This week the clip chosen because of its potential interest to coaches is from an independent TEDx event. Mr. Brian Marshall talks about cognitive coaching and gives real examples from his role within education.
What is Cognitive Coaching? | Brian Marshall | TEDxYouth@TCIS
Clip length: 18 mins 19 secs
Prefer to watch via YouTube? In that case you’ll need to click here.
How do you set your clients coaching homework?
Clients taking some form of action after a coaching session is an expectation that most coaches and clients have about the process of coaching. Often this action, the coaching homework, has been agreed during the coaching session itself between the coach and the client.
Sometimes this action is suggested directly by the client and on other occasions it is the coach that sets the “homework”.
A question I see and hear from time to time is a variation of the question – how do you know what coaching homework to set your clients?
In today’s post I’m going to share some thoughts around this topic. Firstly, I’m going to draw attention to language and specifically the word “homework”. Some clients will be absolutely fine with using this terminology without it having any impact. For others, for whatever reason, you may find that referring to something as “homework” has negative connections and provokes resistance and reluctance towards the task.
You will know your niche and client best so you can decide if you wish to label these tasks with a different label or not use any at all. Purely for the ease of consistency I am going to use the label “homework” for this article. In “real life” coaching I personally usually tend towards using the labels assignment or actions.
As a coach there are usually 3 different ways of working with clients and setting coaching homework.
1) Following a set format for every single client
There are some coaches who follow the same process for each and every single one of their clients. They work on a principle that if it is session 2 then their client gets set coaching homework B. This can be particularly common if the context that the coaching is occurring within is not bespoke – for example following an online coaching program or in some group coaching situations.
2) Another way of working is to look at where each individual client is, what they are working on, and set a bespoke piece of homework just for that individual.
3) A third way is a mix of 1) and 2) above. You may have certain pieces of coaching homework that each and every client will be set and others that you will create which is bespoke just for them.
Perhaps you always set a specific piece of coaching homework between the initial conversation and the first official coaching session. After which all other homework is crafted just for that client.
Or maybe you have collected a series of possible coaching homework exercises that you have at your fingertips depending upon what you feel is appropriate for that client in that stage.
I’m sure that if you were to think about each approach you could see positive and negative points for each. You may already be aware of points from a marketing perspective, others from a customer service viewpoint etc. As always, my own personal opinion is that if whichever approach that you are using works for you and your clients than that is great!
But regardless of which approach you are using how do you create a piece of coaching homework?
I’ve already mentioned one approach I often use – I ask the client if there’s anything that’s already occurred to them. I do this for several reasons:
1) My approach to coaching allows clients to access their own inner knowledge and intelligence. So it’s entirely possible that they will already have a perfectly crafted action that will be ideally suited for this situation.
2) The chances are that if it’s occurred to them that they will go and take the action anyway. I want to check in and make sure that it’s an action that is in-line with what they are looking to achieve.
This can be particularly relevant if during the coaching conversation it’s become obvious that previously action has been taken based on a limiting belief, faulty piece of logic etc. I want to test and make sure that they are not then making the same “mistake” in a slightly different context
3) I am conscious of avoiding overwhelming clients with actions. The amount will usually vary depending upon the client but as a general rule my clients achieve more when they are not overwhelmed with tasks.
So how do I decide upon the coaching homework to set. If I’m honest my thought process is usually no more complicated than it’s what occurs to me given the session we’ve just completed. I’m also aware that such an answer would have been of little use when I was just starting out so let me offer some more.
Much of what I set as coaching homework is based around what the answers are to certain questions. The answers to those questions aid me to decide what exercise, task etc will be a great fit or to devise something on the spot that is a match.
Whilst this is not an exhaustive list, here are some of the aspects and questions to consider:
What is currently getting in the way of this client getting what they want?
What outcome do you want by setting this coaching homework? How will you know that outcome has been achieved?
What would move your client a step closer to what they want?
What’s going to make the biggest difference for your client?
What’s the easiest way for that outcome to be achieved?
What’s the most fun way to work towards that outcome?
What is going to appeal most to your client?
How willing is your client to do the suggested coaching homework?
Some of these questions I will already know the answer to based upon earlier work. Other questions I may ask the client whilst “setting the homework”.
It’s also worth noting at this stage that sometimes the coaching homework is actually not to do something – For example, taking a break from trying to figure something out can be a perfect “homework” in certain scenarios.
I invite you to pay attention to the questions you consider next time you set a client coaching homework. Feel free to share more questions and comment below…
Jen Waller is on a mission to support, nurture and encourage coaching skills and talents from non-coach to coach and beyond.
