Coaching is all about benefitting the client. In coach training each coach learns to focus completely on the client and to continue the relationship only if it benefits the client.
From the perspective of a client: what does the client want from the coaching? Clients want a coach that supports and empowers them to think, strategize, create meaningful change, and achieve. What does that mean a client can expect of a coach?
- Sounding Board – a coach listens and asks questions
- Expand thinking – the follow-up questions that a coach asks are designed to expand the thinking of the client
- Challenge – a coach challenges client assumptions or limited thinking
- Notes – some coaches provide notes and this serves to provide the client with a summary that further advances thinking and supports clarity plus ensures ideas and action plans are captured
- Support – a coach is a partner and supports the client in their exploration and strategizing plus through the challenges of creating change
- Follow through – a coach is an accountability partner to ensure the client is motivated, completes actions they choose and committed to, plus acknowledges their progress and success
Just as a client expects certain things from a coach, coaches also expect things from their client:
- Full engagement in the process
- The desire to create change
- An open willingness to talk and take risks
- A desire to learn, improve, and move forward
- Ownership of chosen strategies and actions
Ultimately the success that results from coaching is the client’s which means that the coach is there as a support partner trained in a process that works and the client is the one doing the work to achieve the results they choose.
