Subtractive coaching is a coaching approach that removes what’s in the way of someone’s natural leadership — masking, inherited frameworks, performance pressure, over-identification with a role — rather than adding new techniques, habits, or goals. It is the opposite of additive or peak-performance coaching: fewer tools, not more.
The underlying premise is that the person you are coaching already has the capacity, clarity, and judgement they need. What they don’t need is more. They need space, and the removal of what’s crowding out their own thinking. When those layers come off, natural leadership is already there.
I’m Tony Piper, a leadership coach for tech leaders, based in Canary Wharf, London. I practice subtractive coaching with CTOs, engineering leaders, and neurodivergent leaders globally — online and on in-person coaching walks in Canary Wharf.
Subtractive coaching vs additive coaching
Most coaching is additive. It assumes the problem is a missing capability, so it adds something: a framework, a model, a habit, an accountability system, a goal hierarchy, a new behaviour to practise. The coach’s role in the additive model is to transfer tools from coach to coachee.
Subtractive coaching assumes the opposite — that the problem is usually an accumulated surplus: too many frameworks, too many inherited rules about how a leader should behave, too much performance running on top of the person’s actual thinking. The coach’s role in the subtractive model is to help the coachee notice what they are doing that they don’t need to do, and let it drop.
| Additive coaching | Subtractive coaching |
|---|---|
| Adds frameworks, models, habits | Removes masking, inherited rules, performance |
| Assumes a missing capability | Assumes a surplus of unnecessary effort |
| Tool-transfer from coach to coachee | Space-making and noticing |
| Measured by new behaviours adopted | Measured by what the leader stops doing |
| Suits learning a discrete new skill | Suits exhausted, over-performing, or masked leaders |
Both approaches have a place. Additive coaching fits when the problem is genuinely a missing skill. Subtractive coaching fits when the problem is that there’s already too much going on.
Subtractive coaching vs peak-performance coaching
Peak-performance coaching aims to optimise — more output, more productivity, more consistency, more of the leader operating at their edge. For leaders who are already pushing hard, especially neurodivergent leaders who have been masking for years, that’s the opposite of what helps. The problem is already too much performing.
Subtractive coaching takes the pressure off rather than adding to it. It’s particularly useful when a leader is exhausted but still functioning, because the exhaustion is usually being caused by the performing itself — not by a gap in skill that more optimisation could close.
Where does subtractive coaching come from?
Subtractive coaching as a named approach draws from several older traditions:
- The Three Principles understanding (Sydney Banks, and educators like Jamie Smart) — the premise that clarity and wellbeing are natural states that appear when the mind quiets, rather than states that have to be built. Jamie Smart has explicitly described his work as subtractive psychology.
- Clean coaching and clean language (David Grove, and later practitioners like Caitlin Walker) — a coaching stance of removing the coach’s assumptions from the conversation, so the coachee’s own thinking can surface.
- The non-directive lineage (Carl Rogers, Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Game) — the long-held idea that the coach’s interference is often the thing getting in the way, and that performance frequently improves when it is removed.
The term subtractive is used across this lineage to describe a stance: the coach is not a teacher transferring content, but a practitioner whose job is to take the clutter away. I use subtractive coaching specifically to describe how this stance plays out in leadership work — particularly with tech leaders and neurodivergent leaders, where the clutter usually includes masking, inherited frameworks, and performance pressure picked up across decades of a technology career.
What subtractive coaching is not
- Not non-coaching. Subtractive coaching is still active. The coach is present, listening closely, and reflecting precisely — not absent or passive.
- Not anti-framework. Frameworks and models have their uses. Subtractive coaching is skeptical of adding more of them to someone who already has too many.
- Not the same as solution-focused or GROW. Those are additive structures — usually helpful, but a different approach.
- Not therapy. Subtractive coaching works with how someone is currently leading, thinking, and deciding. It is not treatment.
