It’s hard to feel that you have a successful coaching practice when you have clients who can’t or won’t follow through on what they commit to. They always seem to have excuses, and usually very good ones. Sometimes even very entertaining stores. And unfortunately most of the coaching tips you’ll hear, won’t help. It’s not about getting tough; it’s not about trying to get your clients to be more afraid of you than what they commit to. For your clients to have a successful coaching experience, you need to get them to move past whatever is holding them back. Here are three coaching tips that will guide you.

Three Coaching Tips for Giving Your Clients Successful Coaching

The first of these coaching tips is to get your clients to become aware that they broke a commitment. Sometimes people aren’t aware that they are making commitments. For example, how often do we say, “I’ll call you tomorrow afternoon.” At some level our subconscious recognizes this, and when we don’t follow through we start losing power. To have a successful coaching session about accountability, this needs to be clear.

The second of these coaching tips is to help your clients recognize the cost of not following through with their commitments. Really it’s a cost that will affect the rest of their life. How you do one thing, is really how you do everything. Maybe your client didn’t listen to instructions, maybe they “over-committed,” or maybe, “something came up.” Successful coaching helps people really understand the cost from the standpoint of relationships, progress toward goals, and even their self-esteem.

The final of these coaching tips is to provide an empowering alternative. The point is that whatever is really keeping your clients from doing something is under the politically correct excuse. It’s something that they would rather run and hide from than look at and navigate around. If you know there is a big pothole in the road, you can drive around it.

Successful coaching allows clients to see that they have control over what they commit to, and that circumstances don’t control their life.

Successful Coaching Starts with Coaching Tips, and Ends with Accountability

So forget about the coaching tips you’ve heard about accountability coaching before. Successful coaching is about taking a stand with your clients, when societal rules say let them off the hook and be graceful. What you want to do is to go into your clients’ worlds and find out how you can help them move forward, and by implementing these coaching tips you will be light years ahead of most coaches.

Colette Seymann
JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach