The term “coaching” is so widely used today and there are so many different types of coaches and coach training programs. This has led many people to think there’s a standard method of coaching that all coaches learn.
This is absolutely not true.
Most coach training programs teach their student’s, theoretical models. As a student, you’ll read a lot of theories and books on coaching with an emphasis on behavior change rather than inner change. Behavior change sounds good, but the methods supporting it don’t always create lasting change.
If you’re someone who feels like a cheerleader or advice-giver for your clients, rather than a coach who can get to the root cause of your clients’ challenges, then you may not have the training you need. Don’t worry, read on to learn the #1 Secret to creating lasting transformation for your clients.
Now, don’t beat yourself up over this. This is simply one of those things that “you don’t know what you don’t know.” You wouldn’t know to ask these questions before you got trained as a coach. So you don’t realize it until it too late when you’re sitting in front of your clients and the only thing you know to do is to give them advice or cheer them on.
I know this because this happened to me. Over a decade ago, I was trained to be a coach but once I started working with people, I found I had no real life tools to truly help them achieve the goal they said they wanted. Sure, I had a lot of knowledge and knew how to “be a coach”, but what was I to do when people weren’t able to stick with my suggestions?
Here’s what I did: At first I freaked out. I was worried that I spent tons of time, money and energy being trained as a coach only to not be able to really help people. I was so excited to help people and didn’t understand what they wouldn’t just do what I told them to do. Sure, some people took my advice, but others tried to and weren’t able to sustain their new habits.
But I didn’t give up. I knew something was missing and I decided to go find it. So I took a deep dive into the study of the brain, how our mind works, psychology, neuro-linguistic programming and of course, worked with tons of clients over the years giving me real-life experience and allowing me to find out what really works for people to get results.
From this journey, I developed my own coaching method to help clients create lasting transformation. And I’ve seen it work time and time again. It’s what I call the Core Coaching Method and it’s the method we teach student here at the IAWP in our Wellness Coach Certification program.
What is CCM exactly? CCM is all about getting to the core issue for people, so they can overcome what’s standing in their way on an inner level. Then, when you do give them advice, they can actually see it through and make a change on the outer level. CCM-trained coaches know how to ask the right questions to help a client find out what’s standing in their way of getting what they say they want. It’s usually hiding deep below the surface in our subconscious minds, but once you find it, it’s golden!
In this article, I’m sharing two tips here to help you better understand getting to this gold so you can become a better coach for your clients now:
1. Get This: People Don’t Want to be Told What to do.
You can have the best knowledge in the world and the best advice to give someone, but it won’t matter without the person being able to actually make the change. The reason for this is, people don’t want to be told what to do. It’s disempowering. Think of it, we have access to all the information in the world today, right at our fingertips. If we wanted to just be told what to do, we could get the answer ourselves. But your clients need more than advice, they need someone who can really support them in finding out what’s standing in their way.
2. Become a Guide, Not a Guru.
As a coach, think of yourself as a guide, not a guru. If you try to be a guru and an expert, you will spend most of your time talking and telling people what to do. You’ll be doing this to sound smart and in an attempt to be their leader, but when your clients don’t take action or aren’t able to stick with the advice you are giving them, you’ll quickly lose confidence. You might already be lying in bed at night wondering why no one is taking your advice or getting real results. But if you know how to be the guide instead, you’ll see different results with your clients and have a profound impact on their lives.
A coach who is a guide learns how to lead their clients to an inner level of themselves where the answers lie. In that place, which many people call the subconscious mind, we can help people find their truth. We can also see what’s holding them back from getting what they say they want. When change is made at the inner level, the outer level will follow.
Do you want to help people create inner change that leads to big results?
Learn more about the Core Coaching Method and becoming an IAWP Certified Wellness Coach
