Preparing Your Client for Coaching
Once you have connected with a new client, there is a lot of excitement to see what can happen from working together. So it's a good idea to prepare well so that you can both get the most out of your coaching sessions. Here are a few tips that you can use with new clients as you prepare them for the first session.
The first thing is to make sure to have some kind of ‘chemistry check’. You really want to make sure that you and your clients are going to ‘click’ and that you both feel you have a good rapport that carries throughout your sessions. As well, this is the time to make sure that your clients understand your own standards and ethics towards coaching, and that your clients are actually looking for a coach and not a mentor, teacher, consultant, therapist, etc. Take time to introduce yourself and also take time to learn a little bit about your clients. What are the overarching themes that they are interested in exploring? This will help you to have a good frame of mind when you meet clients for the first session. Personally I like to use some tools for self-exploration with clients before I meet them for the first full session. I love using the ‘Wheel of Balance’ or a ‘Values Assessment’, and to have clients work on these before meeting me for the first session. This gives them a chance to explore their own thinking and motivation and is a great way to start the first session, as an introduction and exploration which can then move into the goals that they want to set for the coaching engagement.
If you are working with an organization/sponsor, ensure that your agreement between you, the organization, and the client are well established and understood by all parties. You don't want to be halfway through your coaching sessions and the HR Manager suddenly asking to have an update on progress, or wanting to see some report that was not agreed-upon before beginning the sessions. Sharing information on your clients' progress should be clear and your clients should be part of that decision-making process. Doing it any other way could disrupt the flow of confidentiality and eventual loss of trust that your clients have with you. Optimally there should be a short meeting between the three parties agreeing specifically on the logistics and sharing of information from the coaching sessions.
Clarity and certainty are big keys to a successful session. If possible provide an agenda for your clients so they know what to expect, to be able to do any kind of pre-thinking or exploration and to be better prepared for the session. For example, if you have finished the chemistry check and you are going to be working on the exploration of the tool that they have explored on their own before the first session, let them know what you are going to be doing with what came out of exploring through the tool. My preference is to always tell the client that I am not interested in seeing the results of completing a tool on paper but am very interested in just discussing with them what they learned about themselves from completing the tool. This is actually a better way to use a tool, as it forces the client to go beyond just completing it and to reflect in a deeper way how it may have sparked their thinking, feeling, values, etc.
A good coach should always leave their clients with tangible actions that they will be working on before the next session. Save time at the end of the session to ensure that you can wrap up the learning and exploration, and establish what kind of ‘experimentation’ your clients would like to try in working through what they learned about themselves and their goals. Offer support and always be accountable to helping your clients be accountable. Ensure you and your clients have written down the actions to be taken and also make sure your clients know that the results of these actions will be explored in the next meeting. Again, this provides certainty, clarity, and confidence so that your client is excited and knows what their responsibilities are in this part of the coaching relationship and agreement.
As you work with and understand your client more and more, incorporate what you see are their best learning styles. This can be helpful when you are working with them to get the most out of the experience you have together. Be open, generous, and spontaneous and encourage your client to think out of the box, considering new perspectives that they may have not considered before.
These are just some of the ideas that can help your coaching relationship get off on the right foot, being all about your clients and what they want.
I would love to hear from fellow coaches your own ideas on this topic!
Dr. Thomas Yates, PCC
Thailand Coaching Institute
Asia Pacific Coaching Institute