The Best Coaches Are Teachers Too!

Everyone deserves a chance to be their best self and live a life that reflects their vision of what that means. That is why we coach. Transformational coaches fill the void that appears when clients can’t see the path to the vision they hold. No matter what clouds their vision or impedes their journey, the right coach at the right time helps lift the veil of uncertainty and facilitates the connection of who they are to whom they want to be.

Filling the role of the right coach at the right time can be challenging because the skills, behaviors, and mindset of the transformational coach are many and varied, developed over years of study and application. Among these skills and behaviors is one we may not often talk about, but when played well, it is the role that can win you the coaching Emmy… the role of teacher.

The coach’s role as a teacher impacts your clients in two major life-changing ways.

It helps them to live their lives with more autonomy
Because of your teaching, they become lifelong learners

This week’s article will offer you some reasons why teaching and coaching go hand in hand and show you some of the ways in which we help our clients become autonomous, lifelong learners.

An autonomous client is self-directed and has the knowledge, tools, and desire to live a life of discovery.

They have a process and a supporting belief for managing life’s most challenging events.
They are proactive self-development advocates, who are motivated by their ability and desire to learn and grow.
They know who they are now: their real self, and whom they want to be: their ideal self.
They understand that their path to becoming their ideal self is not a straight line and have learned to reflect on and apply the lessons they learn from the ups and downs of life.
They find decision-making easier because they know and live their values.
The thoughts they hold on to are useful and help clear the path when they encounter obstacles.
They surround themselves with positive people.
They have the ability to create a vision for their future and know how to create a plan to get there.
They craft goals that give them goosebumps and feel like gifts.
People say that they are authentic, the real deal.

What are the benefits of creating autonomous clients?

For the client:

They become lifelong learners.
They take ownership of their plans, actions, and outcomes.
They are far more successful in reaching their goals.
They develop coping skills.
They learn resilience.
Obstacles are anticipated and dealt with.
Life events become learning opportunities.
Motivation is deep-rooted.
They become raving fans who recommend their coach to others.

For the coach:

Clients enthusiastically partner in their plans and take ownership of their progress.
Coaching sessions are collaborative and productive.
Accountability is shared.
Client results are sustained over time.
Clients become raving fans and refer you repeatedly.
Your love for your work grows, and the joy of seeing your clients develop as self-motivated lifelong learners is exhilarating.

To create autonomous clients, coaches must learn to teach their clients the same processes and skills they use to learn and grow in their own lives. We do this in our practice by taking our clients through models of the lessons that we want them to learn, such as shifting limiting beliefs into empowering paradigms, taking the time to acknowledge and appreciate lessons learned from both successes and failures, and reflecting on their values to help them make meaningful life decisions. Over time, our clients give us feedback on how well a model did or did not work for them. Coaching becomes truly collaborative, a major bonus for any coach. We first model the behaviors and actions, then we show the client how to apply them in their world and their situation and acknowledge them for their efforts in putting these models into action.

What mental or constructed model do you use for teaching your clients how to manage their transformational journey? If this idea of the coach as teacher is new to you, here are a few areas in which to build your knowledge and share with your clients.

Live intentionally as part of a daily routine. Inventory old habits that get in the way.
Learn how and take the time to reflect on life events and glean the lessons learned.
Fearlessly experiment with new ideas and behaviors. This is where you share your model for uncovering limiting beliefs and replacing them with empowering ones.
Learn to let go of the things that don’t serve you including strengths you may have used in the past but now realize they do not serve your ideal self.
Question everything. Our language propels us in the direction we want to go. The coach wants their client to think and speak positively about their future and one way to do that is for the coach to incorporate Appreciative Inquiry techniques (AI) into your coaching process. AI is a collaborative search to identify an individual’s strengths so that they are able to imagine their highest hopes and greatest possibilities. AI examines the best of who we are so that we can imagine what might be and ultimately create what will be.
Ask for feedback. Feedback gives us a snapshot of our real selves, who we are today. When we compare our real self to our ideal self, we can see the gaps and discover what we need to do to close them.

You may have additional models you use in your life and practice to keep you on the path toward success. Build them into your coaching curriculum and become a coach known for creating autonomous clients who are lifelong learners.

Thanks for reading.