The Winter Olympic Games 2022 have been underway for about 11 days so far, with about 5 days remaining. Every 4 years feels like a treasure chest to me, watching the best athletes in the world compete against each other...
Category: #7 – Direct Communication
Butterfly on the Wall Coaching Series
Have you ever wanted to be a "butterfly" on the wall hanging out (inconspicuously, of course) while an experienced coach is coaching their client? Here's a very rare, unique opportunity to get an insider's peek into the real relationship...
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...
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...
Effective use of visual language
Imagine you are walking down a path with beautiful trees on either side. The sun is shining through the trees, creating a soft glow of light on the path ahead. There’s a puddle and you easily jump over it. As...
Simplify Simplify Simplify
As coaches, we are oriented to helping our clients to become the best version of themselves, to believing in their capabilities, and to support in their confidence to achieve what it is they are seeking to. One of the temptations...
Creating Awareness and links to learning
I’m currently in an inquiry to more deeply understand the Creating Awareness PCC Markers because I notice that these markers are often missing when I assess coaching recordings, and they are also very relevant for MCC skill level. As an...
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...
Directive versus Direct Communication
I’ve been pondering what direct communication means, in terms of a coaching skill set and notice that direct is different than being directive. So I thought I’d explore the distinction between direct and directive and see what can be uncovered!...