The coach-client relationship is highly personalized and a very special one. Not every potential client will gel perfectly with your coaching methods and ways of working. Don’t worry. Think of your clients as a jigsaw piece, and you have to demonstrate the qualities explored below in order to help them create a bigger and more nuanced picture.
So what are the 5 qualities of a good coach and how can you possess these qualities?
1. Flexibility.
If you want to have the qualities of a good coach then you need to be aware that your methods won’t work for every individual you come into contact with. Just as people prefer different doctors, mechanics and bosses, people prefer certain methods that coaches employ. Some clients will like a more authoritative tone, whereas others may find this too domineering and feel intimidated.
As a coach, you need to be confident in your own methods, yet have a degree of flexibility in your approach. You need to gauge the personality of your clients and work with them in an appropriate way. You want to probe, encourage them to be self-aware, critical and solution-minded to help them to improve aspects of their lives.
2. Empathy.
While you might not have direct experience of being stuck in a career rut or know the specifics of a personal goal that your client is trying to achieve, you still need to have the ability to empathize. Draw upon your own life experience and use what you’ve learned in your coaching sessions. A client will find it particularly difficult to work with you if you don’t acknowledge the situation that they find themselves in. You need to put yourself in their shoes and bring examples, ideas and solutions to the table.
3. Being a good listener.
The most successful coaching sessions are those that don’t involve you talking all that much. Your job is that of a facilitator, and you need to encourage your client to work out their own solutions rather than just providing them. This is the essence of the empowerment that a good coach can provide. If you’re working with the director of a large company and they are struggling with the implementation of workplace policies, you can provide them with a health and safety procedure guide for employers, but it’s up to them to personalize this and implement it. You provide the tools, but they have to work out how to use them. Your voice shouldn’t be the main sound coming out of your coaching sessions.
4. Being organized.
To possess the qualities of a good coach, you need to be able to keep records of your coaching sessions so you can hit the ground running every time you meet with a client. You may be coaching many individuals so you don’t want to have to spend the first ten minutes of every session figuring out what you spoke about the last time you met.
You need a clear structure to your meetings; maybe begin with a progress report from the mini goals that were set in the previous session. Work out an objective for the current session, work towards this and then set some homework. Encourage your client to test out the new way of working you have formulated together, or encourage them to apply for at least three new jobs if they are seeking a promotion, or encourage them to undertake a course if they need another qualification under their belt.
By setting practical and manageable goals, you will be setting measurable targets that will allow your client to see the impact of your sessions and the value of you as a coach.
5. Optimism
A good coach recognizes that not every solution put forward will work. Sometimes it takes a period of trial and error before a barrier can be overcome whether this is professional or personal. While a client may attend a session feeling low, pessimistic or down because a problem is still not rectified, as a coach, you need to remain buoyant, optimistic and full of hope. Be armed with alternative solutions to trial and encourage your client to take these on board to test out before settling on a course of action.
If you enjoy helping others fulfill their potential and you relish the opportunity to work in an environment of mutual respect, then I have no doubt you’ll become a knock-out coach!
What other qualities do feel are important to have as a coach? Let me know in the comments below!
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