As an experienced coach and trainer Jen is happy to utilise all skills at her disposal to assist clients from getting out of their own way and making a difference in the world with their coaching. One of the aspects of her role Jen loves the most is seeing individuals find their voice, grow their confidence and take the next steps. This allows them to make a massive positive impact and difference with their coaching. (For more info about Jen’s coaching click here, including the From non-coach to coach discovery session) Jen has owned and run Coaching Confidence, the coaching blog since 2010.
In her spare time Jen is a volunteer for the UK based charity The Cinnamon Trust. This charity supports elderly and terminally ill pet owners to provide care for their pets. As a volunteer, Jen regularly walks dogs for owners who physically often find that more challenging then they once did. As a pet owner herself, Jen finds it really rewarding to be able to assist an owner stay with an animal that has become part of the family. (Plus it’s a great additional motivator when working from home to get out and get some fresh air and exercise)
Jen also loves theatre and has been known to watch certain popular science fiction films and TV shows!
This week the clip chosen because of its potential interest to coaches is from an independent TEDx event. Designer, illustrator, children’s book author and corporate speaker Leslie McGuirk talks about creative thinking in “The Importance of Being Wrong”
The Importance of Being Wrong | Leslie McGuirk | TEDxHollywood
Clip length: 10 mins 17 secs
Prefer to watch via YouTube? In that case you’ll need to click here.
In today’s guest post, Client Acquisition Strategist, Davis Lin focuses upon the popular question of how to get coaching clients, specifically looking at:
To turn your ideal clients, who do not yet know about you and your service, into paying clients for your coaching business, there are just two steps:
Step 1: Capture the attention of your ideal clients and get them as email subscribers
Step 2: Build a relationship with them, and turn them into coaching clients
Now that you have already gotten them as subscribers, you have already won half the battle. By now, they would already know what it is that you do, and you have also piqued their interests a little on how you can help them get the results they want.
The next step is to compound the value you give through your email sequence, and to do that you have to know how to pull the right psychological triggers to get them to sign up for your coaching.
As such, here are 4 psychological triggers you can start using today to turn your subscribers into paying coaching clients.
One of the most common concepts of human behaviours is that we are driven by the need to avoid pain and to gain pleasure. However often time, the desire to avoid pain is greater than trying to gain pleasure.
For example, I always wanted to go to the gym on a regular basis to help myself keep fit and look good, so I would set a regime to go to the gym at least two to three times a week. At first, I was able to stick to this regime for a couple of months. But as time went by, I found myself skipping gym more and more until I was only going just once a month.
However, just only a few months later, something happened that made me go to the gym every single day without fail. That was when I began to show symptoms that resemble those of diabetes. I started to fear I might actually have diabetes, and this fear led me to research everything I could on diabetes. Through my research, I found out that exercising would be the best way to lower the blood sugar and hence keep the disease at bay. Because of that, I started to go to gym again every single day without fail for a month, even when I didn’t know for sure that I had diabetes!
Fortunately, after several tests and doctor visits, I was relieved to know that I didn’t have diabetes at all. All of a sudden, the urgency to go to the gym every single day was no longer there. As you might have guessed it right, I went back to going to the gym only once or twice a month subsequently.
You see, the main reason why people come to you is because they have a problem they want to solve. However, not many people may realise the actual weight of their problem and the consequences of not resolving it. As such, they do not feel the urgent need to take action and get their problems solved immediately.
This is where you as the coach need to let them realise the weight and urgency of their problems. You do that by targeting and agitating the big pains they are going through, and highlighting the consequences of not having their problems solved.
For me, it was when I realised that I might have diabetes, and the possibility of me not being able to look after my family. The thought of that was so painful that it made me want to urgently do whatever I could to prevent it from happening.
This is also how you want to let your subscribers feel about their problems as well. So, understanding the exact pains and problems that your ideal clients are going through is important to get them to want to take action.
When they realise the urgency of their problems, and know that not resolving them will cause immense pain, it will compel them to seek a solution. And that’s where you come in.
Now, that you have agitated the pains your subscribers are going through, and have let them see that they need to take action, they now yearn for a solution.
It has been said that “when there is no vision, the people perish”. Even one of the most popular quotes in Star Wars is “Rebellions are built on hope”.
Hope is a very powerful emotion. This is why you want to give hope to your subscribers through a step-by-step solution that takes them from where they are right now, to where they want to be.
When you present your solution in a step-by-step fashion, it shows your ideal clients a clear roadmap to their destination, and it gets them excited with the idea of getting the results with your help and coaching.
