How can you empower your clients?
As a life coach, you want to help your clients achieve their goals and overcome their challenges. But how can you do that without imposing your own agenda, opinions, or expectations? How can you empower your clients to discover their own solutions, strengths, and values? In this article, we will explore some strategies and techniques that can help you foster a more empowering and collaborative coaching relationship.
The foundation of any coaching relationship is rapport and trust. Without them, your clients will not feel comfortable, respected, or supported by you. To build rapport and trust, you need to show genuine interest, empathy, and curiosity in your clients. You need to listen actively, reflect back what you hear, and validate their feelings and experiences. You also need to be transparent, honest, and consistent in your communication and actions. Rapport and trust will enable you to create a safe and positive space where your clients can open up and explore their issues.
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In my experience, the first 5 minutes of the conversation makes or breaks the client’s sense of trust, safety and comfort. It is important to be reminded we are here for the client, it doesn’t matter what’s our expertise and how many similar issues we have dealt with but to be non judgemental, open to hear their story from their point of view & being open to any new possibility is what comforts the client and allows them to trust you and feel safe.
One of the most effective ways to empower your clients is to use powerful questions. Powerful questions are open-ended, thought-provoking, and solution-oriented. They invite your clients to think deeper, expand their perspective, and generate their own ideas. For example, instead of asking "What is the problem?" you can ask "What is the outcome you want?" or "What is possible for you?" Powerful questions also challenge your clients to take responsibility, accountability, and action. For example, instead of asking "Why can't you do that?" you can ask "What is stopping you?" or "What can you do to overcome that obstacle?"
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Using powerful questions that require a deeper consideration will elicit more change talk. Using how, what, tell me more; type of questions will enable a client to travel to their destination with less resistance. Your goal as a coach is to help the client solve their challenges with their own insights. The questions and reflections can be the difference between success and failure in any behavior change effort.
The GROW model is a simple and effective framework that can help you structure your coaching sessions and empower your clients. GROW stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Will. The goal is what your client wants to achieve or change. The reality is the current situation and the challenges they face. The options are the possible solutions or actions they can take. The will is the commitment and motivation they have to implement their plan. By following the GROW model, you can help your clients clarify their vision, assess their reality, explore their options, and decide on their actions.
Another way to empower your clients is to leverage their strengths and values. Strengths are the natural talents, skills, and abilities that your clients have. Values are the core beliefs, principles, and standards that guide your clients' decisions and behaviors. By helping your clients identify and use their strengths and values, you can boost their confidence, resilience, and satisfaction. You can also help them align their goals and actions with their true self and purpose. You can use tools such as the VIA Character Strengths Survey or the Values in Action Inventory to facilitate this process.
Feedback and recognition are essential for empowering your clients. Feedback is the information you give your clients about their performance, progress, and areas of improvement. Recognition is the acknowledgment and appreciation you show your clients for their efforts, achievements, and contributions. Feedback and recognition can help your clients learn from their experiences, celebrate their successes, and overcome their setbacks. To provide effective feedback and recognition, you need to be specific, timely, balanced, and constructive. You also need to focus on the behavior, not the person, and use positive language.
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The best feedback you can give is celebrating even the smallest of steps taken by your client. I've found that the majority of the time, they don't have anyone in their corner that truly understands them. Cheering them on consistently and authentically can help them stay on track and get excited about the transformation they're taking part in.
Finally, you can empower your clients by encouraging them to self-reflect and self-empower. Self-reflection is the process of examining and evaluating one's own thoughts, feelings, actions, and outcomes. Self-empowerment is the process of taking charge of one's own life, choices, and goals. By encouraging your clients to self-reflect and self-empower, you can help them develop self-awareness, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and self-leadership. You can also help them become more independent, proactive, and resourceful. You can use tools such as journaling, mindfulness, affirmations, or coaching cards to support this process.
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Over the process of coaching, keep reminding them that their power was always there, it was just buried. As you both work to uncover that power, less and less encouragement will be needed from your side. At a certain point, they'll automatically know what's best for them and just how to go about it.
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One thing that is often overseen, is the importance of the room you are creating for your client. It is incredible how great of an effect the setting has, that you are working with your client in. The room will have to be calm, judgmental free, open and to be a safe environment for the client and coach. This is how you get all the puzzle pieces on the table and you can go over it with your client, and make progress. No client will be able to bring or find anything deep and profound, if they feel judged or simply aren't comfortable, then it would be purely symptoms and mental defenses we are dealing with and not the root cause of their issues.