Every single coaching client (and their corporation) I’ve worked with over the past 21 years wants a result from our coaching. That’s a given in every coaching engagement. Yet the way we engage with our client makes a huge difference...
Category: #5 – Active Listening
How do I know what my client really wants from their coaching session
From the title of this blog article, you might think that is a no-brainer of a question. Yet clarifying the client-driven coaching session outcome, is one of the most challenging core competencies for most coaches to master. If you don’t...
Curiosity and Interrupting the client are like oil and water
I’m often asked by my mentor coaching clients, how to stop clients who speak a lot, including if, how and when to interrupt a client. That’s a great inquiry! Here are some of my thoughts and different ideas, which have...
Improv-ing to better coaching skills
I wasn’t sure what I was going to write in this blog article. I had a general idea, and I trust the process of starting to type into a Word Document, with the intention of writing a short article that...
Helicopter coaching views
I’m always searching for new and interesting ways to describe coaching skills to the coaches I’m mentoring toward their ICF credential. This is one metaphor I’ve used for a while, so thought I’d share it here too. It involves a...
Normalizing Conflict
Hands up anyone who enjoys being in conflict with someone? Conflict is a serious disagreement or argument with someone where there is often a ‘winner’ and a loser’ mentality. Maybe some people enjoy conflict, yet for the majority of people,...
Coaching is like playing tennis…
I’ve recently been using this metaphor with mentoring clients, to convey how a coach engages with their client. Metaphor is a direct form of communication, as it cuts through a lot of words and mental churn. Through metaphor, our client...
Strategies for coaching verbal processor clients
I’m pretty sure every coach has had a client who speaks a lot. And then speaks a lot more. And then some. You may have heard the term ‘verbal processor’ used to describe such people. I understand there may be...
Surrendering the mind
There’s a paradox present for coaches; simultaneously to know and practice good coaching skills, and yet not knowing how those coaching skills will best serve our client, in this coaching session. I’m working from the premise that we believe that...
Why am I still writing?
When I first began coaching 20 years ago, I was like every other new coach; trying to figure out how to use questions as a main way of drawing out knowledge from my client. This was so different than the...