "I'd like coaching on stakeholder communication to advance my leadership skill.s"
2. Make the ask
Rupert's advice cuts straight to the point: "Just ask." Many managers would love to support employee development, but assume no one's interested. Your request might open doors you didn't know existed.
Here's how to make it concrete:
During your next one-on-one: "I've been thinking about areas where coaching could help me contribute more effectively. Is that something the company supports?"
In performance reviews: "For next year's development goals, I'd love to explore coaching around [specific skill area]. What options are available?"
3. Address the myths
"Teams carry a lot of myths and taboos about these services," Michael observes. Consider organizing lunch-and-learns or bringing in coaches to present to your team. Education reduces stigma.
Practical ways to start these conversations:
Propose a "lunch and learn" session on professional development resources, including coaching options
Share success stories (with permission) of team members who've benefited from coaching, focusing on growth outcomes rather than problems solved
✨Conclusion
"Inclusive performance coaching" evolved from my original "ADHD and product management coaching" brand. I created that combination to solve a problem: most ADHD coaching focuses only on symptoms, leaving people to figure out job applications themselves. Adding product management clarified the work I could help with.
But 2.5 years of coaching taught me something crucial: mentioning an "ADHD coach" automatically discloses your neurodivergence. That's not always safe.
My partners and I developed "inclusive performance coaching" to communicate our expertise with work and neurodivergence challenges while protecting client privacy. It invites everyone while signaling job-focused outcomes to employers.
This series will explore practical strategies for managers, individual contributors, and organizations ready to democratize coaching. We'll cover implementation tactics, address objections, and build the case for coaching as standard professional development.
The goal isn't just better individual performance—it's creating workplaces where growth opportunities aren't limited by hierarchy or assumed deficits.
Everyone deserves access to tools that help them excel. Coaching should be one of them.
Do you have a question or challenge at work you want to tackle related to performance coaching? Drop a comment or respond to this email with your question, and we may reach out to help you tackle it during this series.
⏭️Next Week
How to cope with the trauma of a previous job when you start a new one.