better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

Three Simple Coaching Tips

29 July 2013

I like being a busy business coach. There is always something new to learn and great clients to work with. However, like many things in life, coaching skills can be over complicated, which is a shame.

Simple is often best, so in the spirit of Summer simplicity here are three useful little coaching tips. Feel free to weave them into daily management conversations.

1) One sentence summary. Ask your colleague or client to think for a moment and then summarise their issue in one sentence. That saves lots of time and means that you can get to an answer without rambling around the point.

2) Listen out for weasel words. When people say words like some, stuff and people ask them exactly what they mean. For example, if they want ‘some’ solutions to their issue ask them exactly how many solutions they need.

3) Only write down the client’s goal. Instead of scribbling lots of notes, just listen to the client, having first written down their stated goal for the session. The only thing that matters to the flow of conversation is whether it’s helping the client to move closer to their stated outcome. If you’re coaching someone and you don’t know what their goal is are you really coaching them?

Simple tips can be the most effective ones.

Have a simple week this week!

Next week: Rich book sneaky peaky