Are you coaching in depth with your client? Chances are, you’re skating on the surface of the real issues.

Coaches like to say “don’t give advice”.

Don’t give advice!

There’s really nothing wrong with offering advice or solutions, but the problem comes when you do it too early in the process…

…before you actually figure out what’s really going on.

The Big Coaching Mistake That Keeps Sessions “Superficial”

This is one of the big mistakes that coaches make, and it keeps the coaching superficial.

They try to transform their client during diagnosis.  They try to give suggestions that they hope will ‘change the game’ for their client.

It’s too early to do that!

It ruins the diagnosis, because then you end up in the surface conversation… offering advice, versus find the deepest lynchpin problem…

What is the real issue…

It ruins the diagnosis, because then you end up in the surface conversation… offering advice, versus find the deepest lynchpin problem…

What is the real issue…

• The person?
• The belief?
• The behavior?
• The need?

When you first ask your client what the problem is, you’re really just finding the surface problem, so then you can later diagnose what the real problem is.

The Real Problem Causes The Surface Problem

The real problem causes the surface problem.

The surface problem is all mechanics.

The surface problem is only a symptom of your coaching client’s inner world.

Your job is to discover what the symptoms are, and then to track those symptoms back to what’s going on emotionally… to what’s going on INSIDE your client.

#godeeper #coachingadvice #strategiccoach

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Jeffrey T. Sooey
CEO, JTS Advisors
Founder, Coaches Training Blog community