Managing Client Transformation

Recently, we explained the first two steps in our transformational coaching model: Anticipate and Recognize. Transformational coaches must first anticipate that every client they work with is capable of experiencing transformation. Without anticipation and recognition, coaches may overlook a client’s ah-ha moment and miss the opportunity to open the space for true transformation. The third step in our model is Manage, where the coach helps the client explore the ah-ha moment more deeply and sets the stage for lasting transformation.

This is where the seeds of long-term, intentional change are sown; the coaching that sets transformational coaches apart from the rest.

Ah-ha moments can come at any time in the coaching process. While exploring attitudes and behaviors and in the process of coaching clients to reach goals, transformational opportunities reveal themselves over and over again. So it is incumbent on the coach to be extraordinarily watchful and flexible. It is easy to overlook an ah-ha moment if the client’s reaction doesn’t tip you off. And while potential realizations may seem significant to you, the client may declare them inconsequential. Let the client take the helm when making this journey and allow them to decide what makes the most sense for them.

What does it mean to manage the transformational process?

If the coach suspects that the client has had an ah-ha moment they must first use their listening, questioning, and feedback skills to test the validity of their assumption. Questions like, “Am I correct in assuming that something has just shifted for you?” “I sense that you are looking at this situation in a new light, would you agree?” Get the conversation going so that the client feels comfortable and supported because they may have just landed on a life-altering realization.

This initial exploration of an ah-ha moment can go one of two ways, either you begin a deep discussion on the validity of the ah-ha moment or the client dismisses your interpretation. Be alert. Sometimes ah-ha moments can be exciting, even beautiful, and at other times they can be downright scary. If the client’s initial reaction is that this realization will require big changes in their life, they might tamp it down and dismiss your assumption about what is really happening. That\’s OK. If your assumption is right and you have raised it to the surface, it will surely resurface in a future coaching session and you will have another opportunity to throw a net over it and initiate a rich discussion about what is really going on.

The skills that will take you and your client through this process are learned over time, however, your initial step should be to ask the all-important questions:

Has something shifted for you just now?
I sense that you have come to an important realization, what is it?

Listen for the answers and pay attention to the emotions behind them. The client may be willing to discuss and explore further but don’t be surprised if once again they put you off wanting to wait until they are more comfortable with this new realization and what it means for them.

If the client is willing, discuss what this new realization means for them. Is it consistent with their values? What will need to change? In addition to the client, whom will it impact? What actions need to be taken to move forward? This discussion may take an entire coaching session and can change the trajectory of the client’s work with you.

If your client is ready to embrace this new realization, they may find that their paradigm no longer fits, or they may need one or more new guidelines, or their goals no longer seem relevant. Take the time to help the client revise their plan and incorporate their new vision. This is a pivotal moment in the coaching process. This is what your client signed up for: knowing themselves at a deeper level, catching that elusive glimpse of whom they are meant to be, and taking the steps to get there.

Once you expertly assist a client in their first transformational experience, expect that there may be others. This is where the real coaching takes place! Once a client sees the power in the process you use and your skillful handling of ah-ha moments, the support they feel will give them the courage and the reassurance to allow more of these moments to emerge. The impact of this moment and the way you guided your client through it, opens a whole new area of trust in the client/coach relationship.

In future sessions, refer back to the client’s ah-ha moment. How is it changing their life, thought processes, and behaviors? What challenges and opportunities have surfaced? Are there any additional changes that need to be addressed? Don’t be surprised if the client begins to second-guess their decision to move forward. For example, say the client has realized that a friendship is toxic and has decided to sever the relationship and the friend’s hurt reaction causes them to falter in their resolve. The transformational coach accepts this as part of the process of managing client transformation.

Help the client understand and manage their emotions so they can speak more openly and help them find the words to express themselves. Encourage baby steps, explore the worst that could happen, help them deal with the fear, and summon the courage (whatever that means) to take the steps necessary to confidently proceed.

Take a close look at your coaching system. Does it support the management of client transformation? Does every coaching session build on what happened in the previous session? Does it include a system for documenting progress made in the last session as well as the expectations to be met by the next session? When your coaching system supports the transformational process, both coach and client are constantly reminded of the desired transformation and the work required to realize a sustained internal shift in who the client is.

There you have it. The Passionate Coach’s Transformational Coaching Process: Anticipate, Recognize and Manage, the three steps necessary to coach your clients to achieve personal transformation. If you missed the previous two steps you can access them here: