Inevitably, some of your clients will be successful coaching clients and some of them won’t have as much success.  Do some clients try harder than others, are more motivated, or are just plain smarter?  These factors don’t predict whether someone will become a successful coaching story; one that will give you great testimonials and send you referrals.   The best coaching tips are not about teaching you how to motivate your clients to work harder or teach them new strategies.  While these are important, they don’t address the inner game.  These coaching tips will give you understanding to unlock the mystery of the subconscious brain.

For Successful Coaching Address Emotions and Behaviors that Have Become Habitual

Coaching Tips for Successful Coaching #1:  We are addicts to our own emotions and behaviors.  No matter how painful our life is, our built-in regulatory systems do their best to keep us on track.  This happens when we try to loose weight and eat less.  Our bodies respond by becoming more efficient and burn fewer calories.  And it doesn’t mean we’re comfortable.  Even people who are in abusive relationships often can’t see a way out.

Help Your Coaching Client See More than They Are Trained to See With This Coaching Tip

Coaching Tips for Successful Coaching #2:  We see what we were trained to see, and believe what we were trained to believe.  Newborn infants can’t see more than 8-12 inches away from their own face.  They only see far enough to imprint the face of their caregiver into their memory.   Have you ever seen a fly trying to get out of a window that is closed?  Again and again they try, harder and harder, until they eventually die.  They don’t even see that a door is open a few feet away.  How many times have you tried to get your clients to see something, and they just don’t get it?

Successful Coaching Comes from Shifting Your Client’s Belief Systems

Coaching Tips for Successful Coaching #3:  In order to really transform someone’s life, you have to help that person shift the belief systems that are not serving them.  Limiting beliefs.  Just like trying to install new programs on a computer with a faulty hard drive doesn’t work, having people try new strategies when their underlying beliefs don’t support their actions won’t give them lasting results.

These coaching tips will not only help you get better results with your clients, but also help enroll more successful coaching clients.  When clients understand what they are up against, they are more likely to make the commitment that is necessary to really create the life they want.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Bi-Designated Strategy and Accountability Coach