Talking about Coaching

Some clients just really need to hear that they’re on the right path, or that their idea is a good one, or that they’re worthy as human being. It’s a powerful thing to experience, and a gratifying gift to give. Yet, there’s a dark side to validation that our resident coaches Yannick, Siawash and Nicki point to in today’s episode. We chat about getting sucked into “validation games”, when it is and...

Most coaches commit to showing up for their clients. Some do so much so that they’re coaching clients even when they’re really quite ill or would much rather hide under a blanket for one reason or another. What’s your threshold for cancelling a coaching session? How ill do you need to get to say “I can’t make it today”. What might the fallout be? And how might we make those decisions? Due to prese...

We learn and grow so much when we’re coaching clients who are very different to us. Similarly, clients benefit a lot when they work with a coach who is different to them. We probably all appreciate that diversity leads to more innovation, yet most experts will tell us to speak to a very specific kind of person when marketing our coaching businesses, with the inevitable effect that we’re, by defini...

On some level I always think “what are you hiding?” when I see someone with a blurred or virtual background. Imagine that’s what your client thinks when they first meet you? Does it inspire trust? Not really. On the other hand there are many reasons why a coach may choose not to reveal what’s happening behind them. Same goes for clients, and even if we can see their full frame clearly, we have no...

It’s one of the most regular topics that we see discussed: Is it going to help me to have my coaching fees on my website, or will it scare potential clients off? It seems like you can’t win either way: If the price is too low, they might think I’m not a good coach. If they’re too high, they’re not reaching out in the first place even though they probably would have invested once they get a sense f...

Nobody needs a supervisor (with a good few notable exceptions perhaps) - every coach should want one, is the underlying message of today’s episode of Talking about Coaching. “I want every coach I know to listen to this conversation” Siawash concluded toward the end of this episode, Yannick got super excited and dove in deep on what supervision is, why it’s important and how broad the range is of w...

You will have heard many coaches rave about the importance of listening to your gut, your intuition, your hunches about what to do when you’re coaching, which question to ask, how to navigate your session, etc. Some coaches go as far to argue that you should always trust your intuition, so in this episode of Talking about Coaching our resident coaches Nicki, Siawash and Yannick are taking a good l...

It happens to the best of us: Something triggers our ego and instead of being present and focused on the client, we get a little hijacked and aren’t serving the client as best as we could have. In this episode of Talking about Coaching our resident coaches Yannick, Nicki and Siawash are discussing why this is an important topic, how it can affect our work with our clients, and what we might do to...

You’re 5 out of 6 contracted sessions into your coaching agreement. The last session is scheduled and the engagement is nearing the end. How do you approach the ending? What’s important to talk about before we go separate ways? How might I open up the conversation to explore the possibility of continuing to work together? How do I get a good testimonial? What might be a good “exit protocol”? Is it...

For most coaches it’s clear what their clients can expect from them. But what can coaches expect from their clients? In this episode of Talking about Coaching our resident coaches Yannick, Siawash and Nicki are talking about responsibility, contracting and expectations. We’re raising questions about who does what in the coaching relationship and how we can have this conversation with our clients....

Welcome to this episode of Talking about Coaching, the podcast from coaches for coaches.  In this conversation, we get to know Tessa, whose life-long passion for psychology and transformation shifted her career in the fast-moving logistics sector into coaching for change and transformation. She works with individuals as well as businesses, always looking for positive, forward-facing ways to create...

It seems to be the oldest question in the book: How do I get more coaching clients. I have a valuable service to offer and my clients really benefit, but how do I get my message in front of them? Those who hate being on social media or going to networks events may be considering paid advertising as a potential route into creating new leads, and so today our resident coaches Nicki, Siawash and Yann...

More and more coaches are interested in working with groups. SOme of that is motivated by being able to make coaching more affordable, and hence accessible - perfect for coaches who want to put their fees up but concerned that coaching shouldn’t be exclusive. But working with groups comes with layers of added complexity and it can be quite elusive as to what it is and how it can work. From life co...

We’ve all been there: our client comes to coaching and present with something supre vague, like feeling more fulfilled, calmer, wanting a “better mindset”, or feeling more authentic. How might we work with something like that? Can we make such a goal more SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound)? Is that even desirable or of service to the client? In this episode our resid...

Most of us have been there: our clients are not hitting their targets, they’re not doing their work, in some way or another they’re not achieving what they came to coaching for. Is this your fault? The client’s? Do any of you need to work harder? How do you address this? In this episode of talking about coaching our residents Yannick, Siawash and Nicki are exploring how we might navigate such situ...

Steve Chandler and his disciples teach us that coaching clients are created through conversations, and they encourage us to seek as many conversations as we can with the intent to serve whomever we talk to. Now what happens when we run out of people to talk to? Somewhat rephrased for the sake of space in today’s episode’s title, the original question for today is: “I ran out of people to talk to a...

In this episodes we’re discussing leading questions, and whether they’re really a big no-no, as often taught in coach training programmes, or whether there may be some value in offering direction as a coach, or even to ask questions in a way that makes the client think they’ve come up with the solution themselves, empowering in some way, manipulative if you look at it differently. We discuss the r...

Most coaches have experienced this: we’re with a friend, they tell us about a problem, dream or challenge they experience, and before we know it we’ve got our coaching hat on and asking questions, feeding back, clarifying, summarising or applying a process to help them figure this out. We likely didn’t ask for permission to coach them. We may be quite different with our coaching hat on and our fri...

Some coaches set themselves up as the expert in a certain area or niche. Others work very hard to meet their clients at eye level as to facilitate a process in which they can create their own expertise and take full responsibility for the way forward. And by no means is this a black-and-white issue in coaching. Sometimes the client maneuvers us into a position of expert as to avoid responsibility...

What started as a joke question after Nicki missed our last recording session became an interesting question about when to cancel a coaching session due to pain, feeling unwell or other distractions that may prevent us from being fully present with our clients. How much can we keep in our metaphorical box? At what point is it no longer appropriate to coach? How might we have that conversation? Wha...

We hear this a lot from the coaches who are most visible on social media: In order to be successful you must be obsessed with coaching and/or with building a business. You must do the grind if you want to make it. Those who work the hardest are the most successful. Coaches who are obsessed with helping their clients, with personal development or with a particular style of coaching, those will be s...

Good contracting may be one of the most important skills of a successful coach. Most times when a coach feels stuck with a client, doesn’t know how to proceed or encounters a challenging situation, the answers lies in what you’ve agreed with this client. In this episodes of the podcast our resident coaches Yannick and Siawash talk about whether the contract needs to be written or verbal, we propos...

Welcome to this episode of Talking about Coaching, the podcast from coaches for coaches. This episode is one of Yannick's deep dives into one topic or person and we're talking to Ankush Jain, 6 figure coach, trained in the 3 principles approach, long term coaching client and colleague of the great Steve Chandler, and all-round excellent human being. I loved Ankush's vibe and found r...

What’s your process for starting a coaching session? is a question we hear often. “Well, it depends” is often the answer. And that’s also the way this episode starts. Our resident coaches Yannick, Siwash & Nicki are illuminating what these factors are and talk you through how they start coaching sessions. Plus we’re inviting all listeners to share their own processes of how to jump into a coac...

We’ve interpreted this question in two ways: 1) What do I need to start practicing as a coach? And 2) When a client signs up for coaching, what might I send them to get going and transition well into the process of coaching? So here we are talking about beginnings and how might get going when starting our coaching business or when starting to work with a new client. _____ If you'd like to sta...