Executive Coaching in Arabic and English

Language shapes what you are able to say about yourself

The language you use affects what you can reach. Strategy, metrics and corporate vocabulary often come more easily in English, because that is where you learned them. Feelings, values, family expectations and the stories you grew up with often come more easily in Arabic.

Bilingual coaching uses that. When a client switches language in the middle of a sentence, it is often a sign that something important has just surfaced.

When coaching in Arabic tends to help most

Equally, many clients prefer English because it keeps a helpful distance from emotionally loaded topics, or because their workplace runs in English. Both choices are valid, and you can change your mind at any point.

• ✦You are exploring something personal, such as identity, ambition or confidence, and English feels too formal for it.
• ✦The issue involves family, whether that is family expectations of your career or leading inside a family-owned business.
• ✦You are preparing for a conversation that will happen in Arabic, with its own levels of formality and respect.
• ✦You think faster in Arabic and notice that translating in your head slows you down.
• ✦You lead Arabic-speaking teams and want to work on how your messages land in that language.
• ✦You simply feel more yourself in Arabic.

Switching languages mid-session is part of the work, not a distraction

You do not need to choose one language for a whole engagement. In practice, sessions often move: a client describes a board meeting in English, explains what it meant to them in Arabic, then rehearses a response in whichever language the meeting will use.

I follow your lead and sometimes notice the switch aloud. A question such as “what changed when you moved into Arabic just then?” can open up more than an hour of analysis. The questions, the reflection and any notes you keep can follow whichever language serves the thinking.

Cultural nuance is easier to hold when the context is shared

Gulf workplaces carry their own layers: respect for seniority, the weight of relationships, family-owned businesses, national talent programmes and the rhythm of Ramadan working hours. A coach who understands those layers spends less time on explanation and more on the real issue.

That shared context never replaces questioning. I won’t assume I know what a situation means to you because I recognise it. But it lets us explore questions such as how to disagree respectfully with a senior figure, or how to lead peers you have known for years, without first translating the culture. For the communication side of this, see my article on cross-cultural communication for leaders.

What the first session looks like in two languages

On the free 30-minute discovery call, I ask which language you would like to begin in. Most people know straight away. Some say “both”, which is a perfectly good answer. If coaching is new to you, it may help to read what executive coaching is beforehand.

In the first session we clarify your goals, the challenges in front of you and what you want from coaching, as in any one-to-one executive coaching engagement. I pay attention to where language shifts and what it reveals. Sessions then run weekly or every two weeks, in person in Manama or online by video, with the same strict confidentiality in either language.

The same professional standards in both languages

I am an ICF Professional Certified Coach with more than 4,500 coaching hours, and the same ethical standards apply whichever language we use. My 26+ years in leadership, HR and talent development spanned financial services, FMCG, entrepreneurship and government, inside multinational organisations and in private practice.

I also co-authored, with the Bahraini leadership expert Amal Kooheji, Seen Yet Silent: Coaching Arab Women to Lead, a book about the challenges Arab women face in leadership and about coaching them to lead. Executive coaching in Arabic and English is, for me, a natural extension of that commitment to leaders in this region.