Growing as coaches - our top 9 tips

What we’re learning about coaching, and what we wished we’d known from the start…

At our monthly meeting in June, over 20 Coaching Reading members came together for a second CPD session on neurodiversity in coaching. As always, we took the opportunity to share our general experiences of coaching.

One of our members posed this question:

If you were sharing your experiences with a trainee coach, what above all would you choose to highlight to them?

Here’s a brief snapshot of just nine of the insights we heard.

Three things we wish we’d known at the outset about developing as a coach: 

1.     Never to underestimate the value of personal reflection, and the personal growth that comes with this.

2.     That reflection doesn’t mean judging yourself. Avoid internal questioning like ‘is the coaching going well’ or ‘did I phrase that right‘? Park those thoughts because they will get in the way.

3.     To keep being coached – it’s helpful learning and a reminder of what it’s like on the other side of a coaching conversation. Having a co-coach can be particularly useful for discussing the commercial side of coaching, and all the psychological challenges this can throw up. 

Three things we’ve learned about being the best coach we can be in the moment:

1.     The importance of staying authentically you, which means making time to check in with yourself before every session.

2.     Remembering to use yourself in the moment – notice your own feelings and responses, and offer to share them if you sense they might be of use to your client.

3.     Pay close attention to those moments with a client when everything slows down. Respect any silences, because the most difficult coaching conversations can also be the most important.

Three things we continue to love about coaching:

1.     When we see that moment of empowerment in someone we’re working with, because they realise that they have found the answer for themselves.

2.     Enjoying the uncertainty and the unexpected – because as soon as we know where we are going with the conversation, we are probably leading it.

3.     Learning our methods and techniques, and then putting them aside when we are confronted with the “miracle that is a living human soul”.