One of the things I often hear from people starting their Systemic Team Coaching® journey is a quiet, almost embarrassed question: “Should I really be working with clients when I haven’t finished all the training?”
It’s a completely understandable hesitation. You want to honour the depth of the work, not overstep, and you’re probably feeling the weight of doing it ‘properly’. I’ve seen this in almost every cohort I’ve supported, and I remember that same feeling myself.
And it’s exactly here – in this moment of uncertainty – where Peter Hawkins’ guidance has always been a steadying force. What I’ve learned from working closely with Peter over the years is that systemic coaching is not something you wait to be ‘qualified’ to do. It’s something you grow into by doing – humbly, reflectively and in partnership with others.
Here’s how I’d capture his advice for anyone who’s holding back, waiting for a moment of full readiness that may never come.
1. You Learn to Coach Systemically by Coaching Systemically
Peter often says you don’t become a systemic coach by completing a programme – you become one by living the practice. Yes, the frameworks, models and teachings matter. But they only come to life in the moment-by-moment relational work with real teams, real systems and real challenges.
You don’t need to be fully trained to begin listening deeply. You don’t need a certificate to ask a bold question. What matters is your intention, your presence and your ability to stay open to what the system is trying to tell you.
There’s a huge difference between starting work prematurely with a desire to ‘perform’, and starting early with humility and care. The latter is not only OK – it’s essential.
“You can’t learn to swim by standing on the side of the pool reading the manual. At some point, you have to get in and feel the water around you.”
For similar reflections, see:
- Leadership Team Coaching in Practice (Hawkins, 2nd ed., 2018), especially Chapter 10, on reflective learning-in-action
2. Show Up With Humility, Not Authority
One of the liberating truths Peter returns to time and again is that systemic coaches don’t need to be experts in the content of the system – we need to be skilled in surfacing what’s stuck, naming patterns, and enabling the system to learn together.
That means you don’t have to pretend you’re further along than you are. In fact, trying to act as the finished article often blocks the very openness you want to cultivate in others.
Being honest with a client – that you’re early in your training, and keen to practise with care and supervision – can actually build trust. The relationship becomes one of mutual learning. You’re not there to deliver answers. You’re there to hold a mirror, to ask questions others aren’t asking, to invite the system to reflect on itself.
“The best systemic coaches are those who stay deeply curious – about themselves, the system and what’s trying to emerge.”
See also:
- Creating a Coaching Culture (Hawkins, 2012), particularly the chapter on co-learning and organisational transformation.
3. Let Supervision Be Your Holding Environment
Peter has always been clear that supervision isn’t an optional support for coaching – it’s a vital part of the practice. Particularly in systemic work, where you’re often encountering complex group dynamics, unconscious processes and deep organisational patterns, supervision becomes the place where insight is integrated and meaning is made.
“Supervision is not just a way of looking back, but a place of learning forward.”
– From: Hawkins & Shohet, Supervision in the Helping Professions, 5th ed., 2012
When you begin working with real clients, it’s not about performing perfectly. It’s about being willing to notice, reflect and grow. Supervision lets you do that with both rigour and compassion.
4. Trust the Process – and the System
This one is subtle but central. Trusting that the team or organisation you’re working with already holds within it the resources, patterns and wisdom it needs to evolve. Your job is not to fix the system, but to help it become more conscious and self-reflective.
“The system is your co-coach.”
– A key principle from Peter Hawkins’ Team Coaching Wheel and 5 Disciplines model
This principle is embedded throughout:
- Leadership Team Coaching (Hawkins, 4th ed., 2021), especially Chapters 3 & 7.
So instead of thinking: Do I have enough tools yet? Try asking: Am I prepared to serve the system with presence, care and courage?
5. None of Us Are Ever Fully Ready
Here’s the secret Peter would say with a smile: none of us are ever fully trained, finished or ready. He’s been doing this work for decades and still says he learns something new from every team, every challenge, every stuck place.
“This work is never finished. And that’s exactly why it’s worth doing.”
This comes from a distillation of Peter’s stance in many of his teaching sessions and in his final chapters of “Team Coaching: A Systems View” (with Carr, 2024).
The danger is in waiting for the moment when you feel ready – because that moment might never come. Instead, start now, with honesty. Start by doing the work as a practice. Start by being willing to get it wrong, reflect deeply, and stay open to learning.
So if you’re wondering whether it’s ‘too soon’ to try something with a client – start small. Contract well. Be transparent. Stay close to supervision. And trust that your learning deepens most when you’re in the work, not outside it.
The invitation is simple: Don’t wait. Begin.
