How can you make sure that your coaching skills are at their absolute best, whether you coach as part of your job at an organization or as a freelancer? As a coach, you have to always keep learning and improving your skills to stay relevant and consistently deliver high-quality services.
If you don’t put in the time to enhance your coaching skills, you can encounter these issues:
- You struggle to establish rapport with potential new customers.
- Your current clientele is losing interest.
- Your career seems to be stagnating.
Coaching is a powerful way to help people grow and find their own skills. But if you want to be the best coach you can be, you need to keep evaluating your coaching skills.
Here are 8 ideas you can revisit any time you’re thinking about how you could sharpen your coaching skills:
#1. Develop your coaching skill outside of your scheduled formal coaching sessions
This is especially important to keep in mind if you don’t get the chance to coach very frequently. You still have the ability to keep your coaching skill strong by doing things such as:
- Participating in meaningful conversations through attentive or in-depth listening at important meetings.
- Helping a coworker find a solution to a problem they are having by asking them open-ended questions.
- Practicing rapport-building skill with new coworkers or with those you get along with less well.
#2. Participate in the coaching supervision
The power and benefits that supervision has on our coaching practice becoming increasingly recognized, which has resulted in an increase in the popularity and demand for supervision. One-on-one monitoring can also be combined with group supervision. It could take place in person or over the phone.
A comprehensive approach to a coach’s growth is emphasized throughout the supervision process, which always includes introspection on the part of the coach who is being supervised and frequently includes instruction or mentorship on the part of the coach who is supervising them.
#3. Conduct coaching self-evaluations on a consistent basis
This entails taking an open and honest look at your own practice, and it can include reviews of the following topics:
- Sessions as a whole use of skills (listening, questioning, rapport building, challenge, feeding back what you’re noticing, ability to be present, etc.).
- Influence that your coaching has had on the person being coached. What are the results of their actions? How beneficial do they find the sessions to be etc.
#4. Get feedback from coaching client
Getting feedback from coaching clients is an important part of the coaching process. It allows you to evaluate your coaching effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and make adjustments as needed.
To obtain feedback, you can use a variety of methods, such as surveys, interviews, or focus groups. The feedback should be solicited in a non-threatening and non-judgmental manner, encouraging clients to share their honest thoughts and opinions.
#5. Journal your thoughts
Journaling helps you to organize your ideas before writing. This helps you discover the most crucial portions of what you want to communicate and the most pertinent next steps—the “So what?” part. They can also help you “dump” unhelpful emotions, feelings or thoughts that are tying you up.
#6. Join a coaching support group
If you work alone or run your own coaching business, it can be lonely. To stay motivated, refine your skill, and learn from other coaches, discover (or start) a local support group.
These groups provide a forum for coaches to share their experiences, learn from one another, and receive support and feedback. Coaching support groups can take many forms, including online forums, peer coaching circles, or local meetups. They often focus on specific coaching niches or topics, such as executive coaching or life coaching.
By joining a coaching support group, you can enhance their knowledge, build relationships with other coaches, and gain exposure to new coaching techniques and strategies. You can also receive feedback on your coaching style, identify areas for improvement, and benefit from the collective wisdom of the group.
#7. Attend refresher coaching courses
Attending a refresher coaching course is a great way to sharpen coaching skills. Even experienced coaches can benefit from reviewing and practicing the foundational skills of coaching. A refresher coaching course provides an opportunity to refresh knowledge of coaching theories, explore new coaching methods, and learn the latest industry trends. It allows you to reflect on your current coaching practices and identify areas where you can improve. Additionally, attending a refresher coaching course can help you gain confidence in your skills and stay up-to-date with the latest coaching industry standards. By participating in a refresher coaching course, you can deepen your understanding of coaching principles and techniques, enhancing your ability to help your clients achieve their goals.
#8. Get reviews or testimonials
Collecting reviews or testimonials is an important step in building a coaching practice. Reviews and testimonials help potential clients learn about the coach’s effectiveness and the impact they have on their clients. You can collect reviews and testimonials by asking current and past clients to provide feedback on their coaching experience. This can be done through surveys, one-on-one interviews, or by creating a testimonial page on your website.
Once the reviews and testimonials are collected, you can use them to market your coaching practice, sharing them on your website, social media, and other marketing channels. Reviews and testimonials provide social proof that the coach has helped others achieve their goals and can help build trust with potential clients.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, sharpening your coaching skills is crucial to becoming a successful and effective coach. As the coaching industry evolves and grows, it’s important for coaches to stay up-to-date with the latest coaching practices, techniques, and standards. By sharpening their coaching skills, coaches can provide their clients with the best possible coaching experience, helping them achieve their goals and improving their overall quality of life. Coaches who continually sharpen their skills are better equipped to adapt to the changing needs of their clients and the industry, increasing their long-term success and reputation as a coach.
Ultimately, investing time and effort into sharpening your coaching skills is an investment in yourself, your clients, and your coaching practice.
Curated by Danielle Tan.
Reference:
- [Certified_meta-coach] 2023 Morpheus #10 SCULPTOR OR PAINTER? by L. Michael Hall, Ph.D. Executive Director, ISNS.
- https://www.3shirescoaching.org/blog/8-ways-to-sharpen-your-coaching-skills