It will also allow you to be seen as an expert with the knowledge and know-how to help them with their problems and guide them to where they want to be.
For example, if you are a career coach who helps stay-at-home mothers get back to the corporate world after many years, you can talk about the steps they can take to go from homemaker to a highly desirable job candidate for the job they want to apply.
By doing this, it gives clarity, confidence and hope to them that it is entirely possible to make it happen.
Hope is a strong motivating factor in making a buying decision. Because if we don’t first believe there is a possibility to get our problem solved, we would never engage the service of the coach.
After showing them the step-by-step solution, you want to back it up with proof that it actually works. That is why social proof is an important element in getting your ideal clients to sign up for your coaching. In fact, it is one of the six principles of persuasion in Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence.
And the best way to do this is by sharing with them all the case studies and success stories of your previous clients. When you detail the case studies and success stories of your previous clients, it will let your subscribers see what is possible for them if they work with you.
The more detailed you are in the case studies, the more it can help your ideal clients relate with your past clients.
For example, if you are a relationship coach that helps people with their love life, you can talk about the problems that a past client went through, and how they eventually overcame them with your coaching. So, when people with very similar problems see what you had done for your past clients, it would give them the confidence that their problems can too be solved by working with you.
Furthermore, it holds more credibility and trust when the recommendation comes from other people, especially people who were once in a similar situation as them.
But what if you’re just starting out and don’t have any clients yet?
Then, what you can do is to show a case study of how you personally overcame a problem that many of your ideal clients are facing, and then show how you got to where you are now. It is equally powerful, if not more powerful, because it shows that you too have experienced the same problems as them and they would be able to relate more to you.
When you are able to show case studies, it inspires your ideal clients to see that if it’s possible for others who were once in a similar situation, then it’s possible for them as well. Because of that, it will get them compelled to get help from you.
Before people make any buying decision, it is common for them to have fears that they might not be making the right decision. This fear arises from unresolved concerns about your coaching offer. So, to help them overcome their fears, you need to adequately address their concerns and objections.
But first you need to understand what their concerns are. One simple way to find out is to ask them. Ask them what is holding them back from taking up your coaching offer. Make sure that you get them to tell you all the objections they have in mind.
The next step would be to address their objections one by one by reframing it. Reframing lets you to use what your potential clients have said to craft your response. This way, it makes it very hard for them to disagree with it.
So let’s say that one of the common objections that you get is that they are busy and don’t have the time for it. Then you can say that you have a coaching package that is specially designed for busy professionals and it only requires very little of their time – one hour each week for them to work with you ( Of course, this has to be true). Out of this one hour of their time, you then emphasize again how much value and benefits they can get from your coaching.
Once you have overcome these fears that the have in their mind, then there would be nothing holding them back from signing up with you.
Too often, people want to get immediate results from their efforts. That means that if they have a subscriber today, they are hoping they would sign up for their coaching packages by tomorrow. And if that doesn’t happen, they give up on that subscriber and focus on getting more new subscribers, and they wonder why they are not getting more clients.
However, that approach would be too myopic because not everyone is ready at the same time. For example, I had a subscriber who signed up to my newsletter for a year before he became a paying client. When I asked him why it took him a year to join my coaching, he said that it’s because his situation just wasn’t right for him to engage my service at that point in time.
However, because I had continued to give him value each day even after a year, he eventually decided to take up my coaching when his situation allowed him to.
Had I instead just unsubscribed all those that have been on my list for more than a couple of months but never bought from me, then I would have missed the opportunity to get him on as a client.
Therefore, as much as we want our subscribers to become clients as quickly as possible, the fact is that not everyone is ready for your coaching when you want them to be. But if you approach your business with a long-term mindset and aim to nurture the relationship you have with them over time, then you will find that you will be able to sign on more clients from people who have been on your list for a long time.
Davis Lin is a Client Acquisition Strategist and Founder of Client Acquisition Lab. He is very passionate about helping coaches and consultants upgrade and automate their client acquisition process, so they can spend more time doing what they do best – helping their clients, and still get more clients at the same time. To find out more, you can download his Client Acquisition Blueprint for FREE here.
The blog’s twitter account regularly shares quotes that are there to spark inspiration, provoke action and generally interest coaches. I haven’t done this for some time but here are the most popular quotes that the blogs twitter account tweeted during the month of May.
Tweet with the most interactions overall
“I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. Its because of them I’m doing it myself.”
(Albert Einstein)
Tweet with the most RT’s
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”
(Nido Qubein)
Tweet with the most favourite stars
There were two quotes which both got exactly the same number of favourite stars:
“You never fail until you stop trying.”
