For many coaches, one of the most fulfilling aspects is when our client has an insight about themselves or their situation, and witnessing something shift and transform in real time. It’s like a light bulb went off inside of them....
Category: U #7 – Evokes Awareness
Facilitates client insight and learning by using tools and techniques such as powerful questioning, silence, metaphor or analogy.
Offering observations, insights and feelings
Coaching skills generally fall into two broad categories; Coach asking customized and responsive questions to clarify, explore, expand, or elicit further self-discovery by their coaching client. Coach sharing customized and responsive comments, informed by being present to what the coach...
How to demonstrate more ICF core competencies by having a Coaching Plan
Note: This article has been updated in 2023. There’s an easy way for a coach to demonstrate more competencies in their coaching, which is by having a Coaching Plan for your coaching engagement. Definition of a Coaching Plan A Coaching...
Coaching client language of laughs and giggles
During a coaching session, a Professional Coach uses a range of coaching skills, including asking the client clarifying and discovery oriented questions, giving back their summaries or comments to the client, and offering observations, sensing or intuitive thoughts or feelings...
Coaching Client Identity
Especially in recent years, there’s been heightened focus on Identity. Yet Identity has been part of societies for every generation, in all cultures of the world. Whether it’s based in political, religious, racial, gender or age differences (to name a...
The flow of a coaching conversation
A coaching conversation is a conversation with a purpose, being a client-determined topic and outcome for each coaching session. Professional Coaches are trained in how to structure a coaching session, so there is maximum opportunity for the client to gain...
Refrain from giving unsolicited suggestions
It can be tempting for a coach to believe their "value" to a client is in the sharing of resources, such as a framework, model or book suggestion for the client. We've been conditioned to believe that our answers are...
Acknowledging your coaching client
As professionally trained coaches, we learn the important coaching skill of acknowledging the client for their “work” in the coaching process. However Acknowledging as a Coaching Skill has broader application, as defined in five of the ICF Core Competencies which...
Coaching self-talk
As coaches, we often support clients, through our non-judgmental listening, observations and questions, to become aware of what they are saying to themselves about themselves and their circumstances. This is commonly referred to as “self-talk.” There are circumstances in life...
Whose perspective is it anyway?
As a result of questions a coach asks, or observations a coach offers, clients will often say something like; “I’ve never thought of ‘it’ (my situation or myself) in that way before.” “That’s a different way for me to look...