Who is subtractive coaching for?
Subtractive coaching tends to fit leaders who are:
- Already competent, often over-competent — they’re not failing, they’re exhausted.
- Masking at work — performing a version of themselves that costs them energy.
- Neurodivergent (ADHD, autistic, dyslexic, or figuring it out) and tired of coaching that adds more to manage.
- Technically deep — CTOs, VPs of engineering, staff engineers moving into leadership — who’ve accumulated decades of frameworks.
- Sensing that the next step isn’t learning more, but leading more as themselves.
It tends to fit less well for leaders who are genuinely new to a capability and want to be taught it. For that, additive coaching is the right tool.
How a subtractive coaching session works
A session typically looks like this: the leader brings something they’re working through. Instead of introducing a model, the coach asks questions that surface what the leader is already carrying — assumptions, pressures, rules they’re running, performance they’re doing. As those layers are noticed, they often drop on their own. The leader’s own clarity becomes visible. A decision is made, or a direction is seen — usually one the leader already knew somewhere, but hadn’t had the space to access.
Sessions are 1:1, online or walking (if you’re in London). Engagements typically run over 8–12 weeks. There’s a free 45-minute Introductory Call before any paid work, to check fit.
Related pages: coaching for neurodivergent tech leaders, CTO coaching, engineering leadership coaching, Natural Leadership.
Frequently asked questions about subtractive coaching
What is subtractive coaching?
Subtractive coaching is a coaching approach that removes what’s in the way of someone’s natural leadership — masking, inherited frameworks, performance pressure — rather than adding new techniques, habits, or goals. It’s the opposite of additive or peak-performance coaching: fewer tools, not more.
How is subtractive coaching different from additive coaching?
Additive coaching adds frameworks, models, habits, or goals. Subtractive coaching removes layers that the person doesn’t need — masking, inherited rules about how a leader should behave, performance running on top of their actual thinking. Additive coaching suits learning a discrete new skill. Subtractive coaching suits leaders who are already over-performing and exhausted.
How is subtractive coaching different from peak-performance coaching?
Peak-performance coaching aims to optimise output and push the leader further. Subtractive coaching does the opposite — it takes the pressure off. For leaders who are already pushing hard, especially neurodivergent leaders who have been masking for years, more optimisation deepens the exhaustion rather than resolving it.
Where does the term “subtractive coaching” come from?
It draws from the Three Principles understanding (Sydney Banks, Jamie Smart), clean coaching (David Grove, Caitlin Walker), and the non-directive coaching lineage (Carl Rogers, Timothy Gallwey). Jamie Smart has explicitly described his approach as subtractive psychology. Subtractive coaching names how that stance plays out in leadership work.
Is subtractive coaching the same as non-directive coaching?
They overlap but aren’t identical. Non-directive coaching describes the stance — the coach doesn’t prescribe. Subtractive coaching describes the intention — actively helping the leader notice and let go of what’s in the way. A subtractive coach is non-directive in style, but they’re working towards a specific kind of outcome: less, not more.
Who is subtractive coaching best suited to?
Leaders who are already competent but exhausted; leaders who mask at work; neurodivergent leaders tired of coaching that adds more to manage; technically deep leaders (CTOs, engineering leaders, staff engineers) who’ve accumulated decades of frameworks; and anyone sensing that the next step isn’t learning more, but leading more as themselves.
Is subtractive coaching the same as therapy?
No. Subtractive coaching works with how a leader is currently leading, thinking, and deciding. It’s not a clinical treatment and doesn’t address mental health diagnoses. If what’s needed is therapy, a coach should refer on.
Do you have to be neurodivergent to benefit from subtractive coaching?
No. Subtractive coaching works for any leader carrying a surplus of frameworks, performance, or inherited rules. It’s particularly well-suited to neurodivergent leaders because masking is an especially heavy form of that surplus — but the approach isn’t limited to neurodivergent clients.