A Level 1 graduate wants to GO LEARN and discovers that the client already has all the answers she needs, all she had to do was be present and listen in.
Today Brooke Adair Walters (M.C.P.C) and Jerome LeDuff Jr (M.C.L.C.) assist recent graduate and alumni, Lucia Nunez-Lanatta (C.L.C) in working through her concerns while exploring with her clients and how to ask the right questions in a session.
The Right Questions at the Right Time
Coaches who graduated from our Level 1 Course may be familiar with our GO LEARN session structure. For those who need a refresher it is a guideline to a 60 minute session that looks something like this.
Greet - 4 minutes
Ownership - 7 minutes
Layout - 4 minutes
Explore -30 minutes
Action plan - 12 minutes
Reassess - 3 minutes
Next Session - 2 minutes
The Exploration usually takes up the bulk of the time, but even then, coaches like Lucia might feel like its not enough time and may feel like they haven't gone deep enough or want to think of the next right question to ask.
As we talk with Lucia, we find out that her client's say they are satisfied with how the session went but she doesn't feel the same way or thinks she could have done better. This is a perfect example of why we need to trust our clients.
There is no way to truly and completely know how a client feels about an exploration and as much as we want our clients to trust us, we need to trust them even more and become more outcome independent ourselves.
Second to this, worrying less about what the right question to ask helps us to stay in the moment and become better at active listening. Conversation begins to flow naturally and if the whole session becomes one large exploration, then that's okay!
GO LEARN is a guideline, not the rule! What is important is that you can form a rapport with your client. You may find that they are more open to explore or have those eureka! moments with you.
AHA! I got it! Or maybe..no wait it's gone...
Often times when coaching we want to help our clients find that epiphany. That "aha!" moment where our clients has a major breakthrough and their lives are totally changed afterwards. If we just ask the right questions then maybe it can happen ASAP!
But here's the thing...that moment often never comes, even if you do everything right. Its not that these moments don't ever happen, its that they most likely occur when you aren't there.
The majority of the process of Life Coaching doesn't just happen during the coaching session; the session is only a minuscule percentage of the process for the client; they are the ones who have to live their lives and put the coaching into practice every day. It is your duty to give them the tools and assistance they need to achieve their goals. That eureka! moment will most likely come to the client by themselves and when they least expect it.
The Greek inventor Archimedes famously had his in the bathtub as he was studying water displacement and not while some life coach was exploring his goals.
Psychotherapist Tracie Strucker, PhD, wrote an article on the 5 essential ingredients you need to attract you aha moment.
What it comes down to is the desire to change, an openness to learn, and the use of new ideas. Epiphany's cannot be discovered or found, but they can be attracted to you given the right conditions, conditions that can and will be met given enough time with the client and a trust in the coaching process.
After first coaching Lucia on what specific area she feels she can improve on as a coach, we then "flip the script" and ask Lucia to coach Jerome, as a way to practice her newly acquired skill set. Lucia discovered a very important lesson before the Live was over. GO LEARN what will happen when you employ the foundations of coaching and take a peek at the valuable lessons taught in our Level 1 classes.
In Other News
We are also proud to announce and celebrate that CLCI facilitator Daniel- Olexa (A.C.C) has been featured in the Voyage LA Magazine.
We are honored to have such an accomplished and versatile coach as apart of our family here at CLCI!
We invite you to check the article out and get some very interesting insight into Dan as a coach and as a human being.
Thank you,
Lucia Nunez-Lanatta, Jerome LeDuff Jr., Brooke Adair Walters
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