There are a lot of opinions on what constitutes value in coaching. With all the voices in this chorus, it’s no wonder newer (and not so new) coaches can feel unsure about the value they provide. And this question can rob you of your joy – and profitability – in coaching.
So what’s a conscious, conscientious coach to do?
Rethink, update and expand your understanding of the value in coaching. This is more than shifting your perspective; it may mean stretching to improve some of the more subtle coaching skills.
Here’s a list of ten tips drawn from my work with the coaches I train and mentor. You can apply these today to increase the value you bring to your clients AND boost your confidence in that value.
- Upgrade your definition of “results” to include your clients’ shifts and awareness. If you put your clients’ development and awareness ahead of outcomes, the results they experience in the coaching will be an organic by-product of the inner growth.
- Expand your ability to be fully present. Choosing to be deeply connected to yourself deepens your capacity to connect with others and adds depth and dimension to the intimacy you foster with your clients.
- See each coaching session as a container for exploration within which clients discover new aspects of themselves, including strengths, gifts, and how they learn and create. Some of the most powerful, life-changing results your clients can get from your coaching may be intrinsic rather than concrete.
- Bring your heart to the party: Be authentic. Share (vs. tell) your insights, instincts and intuitions, as a springboard to deeper discovery for your clients. This requires that you (see #5 below) –
- Learn how to use your sharing as a springboard to your client’s deeper discovery. In this way you offer deeper connection as well as growth through that connection.
- Help your clients be more present and connected with themselves. Awareness offers powerful, lasting value!
- Leverage the learning: Go beyond merely prompting awareness to ground and expand their learning. This includes the learning that occurs during as well as between sessions.
- Invite your client to explore the Truth that wants to be revealed. Again: Awareness = value. And moving past the resistance that keeps Truth hidden is powerfully freeing!
- Celebrate your clients’ humanity by celebrating your own and being a model for this. This fosters safe space within which to invite those deeper Truth’s to the surface and creates a deeper connection with your clients.
- Show your clients how to embrace the perfection of their current situation. This is not about absolving responsibility but instead stopping the energy drains of fighting what is.
Notice the different facets and dimensions of value you can provide as a coach AND notice how much fun it is to coach from the place of owning this value all the way down to your toes!
If this speaks to you, and you want to roll up your sleeves and get elbow-deep in how you integrate these tips into your coaching today – call me. (+1-866-265-9780) And mention this code-phrase for a special bonus: Improve coaching.
