I’ve uncovered a blind spot, which I always find exciting! Because it’s often challenging to notice a blind spot in ourselves. Others most often can see in us what we cannot. The blind spot was uncovered as a result of...
Category: #5 – Active Listening
What is the gap your coaching client wants to close?
Most often, our clients come to a coaching session with a topic they want to explore. Our initial focus as the coach is to understand exactly what it is about their topic they want more clarity around, in order to...
Coach the Emotional Content of your Client
One of the most powerful distinctions I can offer coaches I’m mentoring toward MCC skill level, is to coach the whole human being (the Who) and especially the emotional content of their client. Emotion is what drives us as human...
Target these Competencies for Client Success!
Let’s face it; there’s nothing like receiving some acknowledgement to make you feel good! As coaches and mentors, listening for what we can genuinely acknowledge in our client is an essential skill, one that builds trust and supports the client...
Group Coaching: how organizations can build a sustainable coaching culture
Have you ever struggled to answer these questions: “What is group coaching? How does it differ from individual coaching? What results do you get from group coaching?” Holly Williams of the Magus Group, recently co-authored the book, Being Coached: Group...
Listen for your client’s learning style to build deeper trust
Building trust with our coaching client is a critical skill to master. For those familiar with The Target Approach, you know that I consider building trust and intimacy to be an ‘Output’ competency, because trust is built as a result...
What listening to coaching in other languages has taught me
I'm not an idealist. I don’t want to save the world. I recognize there are gross inequalities in the world, where innocent people are the victims of horrible crimes and abuses, and we could do with a lot more compassion...
The power of making distinctions
I’m a regular Bikram Yoga student, and recently one of the teachers said the following, “Make sure you are working to your body’s edge, while listening to your body’s limits.” This was such a great distinction and had me stop...
Listen spaciously to your client
One of the most respectful and powerful coaching skills we have available to us as coaches is the ability to listen. Just listen. Listen with a lot of silence, and with a lot of quiet, yet present, spaciousness. Do you...
When a Coaching Session Really Begins
A coaching session is a structured conversation so both coach and client know that this is a coaching conversation that has a purpose, versus just having a nice conversation. There’s a definite beginning and an ending to a coaching session,...