In a recent blog, Coaches Wear Many Hats… Is Leader One Of Them? we asked you to consider that although transformational coaches believe their clients have all the answers they need, there are times when the coach assumes a leadership role in the coaching relationship. Though this approach may sound contradictory, it is not. The coach provides just the right amount of leadership at the right time in order to sustain the momentum the client needs to ultimately achieve or exceed their goals. The process by which the coach successfully navigates this leadership role is not complicated.
The first step is to gain clarity as to when a client might need leadership from the coach. For example:
- Early in the coaching relationship
- In times of confusion and uncertainty
- When clients face new challenges
- When a client’s purpose or vision is not clear
- When a client needs inspiration
- When a client wants or needs to build a skill
- When a client needs help analyzing feedback either from an assessment or an experience
- When clients find it difficult to make a decision
A client experiencing any of these challenges will benefit from the coach’s leadership provided the coach understands what level of leadership is needed and how much. For example, when a client initially engages with you, their life may be in flux. They look to you to help them sort out their priorities and prepare a plan for creating stability out of what seems to be chaos. At this stage, they may be looking to you to help them resolve 100% of the uncertainty or challenges they face. Experienced coaches understand they must provide a level of leadership consistent with where their client is on the continuum of their intellectual and emotional competency.
For example, a client who has no experience working with a coach may come to you in the middle of a forced career change. The client finds themselves needing and even expecting your leadership rather than relying on themselves for the answers needed to move forward. The skilled coach knows exactly how much “leadership” to apply at this stage and the importance of shifting increased responsibility on the client to come up with their own answers as they move forward.
In a successful coaching relationship, over time the client comes to rely less and less on the leadership of the coach and more and more on their own powers of reflection, analysis, and decision-making. The coach sees this as a process by which client autonomy is achieved. The client assumes more and more confidence and responsibility for creating their own future.
The process of shifting responsibility to the client is illustrated in the chart below. By progressing through each phase of the process, the coach gradually relinquishes responsibility for being the leader and the client confidently glides into the role of the self-directed learner.
