What’s getting in the way of your clients’ progress?
What’s getting in the way of your clients’ progress?
Sometimes change or taking new steps can be scary and hard for some clients.
When you find your clients getting stuck and not moving forward, your coaching skills become your most powerful tool, supporting them through change.
When a client appears stuck, it’s time to dig a little deeper and use some influential coaching questions, to help them if they are struggling to find their way. You may also need to understand their Model of the World.
Make sure that you are not a barrier to your clients moving forward as well. If you have a perception that “they will never find a job” you may be projecting this belief onto them without even realizing it. Self-awareness is key and it’s important that you don’t place any judgement on your clients ability and potential to find work. If you can see their potential, you’ll be able to help them to overcome the limiting beliefs they may have about themselves too.
Step 1
Figure out what they want to achieve. You can use these questions to help your clients see their lives differently. Sometimes this change might feel overwhelming, but that’s ok – give them permission to be brave and dream big. These questions are a great starting point for change:
- What area of your life would you love to see change?
- What area of your life would you love to feel differently about?
- If you could have it in any way, how would it look, feel or sound like?
- Is there something you are struggling to achieve but want to achieve?
Step 2
Once you have identified the thing your client wants, you can ask questions that explore the outcomes and benefits of achieving the thing they want. For example, if a client says, “I want to feel good about looking for work, I want to be able to do it easily and confidently.”
You could ask questions like:
- What will happen if you begin to feel good about looking for work?
- What will be the outcome of feeling confident when looking for work?
Their answers might be along the lines of, “I will apply for more jobs. I won’t doubt myself. I won’t waste time, because I won’t avoid the process of applying for work. I will get more employment opportunities. I get the job I want.”
You could then follow up with:
- What benefits will you see when you move into feeling good about looking for work?
Potential responses from your client might be: “I’ll feel energized, I’ll gain new skills. My mental health will improve because I know I’m investing in my future. When I get the job, I will have more money.”
Step 3
Deepen their connection to their emotions and feelings around the things that they want. This will help motivate them to take action faster.
- What will happen if you don’t begin to feel good about looking for work?
- How good will it feel when you confidently start looking for work?
- What actions will you take to feel good about looking for work?
You can see how powerful this line of questioning can be. What you are doing is finding all the reasons why the action or goal is good for them, in the short term and long term. If you happen to hear a belief that is unresourceful, you can take steps to re-frame the belief, so they have a more resourceful belief towards what they want to achieve.
If you would like to learn more about how to easily and effectively re-frame unresourceful beliefs, you can find out more about our Bounce Job Coach Certification here. This unique training course has been developed for job coaches just like you, who want to develop their coaching and communication skills to a high standard.
Become a certified Job Coach
Take your client engagement and coaching skills to the next level by becoming a
certified Bounce Job Coach.
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