IFS in Executive Coaching: A Field Report

In early March I spent a week in Balderschwang in the Allgäu region. Not for skiing, but for an IFS meditation week with Thomas Schneider of Wege zum Sein. What I experienced there has been changing my work as a coach ever since.

What is IFS?

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a psychological model that views our inner experience as composed of several parts, parts with different roles that often formed early in life. Some parts want to protect us, some carry inner tension, and some keep us functioning in everyday life. Behind all these parts lies what IFS calls the Self: an inner core that embodies clarity, calm, compassion, and connection.

IFS was developed by the American family therapist Richard C. Schwartz, who applied the principles of systemic family therapy to the inner world of the individual. In the United States, the approach has been recognised as evidence-based by the Department of Health since 2015. In Germany, the IFS community has grown in recent years, supported by three institutes (Munich, Berlin, Heidelberg) offering certified training.

In coaching I use IFS-informed elements, a mindful and curious view of one's own parts, within self-management and personal development with healthy clients. This is explicitly not a substitute for psychotherapy. Where medical conditions or trauma-related work are involved, psychotherapy is the right place, not coaching.

A Clear Line to Psychotherapy

My offer is coaching for healthy leaders, not medical treatment. I do not diagnose, I do not treat psychological conditions, and I do not work on trauma. If signs of a clinical issue surface in a conversation, I refer to licensed psychotherapists or appropriate support services.

The Week in Balderschwang

The seminar took place at the Bio-Berghotel Ifenblick, a small village of 300 inhabitants in the Upper Allgäu. Thomas Schneider, the founder of Wege zum Sein, led the week. The combination of meditation, guided IFS work, self-experience, and silence in the mountain landscape was exactly the right setting to truly engage with this inner work.

What impressed me about Thomas Schneider: he combines a depth of experience that is rare. Since 2003 he has been guiding people through mindfulness seminars and retreats full-time. He is a trained IFS therapist (IIFS Institut Berlin), MBSR teacher, MSC Trained Teacher, and has studied and taught for over four years at universities and monasteries in Asia and Europe. He carries the Buddhist teacher title Nyinche Dorje. But what truly distinguishes his work is not the sum of his qualifications, it is his ability to create a space in which people feel safe enough to look honestly inward.

In that week I experienced what IFS means beyond theory. When you witness an inner part that has been on duty for decades being truly heard for the first time, you understand the power of this method. It is not intellectual understanding. It is experience.

What This Means for My Coaching

I have been using IFS-informed elements in my coaching with healthy leaders for some time. The week in Balderschwang deepened this approach and gave me tools that I have since been integrating into my coaching work, always within self-reflection, self-management, and leadership development, not as a therapeutic intervention.

In my coaching sessions I regularly encounter situations in which the classical toolkit reaches its limits. A leader knows rationally that she should delegate, and still doesn't. A C-level manager recognises that his perfectionism is slowing him down, and still cannot let it go. A founder understands that she needs support, and still asks no one for help.

In such moments the solution rarely lies on the behavioural level. Inner patterns often hold on to existing behaviour for good reasons. They are frequently protective strategies that emerged earlier in life and continue to do their loyal duty. Overriding them by willpower rarely works sustainably.

An IFS-informed view helps to understand these patterns respectfully, honour their function, and explore a new role together in the coaching dialogue. This remains coaching, not therapeutic work on symptoms.

The Next Step: IFS Training

To bring IFS even more rigorously into my coaching, in June 2026 I will begin the formal IFS training with Regina Wagener at the IFS-Institut München. Regina Wagener is a graduate psychologist, systemic therapist, and has completed IFS Training up to Level 3 in Germany and the US. As a trainer at the IFS Institute Munich she is among the most experienced IFS trainers in the German-speaking world.

The training comprises a basic and an advanced training, with the goal of certification as an IFS coach. It is recognised by the chambers of psychotherapists and meets international standards.

Who Is IFS in Coaching Relevant For?

In my experience IFS is particularly effective for people in demanding leadership roles:

• Leaders who remain stuck in recurring patterns despite clear insight
• Managers under sustained pressure who notice their resilience strategies no longer work
• Founders making the transition from operational doer to strategic leader
• Experienced leaders seeking their finer calibration, the nuances that make the difference between good and outstanding

IFS complements classical coaching methods with a dimension I had been missing: systematic, mindful access to a person's inner landscape.

Further Information

• Wege zum Sein, IFS meditation week (seminars in Balderschwang)
• Thomas Schneider, profile
• IFS-Institut München, training
• IFS Europe e.V., network and therapist directory
• Richard C. Schwartz: No Bad Parts