(Albert Einstein)
And
“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be “nothing.”
(Aristotle)
I know many coaches like quotes and we also generally love questions so in no particular order I thought I’d share some questions prompted by these quotes. You’re welcome to share your answers below if you so desire but I’d love for you to actually take any relevant action that occurs to you from answering!
If it didn’t matter if someone said “no” what would you ask and from who?
If you were looking for questions and requests for a project you’re working on that got no’s instead of yes – what would those questions and requests be?
(A “no” as an answer is a perfectly valid response, the key is respecting that as the answer)
If this is the starting point, what’s the very first step?
What if you haven’t failed, you just have yet to find the solution?
What if it was OK to “fail”? What would you be doing?
When will you know it’s time to stop?
What would happen if you did “nothing”?
If no-one cared what you did, what would you be doing?
These are just a few of the questions that occurred to me about these quotes
What questions and thoughts do these quotes prompt for you?
I know that there are various aspects that can influence if a quote attracts your attention – if you saw the tweet, personal style, if it speaks to something happening in your life at that moment, if you feel it’s something that will resonate with your own followers. Many thanks if you’ve taken the time to RT, clicked favourite, and generally interacted with the quotes on the twitter feed.
(For those of you as geeky as I am and wondering what tool I’m using to measure individual RT’s this week I’ve been playing with www.twitonomy.com and Twitters own analytics system)
P.S. Wondering how to use quotes in your coaching? Back in 2012 I wrote a couple of posts around using quotes in coaching, Do you use quotes in your coaching? and a follow up one answering a readers question Using quotes in coaching – remembering them in the first place.
Jen Waller is on a mission to support, nurture and encourage coaching skills and talents from non-coach to coach and beyond.
As an experienced coach and trainer Jen is happy to utilise all skills at her disposal to assist clients from getting out of their own way and making a difference in the world with their coaching. One of the aspects of her role Jen loves the most is seeing individuals find their voice, grow their confidence and take the next steps so that they make a massive positive impact and difference with their coaching.
In her spare time Jen is a volunteer for the UK based charity The Cinnamon Trust who support elderly and terminally ill pet owners provide care for their pets. As a volunteer, Jen regularly walks dogs for owners who physically often find that more challenging then they once did. As a pet owner herself, Jen finds it really rewarding to be able to assist an owner stay with an animal that has become part of the family. (Plus it’s a great aditional motivator when working from home to get out and get some fresh air and exercise)
Jen also loves theatre and has been known to watch certain popular science fiction films and TV shows!
This week the clip chosen because of its potential interest to coaches is from an independent TEDx event. It’s certainly not unusual for coaches looking to start their own business to feel like they are starting from nothing. In today’s talk Riley Csernica talks entrepreneurship in “Zero Equals One: Creating A Business From Nothing”.
Zero Equals One: Creating A Business From Nothing | Riley Csernica | TEDxCharleston
Clip length: 8 mins 37 secs
Prefer to watch via YouTube? In that case you’ll need to click here.
by Jen Waller
When readers sign up to get the weekly blog recap email there’s the option to share what they would like to read more about. The topic of questions is something that gets a mention – which is why if you browse through previous posts you’ll find posts such as: Questions, Questions, Questions, How to ask hard questions, and guest posts such as Frederique Murphy’s 5 Questions To Ask When Silence Sets In
As coaches we use questions a lot. It’s one of our basic tools, a fundamental aspect of what most coaches understand coaching to involve. I know it can get a bit more complicated when it comes to certain types of coaching, for example with some sports coaching. But for the purposes of this post I’m going to talk about coaching that use questions as part of the core of their approach.
Given this post is called powerful coaching questions, let’s start with a couple of questions about powerful coaching questions. What makes a powerful coaching question and how do you know if a question is powerful?
At a very simple level my initial answer to what makes a powerful coaching question is that it works for the client you’re working with at that moment. It is a question that opens up a new perspective and insight they hadn’t previously seen. It’s a question where the client suddenly finds an answer to something they’ve spent hours, days, months and even years pondering without success.
So how will you know if you’ve asked a powerful question? Your client will tell you – either directly or with their behaviour. If you get the chance to reflect on your own coaching what do you notice that tells you that a particular question has made an impact? Likewise if you get the chance to observe and listen to someone else coach, what did you notice then that told you that a question had made an impact?
I’ve seen and heard a variety of different responses that give an indication that a question has landed powerfully – from light hearted swearing at the coach as they realised something that now seemed so obvious through to complete quiet, focusing off into the distance as they get a new insight upon a situation.
