Inspiring our clients to personal growth is powerful and fulfilling for them and hugely rewarding for us, as coaches.

Many clients get stuck in the transition from where they are now to where they want to be. Maybe they’re struggling with an important change, a relationship, career change, motivation, unhealthy habits, family; the list goes on.

As professional coaches, we can help them to navigate their way forward through these life challenges, quicker and more intentionally.

Why Growth Matters

Without growth, behaviour and habits become stagnant. For much of our adult life we might be ‘comfortable’ enough with who we are but when life changes (as it often does) that comfort disappears, often replaced by a lack of confidence.

Growth offers new opportunities and helps us to ditch the things that are not serving us well anymore.
The most powerful growth results from having fresh experiences or learning new ideas. Growth is a response to these novel inputs, just like strengthening the muscles is a response to weight training; so the more you experience, the more you can grow.

The experiences you search out or that land in your lap and how you respond to them will dictate the trajectory of your growth.

Someone who is fearful of change and prefers the cosy status quo will struggle to help others, which is why continuous personal development is also a key factor in the growth of a coach.

Identifying growth needs for clients

Helping clients to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses and know where they want to be (a personal vision) will highlight areas to focus on first. Remember to encourage them to celebrate their strong points too.

Listening is key as, without a good understanding of them, it’s going to be hard to help them  improve.

It’s a responsibility as a coach to create a space for the goals of coaching to be established.

These goals and aspirations will offer key information about their values and what’s missing in their life right now.

Acknowledging past experience is helpful too.  Make sure they list the things they are good at, as well as the areas that need to develop. This helps them to stay positive.

Provide accountability; nudge them forward, challenge their perspective and offer a different one, identify the issues standing in the way of achieving their goals.

Feedback from others is particularly useful but remember to help clients stay positive when any perceived ‘weaknesses’ are discussed.

The ‘Keep, Stop, Start’ method can help. With this, they ask two or three people what they should keep doing, stop doing and start doing.