Having coaching precision allows one to work with speed. And if there’s one thing that most organisational leaders are short on these days its time.
It’s not that you want to push clients to results, it’s just that you don’t want to waste time coaching toward dead-ends.
Here are three essential practices for coaching with the speed and precision that will open the door to C-suite clients.
1. Track Who Is Speaking
The person who comes into your coaching session, shouldn’t be the same person who leaves. When powerful coaching happens, there is a transformative shift in the client.
Learn to listen for who is speaking. Do they have access to the big picture and a clear understanding of their fullest potential? Or is it the voice of someone who is bogged down, overburdened and has lost perspective? Does the client’s voice support growth, or do you hear views and beliefs that will ultimately hold the client back?
2. Follow The Energy
We see many coaches getting caught up in the client’s narrative and not directing their questions to where the real energy and potential for change lies.
At GCI we counter this common trap by teaching students to read energetic feedback and non-verbal communication cues that have their origins in the unconscious. This is a powerful way of moving beyond the constraints of the client’s ordinary self
3. Pick Your Level
Sometimes coaches work at what we think of as the wrong level. For example, an inexperienced coach may focus exclusively at the level of habits and behavior, when deeper work on identity is needed for sustainable change. Or they may work at the individual level, when systemic insights and relational or political engagement is needed.
The ability to recognise what level your client is operating from and learning to shift levels in order to access new insights and momentum makes for powerful coaching. We focus on building this acuity in our GCI Coaching & Transformation Roadmap and Coaching Untapped Potential programs.
For more on coaching with precision and Process Oriented Coaching, take a look at our upcoming programs.