And what’s it like to be on the end of such a question? My suggestion here is that if you’ve not experienced powerful coaching questions from the clients perspective and you’re looking to set up a coaching practice then go experience some powerful coaching. It can give you great insight not only into what you’re being coached around but it can also give you an understanding that will help you when you set up your own practice.
Personally, I’ve been on the receiving end of powerful questions and had a variety of responses on different occasions I’ve had a giggling fit at something that seemed such an obstacle moments before suddenly just seemed funny to look at as something that needed to be solved, I’ve also felt a complete fool at times for not seeing a now obvious answer sooner. Then there’s been the times where after a thought a light bulb moment happens. Not forgetting total disorientation and speechlessness as whole perceptions are shattered.
Those are just some examples of responses and I’m sure you’ll be able to think of others and very specific things that you notice. I’ll also take a moment to bring your attention to the different responses, next question, action etc that you think would be appropriate depending upon your clients reaction following a powerful question landing.
So how do you craft a powerful coaching question that’s unique to your client? That answer will partly depend upon your own approach to coaching – I’ve seen powerful questions that have been asked because the coach has based it upon a specific coaching model or technique. For example, it may be a question that fits into one of the sections in the well known coaching models GROW or crafted based on the structure of a specific style of questioning.
It’s one that resonates with that person and how they saw and connected to the subject. This means that some really powerful questions can come from building upon previous question and answers. The previous answers allowing the question that “hits home” to be worded specifically and deliberately taking that clients language, beliefs, motivation, what they’ve not seen etc into consideration.
Then there’s questions which are based upon common traits, misunderstandings, limiting beliefs or stumbling blocks, etc. These may be worded specifically that just being human could be enough for it to resonate with you. Other times it may be something very specific you’ve noticed about your niche perhaps specific to the clients that are attracted to the way you work.
So for example,
If you won the lottery tomorrow, so money is no problem, what would you do?
Is a question that many can respond to as beliefs around money are fairly common, at least in the western world.
If you were really OK with not asking a powerful coaching question, what coaching questions would occur to you?
Is a question that whilst having a similar structure is tailored to a specific common underlying belief about what a coaching session with a “real” coach should be like (ie they potentially think that powerful coaching means every question hits home and every second of every session must be “perfect” for a client to get any value at all.)
Then there are the questions that seem to come out of no-where. The ones where you’re in the flow and the question seem to turn up fully formed. Now some will say this is down to experience and having mastered a skill so you no longer have to deeply consider forming a question and you’ve picked up on something without giving it much thought. Others will say that this is when “you” just gets out the way and something bigger is at work.
If you’ve experienced that for yourself I’m sure you’ll have your own theories about what is happening, your whole coaching approach may even be based upon your answer to this. I’m not going to say either way is right or wrong. What I will say is that I’ve personally learned to trust those questions that turn up so fully formed and it occurs to me to ask the question.
This is a topic which I’m sure will be revisited on the blog again but for now let me leave you with some questions:
What does powerful coaching mean to you?
How would you know if you were asking powerful questions? Would your answer be different if you coached via a different medium? ie face to face/ phone/ video call/ purely by email.
What questions do you think are powerful?
What question do you hope I don’t ask you now?
What action can you take now having spent some time considering questions?
Feel free to share your answers in the comment section below or if you’d prefer to share them privately just with myself email me
Jen Waller is on a mission to support, nurture and encourage coaching skills and talents from non-coach to coach and beyond.
As an experienced coach and trainer Jen is happy to utilise all skills at her disposal to assist clients from getting out of their own way and making a difference in the world with their coaching. One of the aspects of her role Jen loves the most is seeing individuals find their voice, grow their confidence and take the next steps. This allows them to make a massive positive impact and difference with their coaching. (For more info about Jen’s coaching click here) Jen has owned and run Coaching Confidence, the coaching blog since 2010.
In her spare time Jen is a volunteer for the UK based charity The Cinnamon Trust. This charity supports elderly and terminally ill pet owners to provide care for their pets. As a volunteer, Jen regularly walks dogs for owners who physically often find that more challenging then they once did. As a pet owner herself, Jen finds it really rewarding to be able to assist an owner stay with an animal that has become part of the family. (Plus it’s a great additional motivator when working from home to get out and get some fresh air and exercise)
Jen also loves theatre and has been known to watch certain popular science fiction films and TV shows!
This week the clip chosen because of its interest to coaches is often viewed as a classic. It’s from TED 2009 when John Wooden shared “The difference between winning and succeeding”.
The difference between winning and succeeding | John Wooden
Clip length: 17 mins 36 secs
Prefer to watch via YouTube? In that case you’ll need to click here.