4 minute read

We have a story to tell at The Passionate Coach. At the heart of the story is a common bond we share, forged from our experience as coaches spanning a total of more than 40 years. It has to do with a discovery we made about our clients that is foundational to the work we now do together. While our paths in becoming coaches were vastly different, we both came to a realization that we like to refer to as our little secret.

Ready? Drum roll please…all clients have the answers to their problems and concerns; they know what they want in life and how they, and only they, can achieve it.

This may come as a surprise, especially to those who became a coach because they experienced and survived a traumatic life event and want to share what they learned with others.

As new coaches, we came to understand that the real breakthroughs in performance, the achievement of goals, and major shifts in our clients’ approach to how they lived their lives came from the motivation, courage, and tenacity of the client. The clients did all the heavy lifting as only they could do, because they had all the answers.

Over time, our role in helping clients reach their true potential was revealed to us and it had little to do with the life lessons we had learned based on our own experiences. Our role was to create a transformational coaching environment in which our clients could uncover the answers they needed as well as the innate skills and behaviors required to build the life that only they could imagine.

This month we will be covering the essential components we believe create just such an environment, one that allows your clients to find their own path, their truth, and their success with you at their side. We will offer tips, stories, and strategies to reinforce what you already know, provide fresh insights, and put you on the lookout for opportunities to build and reinforce your own client-centered environment based on the following four fundamental elements.  

4 Elements of a Transformational Coaching Environment

1.     The Coaches Belief System

• The transformational coach believes that that every client is capable of achieving transformation.
• Coaching interactions are client centered and non-judgmental.
• The client is the smartest person in the room when it comes to knowing themselves.
• Transformational coaches hold themselves accountable for their commitments and always exercise integrity and confidentiality.
• They coach from their own authentic coaching journey which means that they have done the work that they encourage their clients to do.

2.     A Coaching Process and Platform that Supports Transformation

The process and platform used by the coach encourages and supports transformation and, when combined with the coach’s masterful skills, results in the greatest opportunity for client transformation. Ideally, the coaching process should include a platform or mechanism to support the management of the client’s plan and reinforce key coaching principles. The platform should:

• Be client accessed and managed
• Allow for mobile access
• Be flexible and adjust to the dynamic needs of the client
• Accommodate coach and client accountability
• Be used as repository for coaching concepts and notes

Together, the process and platform allow transformation to unfold in a positive and effective way.

3.     Masterful Communication Skills

Above all, the coach has extraordinary communication skills such as:

Questioning – (The number one skill in our opinion) Used properly, well-crafted questions enable clients to connect with what they already know but may have unconsciously suppressed. The coach’s questions are intentional and drive the client to uncover what is in their hearts.

Feedback – The skilled coach knows when to offer feedback, how to deliver it, and when the best feedback is silence.

Active Listening – The coach listens in such a way that clients know they have been heard and understood.

4.     An Atmosphere of Positivity That Generates Momentum

The transformational coach helps clients uncover their strengths and reinforces the integration of those strengths into the coaching plan. Conversations are rooted in possibility and point to an exciting future.

Coaches understand the power of positive imagery and suggest appropriate ways for their clients to create and display their vision and goals for the future.

The coach knows that language can take us in the direction we want to go – or don\’t want to go. When clients use words that steer coaching conversations in a negative direction, the coach quickly redirects the language so that it is strengths-based and on track with future goals.

While our clients may have all the answers, without the support of a talented coach, answers would rarely bubble to the surface all on their own. Transformational coaches are able to differentiate themselves from other coaches by taking the time to create a rich coaching environment in which clients develop the skills and behaviors that allow them to tell and learn from their stories, past, present, and future. All this month we will explore these skills and behaviors with actionable tips and tools created just for this purpose.

We would love your feedback on this Blog. Do you have examples of clients who were the smartest people in the room? Does your coaching process and platform provide a rich environment for client transformation?

Thanks for reading. See you next week!