On A Coach’s Mindset/ Guest: Sarah Barclay – The University of British Columbia

Sarah Barclay draws on 18 years of fundraising leadership and a background in varsity athletics to explore what high-performance sport teaches us about leading teams at work.

With training in CTI executive coaching layered onto her sport background, Sarah shares how unlearning the instinct to instruct opened up a far more powerful leadership approach, one built on curiosity, powerful questions, and creating space for people to find their own answers and build lasting confidence.

In this episode, we explore:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:53) From high school captain to varsity athlete and early coach

(06:55) Unlearning sport coaching to become a better executive coach

(09:39) What elite athletics teaches leaders about performance pressure

(12:10) Balancing direct feedback with a coaching approach at work

(17:05) Breaking big goals into manageable milestones for your team

(20:57) How listening less and questioning more builds real confidence

(24:26) A coaching tool to shift perspective and unlock possibility

(31:31) Why culture is built through behaviour, not motivational speeches